During the year 1949, the Liebherr family business was established by Hans Liebherr. His first claim to fame was the success of his affordable and easy-to-assemble mobile tower crane. It was upon this creation that the foundation of the company flourished under. These days, Liebherr has grown to become amongst the top manufacturers within the world of construction equipment. The business has also gained the reputation of being the acknowledged supplier of technically innovative user-oriented services and products in different fields. The company has now become a "Group" working in each and every continent with over 35,000 workers and more than 130 companies all over the world.
The Liebherr Group has been divided into various company units so as to ensure a manageable operating size. These separate units operate independently. This specific set up allows the business the ability to stay in tune with global competition and be flexible to market signals. Moreover, having so many individual company units also ensures customer proximity and keeps customer service running at an optimum level.
Liebherr has instituted the divisional control companies to be able to handle the management operations of production and sales for the individual product segments. The Liebherr Group now has ten different product divisions.
The holding company of the Liebherr Group is Liebherr-International AG. Liebherr-International AG is located within Bulle, Switzerland and is operating by the Liebherr family members. Currently, the family business is being managed by Dr. H.C. Isolde Liebherr and her brother Dr. H.C. Willi Liebherr in the 2nd generation. Since the year 2012, several of the active individual divisions have been represented by third generation members of the family such as: Patricia Ruf, Stefanie Wohlfarth, Sophie Albrecht and Jan Liebherr. These family members have been working hard together to help set up the course of the family business in the future. They are staying on top of residential buildings and large-scale industrial projects across the world.
Hans Liebherr began this quest during the year 1949, with his first company within the tiny South-German town of Kirchdorf/Iller. These days, Kirchdorf is amongst over 20 key manufacturing sites of the Liebherr Group. They employ more than 1400 individuals in that specific workforce and are able to average an annual output of about 2800 wheeled excavators. The company has enjoyed diversity and immense growth ever since it first opened its doors. The Liebherr Group continues to remain very devoted to engineering and implementing innovative designs. They have earned a positive and successful place in the material handling business.