During the year 1949, the Liebherr family business was established by Hans Liebherr. His first claim to fame was the success of his inexpensive and easy-to-assemble mobile tower crane. It was upon this invention that the company's foundation flourished under. Nowadays, The Liebherr company has grown to become amongst the leading manufacturers in the field of construction machines. The business has also gained the reputation of being the accredited provider of user-oriented technically innovative services and products in various fields. The business has presently become a "Group" working in each and every continent with over 130 companies and over 35,000 workers across the globe.
To be able to ensure a manageable operating size, the Liebherr Group has been divided into various company units. These units have been designed to operate separately. This set up allows the company the ability to stay in tune with global competition and be flexible to market signals. In addition, having so many individual company units also ensures customer proximity and keeps customer service operating 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 currently has 10 different product divisions.
Liebherr Group's holding company is Liebherr-International AG. Liebherr-International AG is situated within Bulle, Switzerland and is operating by members of the Liebherr family. Now, the family business is being managed by Dr. H.C. Willi Liebherr and his sister Dr. H.C. Isolde Liebherr in the 2nd generation. Since 2012, several of the active individual divisions have been represented by members of the family in the 3rd generation like: Sophie Albrecht, Jan Liebherr, Stefanie Wohlfarth and Patricia Ruf. These members of the family have been working hard together in order to help set up the family business' course in the future. They are staying on top of residential buildings and large-scale industrial projects across the globe.
Hans Liebherr started this quest in 1949, with his first company within the tiny South-German town of Kirchdorf/Iller. Nowadays, Kirchdorf is amongst over 20 key manufacturing sites of the Liebherr Group. They employ over 1400 people in that specific workforce and are able to average an annual output of about 2800 wheeled excavators. The company has enjoyed immense growth and diversity ever since it first started. The Liebherr Group continues to remain devoted to implementing and engineering innovative designs. They have earned a positive and successful place within the material handling industry.