One small step for man, a giant leap for the crane industry

The first steps on the moon were impressive to say the least and the recording was transmitted to earth as a digital signal. 1971 – a date maybe not known that much, but still highly important: It was the year Ray Tomlinson sent the first email. And 1990 marks the official start of the world wide web as we all know it today. But letʼs jump into 2023 and find out where we are today on our path of digitalization around mobile and crawler cranes, and letʼs hear how our customers in the United States are using digital tools to support their daily business.

The extent to which our customers can benefit from using the MyLiebherr portal goes way beyond just ordering parts. Moving forward to today, MyLiebherr provides a plethora of information for its users all around the globe. From Machine Documentation, License and Services, Data Exchange, Crane Finder, Lubricants portal, Crane Planner 2.0 and, as described already, the Parts Catalog and cart. “The MyLiebherr portal is one more addition to the many services already offered by Liebherr, showing dedication and passion towards customer service. With digital and online tools becoming more and more accessible and attractive to its users, our customer base in the United States took to MyLiebherr at an unpredicted rate,” reports Trina Baughman, Product Manager Digital Services at Liebherr USA Co., “and with this, our digital department in the US was formed.” Liebherr introduced online digital services for all customers in 2017, by means of a parts ordering system called Parts24. The first parts order made through the portal was placed by Sterett Crane July 6th, 2017.

“Since then, the portal has gone through tremendous transformation and growth. 2017–2018 the portal produced roughly 470 online orders, 2019–2020 around 3,330 parts orders and 2021–2022 we ended with roughly 8,500 parts orders,” explains Baughman. Nearly 300 cranes were registered in MyLiebherr during 2022, giving a significant number of machines tracking in the portal – and thatʼs only United States. Today we count in the United States roughly 500 customers in the portal. These numbers could not be obtained without the staffʼs efforts and support of the portal overall. Not to mention our customers comfort and confidence in the portal and its capabilities. What does comfort in this case mean? Well, “having access to the MyLiebherr portal while in the field has been a game changer when I need a diagram or when I have to look up parts while at the crane. This makes life quite easy,” explains Jose Tinoco, Senior Service Technician at Smiley Lifting Solutions, based in Phoenix, Arizona.

“At the beginning, our users were only seeing a fraction of what the portal had to offer. This sparked the necessary travel to our customersʼ facilities to expand their knowledge about MyLiebherr. Whether in a conference room, parts/service department offices, even on the tailgate of a pick-up truck parked next to a crane, I met with and made sure our customers were able to access and acquaint themselves with everything the portal has to offer them so far. Many have been utilizing the portal for a few years now, ordering parts and pulling up their schematics, but had no idea we have a Lubricants Portal or an app called Crane Finder to help choose the right machine for their potential client in an expediated and efficient manner. Followed up with our Crane Planner 2.0 which can plan jobsites in 3D,” explains Baughman. 2022 brought with it thousands of miles driving for Trina Baughman, through small, exquisite country towns as well as bobbing and weaving through the bustling airports to meet with as many customers as possible. The 70 plus customer visits created an open path for communication and feedback. Meeting with customers and having them maneuver through their account familiarizing themselves with the different applications and functions created a more collaborative environment which brought even more interest to the portal.

“Taking additional time to make sure profiles, colleagues, products and any questions or suggestions were addressed has proven to be successful, not only for our customers but for us at Liebherr as well. We are all working towards the same end state; a seamless customer journey through the portal which provides necessary information and high value output required in a timely and expedited manner to make everyoneʼs daily work easier,” continues Baughman.

“Our team at Bigge Crane & Rigging use MyLiebherr to better serve the service and parts departments. The portal helps our team with the ease of referencing service, parts and technical manuals. We use it also for service information on our Perfect Fleet. Thanks to Liebherr for making our experience in owning Liebherr a pleasure,” states Scott Delay, Regional Service Manager at Bigge Crane and Rigging Co. based in San Leandro, California.

“MyLiebherr has evolved over the years to simplify the process of searching for parts and product-related documents. Diagrams and 3D images of parts breakdowns are a crucial factor when trying to figure out the correct parts that are needed. The use of the site is simpler, more descriptive and user friendly, making ordering parts very easy which helps with our time management. We donʼt have to waste man hours on a website looking for parts and diagrams that are very vague and possibly do not match the serial number of our machine. The way the website is set up to store all our company equipment info is top notch and stands out above the rest. We cannot thank Trina Baughman and all the support staff over the years enough for their support and commitment to making our experience with Liebherr successful. We look forward to continuing that relationship for years to come,” reports Lou Viola, Fleet Manager at Sautter Crane Rental in Philadelphia.

“The most recent updates to the My Liebherr Portal have allowed us to have better visibility of our fleet across all branches. The portal has allowed us to share information across multiple branches in real time. As we are a heavy petrochemical-based support company, the planning for lifts using Liebherrʼs work planner is critical to our success. It allows us to be very precise with our crane placement and lift planning. It is used by all team members in various planning stages, as well as our engineering group. We have integrated our new team members into MyLiebherr to achieve more in their day-to-day operations. This has given our team a vision of transparency and openness,” explains Dustin Morgan, Operational Support Manager at Allegiance Crane & Equipment. Allegiance has several branches throughout the Southeastern United States, as Louisiana and Florida, as well as in Texas.

Working directly with the MyLiebherr team at Ehingen, the team in the United States has been able to update, install and fine tune many items within the portal making it more advantageous for our customers. “And this is our way of working with the teams from all over the world, from Italy to Australia and South Africa to Canada,” explains Stephan Schrade, head of digital products and services at Liebherr in Ehingen. “The internal customers – our spare parts, sales and service teams around the world – have also supplied vital feedback and teamwork allowing for the extensive growth of MyLiebherr around the world. And our colleagues in the field, like Trina, will continue to travel, meet with and provide an evolving portal to all our customers within and for sure also outside of the US. Culminating in one portal with all services to improve daily operations at our customers, making their life a bit easier.”

Find out more about MyLiebherr here: www.myliebherr.com

This article was published in the UpLoad magazine 02 | 2023.