Gear Technology and Automation Systems

The Gear Technology and Automation Systems division generated revenues of €243 million in 2019, representing a slight increase of €1 million, or 0.4 %, year-on-year.

Development compared to previous year*
Turnover in € m
from 242 		( + 0.4% ) 0
Investments in € m
from 10 		( - 60.0% ) 0
Employees
from 1,599 		( + 6.8% ) 0

Turnover by sales regions

  1. European Union
    51.0%
  2. North America
    14.8%
  3. Central and South America
    2.1%
  4. Non-EU countries
    3.3%
  5. Asia and Oceania
    28.8%
  6. Africa, Near and Middle East
    0.0%

Maintaining market position despite economic downturn

The Association of German Machine Tool Builders (VDW) reported that orders for German machine tools were significantly lower in 2019 than in the previous year. Liebherr’s Gear Technology and Automation Systems division also experienced a decline in new orders in line with the rest of the industry. Nevertheless, the very high order volumes at the beginning of the year resulted in a slight increase in revenues for 2019 on the whole. Sales in Europe and Central and South America increased, while other sales regions reported a dip in sales. The division’s key markets in 2019 were Germany, China and the US.

High quality standards are crucial to gears. By expanding the product portfolio to include measurement technologies, one-stop system solutions can now be offered.

Technological highlights at EMO 2019

The Gear Technology and Automation Systems division unveiled numerous new product innovations last year. At the leading trade fair, EMO in Hanover, Germany, the division presented the LC 80 WD worm milling machine with an additional workstation for parallel chamfering. Another innovation was the LK 180 / 280 DC gear skiving machine, designed as a small Skiving³ machine with a tool-changing system to provide additional functionality such as turning, drilling, milling and measuring. The Skiving³ concept includes the machine, the process and the optimised tools.

In the area of automation, the division focused on combining the LRC 20 bin-picking cell with an LPC 3400/3600 palletising cell. The highlight of this product combination is its driverless transport system, which enables it to be connected for efficient intralogistics. The division also continued to successfully develop its pallet-handling systems (PHS) and robot applications (FlexCells) in 2019. The PHS category in particular has performed extremely well.

The division invested in modernising its production site in Kempten, Germany. It also acquired the company Wenzel GearTec, a manufacturer of gear measuring machines. By integrating gear measurement technologies into the Liebherr portfolio, the division can offer an integrated process solution for gears in the future.