Testing related to fastening points on the Liebherr LTR 1220
Well before you reach the factory gates, you can see them towering in the distance: the booms of the huge mobile cranes that undergo the most rigorous testing here on the test site at Ehingen, Swabia (Germany) before they are delivered to every corner of the world. These cranes are built by Liebherr, the global corporation now managed by the third generation of the same family. To meet its own high standards, Liebherr opts for the cerTest mobile test system from Kistler for all power tools in use on its production lines. With the help of this system, power tools are tested regularly to ensure that they deliver consistently high quality throughout their lifetimes – and cerTest also includes end-to-end documentation of all simulated fastening scenarios.
Starting out from its core business in the construction machines segment, Liebherr has expanded into business fields such as transportation and traffic technology, mechanical engineering and domestic appliances in recent years, and it has even opened its own hotel chain. With sales approaching EUR 10 billion and over 43 000 employees in 2017, there can be no doubt that Liebherr numbers among the global players in the sector. The entire mobile cranes business is focused here at the company's Ehingen site. All Liebherr's mobile cranes, in all their different versions, are built here: ranging from all-terrain vehicles with telescopic booms (offering both on-road and off-road capability) to crawler cranes with lattice booms. The largest crawler crane in Liebherr's range, the LR 13000, was recently deployed in Mexico for the construction of a refinery. This machine can lift weights of up to 3 000 tonnes.
Thomas Nüssle, Head of Plant Planning at the Ehingen site, outlines some of this facility's special features: 'We manufacture complete vehicles here on four lines – an average of about eight vehi-cles every day, all of them built to order and just-in-time. Before delivery, they undergo extensive testing on our test sites: we have one for mobile cranes and another for crawlers.' Marco Kassner, Foreman in the Operational Mechanics Department, adds: 'Quality has top priority in our book. Throughout the world, Liebherr is appreciated for its outstanding products. And to make sure that this remains so, we work continuously on improving our processes in every area, including fastening technology.'