Partnership expanded: Liebherr tower cranes and Tenstar join forces to improve crane operator training

The agreement between Tenstar and Liebherr Tower Cranes was officially concluded at Conexpo 2026 in Las Vegas, one of the world’s largest construction machinery trade fairs. The expanded partnership underscores Liebherr’s commitment to further digitising and sustainably improving the quality of training for skilled workers.

Simulator-based training as a strategic priority

The global construction industry continues to face significant challenges in recruiting and qualifying trained crane operators. Training on real machines is time-consuming and costly, both for the crane operators undergoing training and for the tower cranes used. Against this backdrop, simulator-based training has gained considerable importance as a practical and scalable alternative: it enables crane operators to develop basic construction site scenarios and lifting operations in a controlled and risk-free environment before taking on responsibility at an active construction site.

The use of the simulator reduces the number of training hours required on real tower cranes, thereby significantly lowering the overall cost of qualification programmes. The Tenstar simulator creates a realistic 4D training environment that faithfully replicates the operating behaviour, control logic and machine behaviour of actual Liebherr tower cranes, thereby preparing trainees for real-world operations efficiently and with a high degree of practical relevance.

Scalable simulation platform for realistic crane training

The software installed on the simulator initially comprises several training scenarios developed specifically for the operation of the two Liebherr 370 EC-B and 620 HC-L tower cranes. Both cranes represent technically sophisticated machine types from the current Liebherr tower crane portfolio and are used worldwide on building construction projects, residential construction projects and infrastructure projects. Rapid-deployment cranes and innovative assistance systems are also set to follow in the future.

The Tenstar platform is modularly scalable and allows for the integration of additional machine types and training environments without changing the underlying hardware. Looking to the future, the Tenstar platform also supports multi-machine environments in which several simulators are networked for collaborative training exercises. This functionality opens up the prospect of team-based training scenarios that replicate the coordination requirements of a real construction site.

Liebherr regards the partnership with Tenstar as a long-term investment in training quality and operator competence, and as an expression of the division’s commitment to supporting customers throughout the entire lifecycle of their crane operations.