The Liebherr family business was started in 1949 by Hans Liebherr. The business first gained fame from its mobile tower crane which was noted for its ease of assembly and affordability. It was upon this creation that the foundation of the company flourished under. Now, Liebherr has grown to become amongst the world's leading manufacturers of construction machines. The business has also gained the reputation of being the accredited provider of technically innovative user-oriented products and services in a variety of fields. The company has currently become a "Group" working in each and every continent with over 130 companies and more than 35,000 employees across the globe.
The Liebherr Group has been divided into various company units in order to ensure a manageable operating size. These individual units operate independently. This specific set up enables the business the ability to be flexible to market signals and stay in tune with worldwide competition. In addition, having so many individual company units also ensures customer proximity and keeps customer service operating at an optimum level.
The divisional control companies deal with the operative management of the sales companies and the production for the individual product segments. The Liebherr Group presently encompasses 10 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 members of the Liebherr family. Now, 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 2012, several of the active individual divisions have been represented by family members in the third generation including: Patricia Ruf, Stefanie Wohlfarth, Jan Liebherr and Sophie Albrecht. These family members have been working together in order to help set up the family business' course in the future. They are staying on top of large-scale industrial projects and residential buildings all around the world.
Hans Liebherr began to build his business in 1949, in a small town called Kirchdorf in southern Germany. Kirchdorf, now supports one of Liebherr's 20 manufacturing locations. They can average an annual output of about 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 very devoted to implementing and engineering innovative designs. They have earned a positive and successful place in the material handling industry.