Liebherr’s manufacturing plant in Ehingen, Germany recently underwent a significant upgrade, replacing five ageing overhead cranes with new ones during the company holiday in early August.
The project involved dismantling and installing double-girder overhead travelling cranes, which have lifting capacities ranging from 40 to 63 tonnes and span 28m. The 63-tonne crane is notably equipped with two hoists.
The task was executed by three mobile cranes from the Schmidbauer Group, including a Liebherr LTC 1045-3.1 from Memmingen and two cranes, LTM 1110-5.1 and LTM 1130-5.1, from Ulm.
According to Liebherr, the operation presented logistical challenges due to the tight time frame and limited space within the assembly hall for crawler and large mobile cranes.
The indoor cranes had to be dismantled and reassembled almost simultaneously during the non-production period.
The confined space required precise coordination among fitters and crane operators, as well as the use of special assembly jibs to navigate the narrow clearance between the crane jib and the hall ceiling.
The Schmidbauer Group’s mobile cranes played distinct roles in the operation: the LTC 1045-3.1 handled the trolleys with hoists, the LTM 1110-5.1 managed the removal of old bridge crane girders, and the LTM 1130-5.1 installed new girders.
The experienced crane operators utilised Liebherr’s sensitive control system to manoeuvre large components with precision in the restricted environment.
This project coincides with Rieger & Moser’s 80th anniversary, a member of the Schmidbauer Group, highlighting their long-standing expertise in crane operations.
