Liebherr celebrates opening of new development and demonstration centre in Kirchdorf

Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH’s new development and demonstration centre was officially opened by Technology Manager Werner Seifried together with Biberach-based District Administrator Dr Heiko Schmid, Mayor of Kirchdorf Rainer Langenbacher, Catholic priest Father Walkler Caxilé and Protestant Deacon Hellger Koepff. An inauguration ceremony highlight was family member and member of Liebherr-International AG’s Board of Directors Jan Liebherr sitting on an LH 30 M material handler and cutting through a red steel girder with scrap shears.

At the opening of his speech, Werner Seifried spoke of being ‘proud’, expressed ‘gratitude and appreciation’ and talked about ‘aspiration and responsibility’. With the construction of a development and demonstration centre that is unique to Europe, he and his team are proud to have created something special that has a promising future. He showed gratitude and appreciation to the Liebherr family: he described the €30 million investment in the site where the company had its beginnings as a ‘massive sign of confidence in the Kirchdorf-based Liebherr employees.’ And aspiration and responsibility are inherent in Liebherr’s general approach, which Werner Seifried touched on when he said: ‘Excellent conditions call for top performances and also make these possible in return. Our innovative products are tested for the future using the highest standards and ultimately will be able to withstand tough conditions in day-to-day use by our customers.’

At midday, Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH’s Sales Manager Rudolf Arnold welcomed an audience of approximately 1,400 visitors from all over the world with a trilingual speech. He emphasised that with the new development and demonstration centre Liebherr will not only continue to develop the factory but that ‘the successful implementation of future-oriented technologies would be possible with this pioneering investment’. He assured the assembled customers and business partners that Liebherr would ‘also be a fair and reliable partner in the future’.

For the rest of the day, visitors were treated to a diverse programme of events. Following four impressive machine show demonstrations where a broad product portfolio could be seen in action, experts were available directly at the machines for visitors to talk to. Further details about the development and demonstration centre and information on current industry trends were shared with visitors across a range of presentations. The guided tours of the factory proved particularly popular: visitors were given the opportunity to find out about individual production processes and to see the exacting quality standards for themselves. A special highlight of the day was the test track experience. Those who wanted to take part were driven in an off-road vehicle over different parts of the track in order to experience the test conditions that will be used for the Liebherr construction machines and material handlers of the future.

The new development and demonstration centre

Going forward, new construction machines and material handlers will be developed, tested and checked at the new Kirchdorf development and demonstration centre so that they meet customer requirements as closely as possible. There is no comparable validation centre anywhere else in Europe. A test hall, a large test site with a 1.2 km test track and a demonstration area are located on a total area of 12.68 hectares. In total 2,700 tonnes of steel were installed in the hall. In addition, approximately 135,000 m³ of soil were moved on the test site, which is the equivalent of almost 243,000 tonnes.