The Liebherr family business was created in the year 1949 by Hans Liebherr. The business first gained fame from its mobile tower crane that was well-known for its affordability and ease of assembly. It was upon this invention that the foundation of the company flourished under. Now, The Liebherr business has grown to become amongst the world's leading manufacturers of construction equipment. The company has also earned the reputation of being the accredited provider of technically innovative user-oriented services and products in a variety of fields. The business has presently become a "Group" working in each and every continent with more than 130 companies and over 35,000 employees all over 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 company the ability to be flexible to market signals and stay in tune with worldwide competition. As well, having so many individual company units also keeps customer service operating at an optimum level and ensures customer proximity.
Liebherr has instituted the divisional control companies to be able to deal with the management operations of sales and production for the individual product segments. The Liebherr Group now has 10 different product divisions.
The holding company of the Liebherr Group is Liebherr-International AG. Liebherr-International AG is situated in Bulle, Switzerland and is operating by members of the Liebherr family. Presently, the family business is being managed in the second generation by Dr. H.C. Isolde Liebherr and her brother Dr. H.C. Willi Liebherr. Ever since 2012, several of the active individual divisions have been represented by family members in the third generation like: Stefanie Wohlfarth, Patricia Ruf, Sophie Albrecht and Jan Liebherr. These family members have been working hard together to be able 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 all over the globe.
Hans Liebherr began this quest during 1949, with his first business in the tiny South-German town of Kirchdorf/Iller. Today, Kirchdorf is amongst more than 20 key manufacturing sites of the Liebherr Group. They employ over 1400 individuals in that specific workforce and are able to average a yearly output of approximately 2800 wheeled excavators. The company has enjoyed immense growth and diversity since it first started. The Liebherr Group continues to remain dedicated to implementing and engineering innovative designs. They have earned a positive and successful place in the material handling business.