The festivities started on Wednesday, 28th September, with a ceremony in which a large number of representatives from industry and politics, as well as numerous long-time business partners participated. On the second day Liebherr-Werk Nenzing welcomed around 500 guests from all over the world (including yours truly). The open day was an extraordinary performance showcase of the Nenzing factory. We enjoyed a varied programme consisting of company tours, machinery presentations, multi-vision shows, information displays and renowned Liebherr hospitalty. The company tour participants were led through all production facilities which offered us an insight into the ultra-modern production technologies such as fully automated robot manufacturing in the new workshop building 8. Moreover, we had the opportunity to get a close look at mega machines such as mobile harbour cranes and offshore cranes, always a thrill for those of us who have never grown up! On the test stand product presentations demonstrated how two mobile harbour cranes weighing up to 600 tonnes handle containers or move heavy loads in tandem operation with utmost precision by using the Sycatronic – a crane operator assistance system. Sycratronic or Sunschronizing Crane Control System combines the two cranes as one and makes it easier to control by just one crane operator. By using Sycratronic diagonall pull is avoided making sure that crane is not overloaded and that there is no overload to traverse, lifting eyes, etc.
Innovations
One of the highlights was the presentation of the first hydraulic hybrid drive Pactronic for mobile harbour cranes, providing an increase in turnover combined with reduced fuel consumption. This innovative drive system and its positive effects on the working speed were impressively demonstrated on the prototype of the new mobile harbour crane LHM 420. But as you might expect with Liebherr Werk-Nenzing there are some “subtle” items on the agenda presented to the press, which might not be obvious but after close inspection worth mentioning. One of these innovations introduced for the offshore industry was the revolutionary Active Heave Compensation (AHC) system, which registers the strength of wave movement and accurately aligns the suspended load. Obviously the offshore industry might not be relevant for this publication but the AHC system is. Having addressed the issue of floating cranes in the June issue (see page 43 – “Taking to the Water”) and the problems involved with container handling for such a system can this be the first step in the right direction? There are many floating container cranes ideas on the market but there is the problem of rolling and heave of the pontoon. Liebherr has experience with cranes on floating pontoons and is involved in floating bulk terminals so there might be solution on the horizon with this AHC System. Another new development in the field of materials technology is the new crawler crane pendant straps made of carbon fibres. The special properties of carbon fibre and its relative lightness (conventional ropes weigh in at 2.5 tonnes while carbon fibre pendants weigh 0.88 tonnes) offer a huge potential for technical progress. Again, this might be the first step in using carbon fibre in other Liebherr products and although Liebherr representatives were not able to provide further information on this due to pending patents we believe that carbon fibre will be used in the near future on their range of port equipment.
Liebherr philosophy
At the end of a long day the 500 guests were invited for a boat tour and dinner. During dinner the hosts, (son and daughter of founder Hans Liebherr) Willi Liebherr and Isolde Liebherr (with their respective children), joined their guests. For those of you who may not be aware Liebherr is a family business and this was certainly reflected by the family’s down to earth approach during the evening , promoting a friendly”feel good” attitude during their 35th Anniversary and making us all forget that they are running a EUR 7.6 billion company with 33,000 employees worldwide.