New rooms, new opportunities
In October 2021, the measuring technology department moved into new premises at Liebherr‘s Ettlingen site. In addition to spacious offices, there is now also room for training courses and customer demonstrations as well as a development lab with state-of-the-art equipment. Measuring technology is an integral part of Liebherr-Verzahntechnik GmbH – this has long been the case and is now visible to the outside.
Just over two years ago, two measuring rooms with high-precision measuring equipment and the highest standards of cleanliness were set up at the Ettlingen production site to ensure the quality of tool manufacturing during production. Now the entire measuring technology department has moved to the Ettlingen site. The 20 sales and service employees have plenty of modern office space at their disposal, with space to spare for future expansions.
Training center and development lab
The newly furnished, bright rooms of the new training and education center as well as the development lab are located two floors below. They offer sufficient space for training courses and customer demonstrations in a relaxed atmosphere and with state-of-the-art technology. Test measurements and development work also take place here. “The physical proximity of the two areas is a real benefit. Both the team and the customers benefit from the synergies,” explains Heinrich Brüderle, Head of Measuring Technology at Liebherr.
Optimal environmental conditions for measuring technology
Technical equipment for maximum precision
The equipment in this area meets the latest standards: four measuring machines of the latest generation can measure workpieces and tools of various sizes. Measuring tests are carried out here by Liebherr itself, but also on behalf of customers. Another highlight is the laser interferometer. This is used to set up and calibrate the measuring machine and can scan errors of a fraction of a micrometer.
Training takes place both in-house and online
In the new training rooms, Liebherr’s application experts train participants on the LHInspect measuring software and on networked manufacturing with the LHOpenConnect platform. This ensures, among other things, data exchange between production and measuring machines. For individual requirements, Liebherr also conducts in-house training courses on customers’ premises. Online formats are also possible: thanks to the modern camera equipment of the measuring machines, participants can also take part remotely and follow the measurements ‘live’ on screen.
Development
The development lab works intensively on the further development of the control and sensor systems of the measuring machines. The focus is on optimizing the probes, temperature compensation of the measuring machine and workpiece, measuring strategies or compensation of the axis position, i.e. the errors caused by the “wobbling” of the workpiece. The LHInspect application software is also being continuously developed. It can be programmed individually and offers a wide range of functions, including special features such as performing chamfer and roughness value measurement in one clamping fixture.
