The Liebherr family business was started during the year 1949 by Hans Liebherr. The business first gained fame from its mobile tower crane which was noted for its affordability and ease of assembly. It was upon this invention that the company's foundation flourished under. Nowadays, Liebherr has grown to become amongst the world's leading manufacturers of construction equipment. The company has also earned the reputation of being the acknowledged supplier of technically innovative user-oriented products and services in a variety of fields. The company has presently become a "Group" working in every continent with over 130 companies and over 35,000 workers across the world.
The Liebherr Group has been divided into different company units so as to guarantee a manageable operating size. These separate units operate independently. This specific set up allows the company the ability to be flexible to market signals and stay in tune with worldwide competition. Furthermore, having so many individual company units additionally ensures customer proximity and keeps customer service operating at an optimum level.
Liebherr has instituted the divisional control companies to be able to deal with the management operations of production and sales for the individual product segments. The Liebherr Group currently has 10 various product divisions.
Liebherr-International AG is the Liebherr Group's holding company. They are located within Bulle, Switzerland and are completely owned by the Liebherr family members. Currently, the family business is being managed in the second generation by Dr. H.C. Isolde Liebherr and her brother Dr. H.C. Willi Liebherr. Since the year 2012, some of the active individual divisions have been represented by members of the family in the third generation including: Patricia Ruf, Stefanie Wohlfarth, Sophie Albrecht and Jan Liebherr. These members of the family have been working together to help set up the family business' course in the future. They are staying on top of residential buildings and large-scale industrial projects all around the world.
Hans Liebherr started this quest during the year 1949, with his first business in the small South-German town of Kirchdorf/Iller. Today, Kirchdorf is one of more than 20 key manufacturing sites of the Liebherr Group. They are able to average an annual output of approximately 2800 wheeled excavators and employ over 1400 people in that particular workforce. The company has enjoyed diversity and immense growth ever since it initially started. The Liebherr Group continues to remain dedicated to engineering and implementing innovative designs. They have earned a successful and positive place in the material handling business.