Liebherr manufactures a broad range of plant machinery and components for earthmoving, construction, mining, material handling, deep foundation work, and other industries.
Founded in Germany and based in Switzerland, Liebherr is credited as the inventor of the mobile tower crane in 1949. Today, the company is a globally recognised manufacturer of cranes and plant machinery for the mining, material handling, and maritime industries. In addition to cranes, excavators, dozers, drills, and other plant and forestry machinery, Liebherr has branched out into refrigeration, aerospace, and even hotels.
Liebherr was born in the aftermath of World War II when Germany, like much of the continent, was being rebuilt. As demand for plant equipment soared, Hans Liebherr expanded his parents’ building company to manufacture tools and machinery, forming Hans Liebherr Maschinenfabrik in Kirchdorf in 1949.
That same year, Liebherr invented the world’s first mobile tower crane, the TK10, designed to be erected on-site to speed up construction and reduce costs. In 1954, Liebherr’s burgeoning business developed Europe’s first hydraulic excavator, the L300, as a much lighter alternative to a disappointing rope excavator he once hired.
In the late 1950s, Liebherr opened a factory in Killarney, Ireland, to manufacture tower, container, shipyard, and specialised cranes for the British and North American markets. In 1956, the firm began to build machinery for concrete production and transportation, starting with a reverse drum mixer for on-site use. Innovation continued with the industry’s first hydraulic crane in 1959, the AK40, which had a lifting capacity of 6 tonnes (6.6 U.S. tons).
Liebherr expanded to South Africa in the 1960s, constructing its first facility outside Europe and furthering its international growth. In 1970, Liebherr established its U.S. presence with the founding of Liebherr-America in Newport News, Virginia.
Liebherr designed the world’s first all-terrain mobile truck crane, the 25-t (27.6-U.S.-t) LTM 1025, in 1977, allowing builders to use a crane in an off-road setting. The company followed up in 1980 with the first hydraulically driven, electronically controlled duty cycle crawler crane. Liebherr began series production of its own diesel engines in 1984—continuing a longstanding practice of manufacturing components in-house, which started in the early 1950s with gears—and invented the proprietary Liebherr Computed Control (LICCON) crane control system in the mid-1980s.
Liebherr is well known for its many types of cranes, including tower cranes, truck cranes, and crawler cranes built for continuous use.
Liebherr’s largest crane to date, the HLC 295000 heavy-lift offshore crane, debuted in 2018 and can lift up to 5,000 t (5,500 U.S. t) with a maximum lifting height of 175 metres (574 feet) above deck. In 2020, the company released its first all-electric concrete mixer trucks (the ETM 1005 and 1205) and the world’s first battery-powered crawler cranes (the LR 1200.1 unplugged and LR 1250.1 unplugged). In 2023, the company deployed four autonomous T 264 mining trucks in Australia for field testing.
A range of Liebherr excavators are usually widely available on MachineryTrader.eu, including wheeled and crawler models. Popular model groups include R 914 and R 936 series crawler excavators.
Other Liebherr plant machines include wheel loaders, crawler dozers, concrete equipment, pipelayers, and off-road dumpers. The company’s mining equipment includes mining excavators, dozers, draglines, and mining trucks. Liebherr also makes components such as large-diameter bearings for tunnel-boring machines and machines to make gears.
The material handling line includes scrap processing and demolition machinery, telehandlers, and log loaders. The company sells piling and drilling rigs for deep foundation applications, including fixed and swinging leaders, and carrier machines for slurry wall applications.
Explore MachineryTrader.eu to find new and used Liebherr plant equipment for sale, including concrete equipment, cranes, dozers, drills, excavators, off-highway trucks, scrap processing and demolition equipment, and more. Popular model groups available on the site include Liebherr LTM 1090 all-terrain cranes, PR 736 crawler dozers, and L 550, L 566, and L 586 wheel loaders.
