Liebherr Aerospace
Liebherr-Aerospace is the aerospace equipment manufacturing division of Liebherr. The company is an original equipment manufacturer ; its low visibility in the minds of end consumers can be attributed to the OEM nature of all of its operations.
Liebherr-Aerospace contributed €1.3 billion to total Liebherr group sales of €9 billion in 2016. This represented an increase of nearly 5% in turnover for the division. The division was reported to be employing around 5400 people all over the world. It has two primary production and assembly centres: Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse and Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg.
Some of the other sites include: Liebherr-Aerospace Saline, Michigan, U.S., Liebherr-Aerospace Singapore, Liebherr-Aerospace Dubai, U.A.E, Liebherr-Aerospace Laval, Canada, Liebherr-Aerospace Maintenance centre, Shanghai, Liebherr-Aerospace, Bangalore, India, Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse, Campsas site, Liebherr-Aerospace Brasil, Guaratingueta, Liebherr-Aerospace Nizhny Novgorod.
The Lindenberg and Toulouse centres of Liebherr have been recognized by the European Aviation Safety Agency as a Design Organization Approval certified company. This certification encompasses: landing gear systems, air management systems, and flight control actuation systems.
Production and other activities
Liebherr-Aerospace supplies aircraft flight control and actuation systems, landing gear, air management systems, on-board electronics as well as gears and gearboxes for the aerospace industry. These systems are deployed in wide-bodied aircraft, single aisle and regional aircraft, business jets, combat aircraft, military transport aircraft, military training aircraft, civil helicopters and combat helicopters.Being in Toulouse, Liebherr-Aerospace benefits from being in close proximity to the base of operations of one of their most important customers, Airbus.
Apart from manufacturing activities Liebherr-Aerospace also services and overhauls in-service components for their customers. It also provides training courses for mechanics, engineers and other relevant personnel who work with any Aircraft which carries Liebherr products.
USM – Used Serviceable Materials
On 16 July 2018, it was reported that Liebherr-Aerospace was expanding its services in a new direction by setting up a global network for USM parts to be managed from their Dubai offices. They plan to source own products and systems from retired aircraft, perform repairs if necessary and redistribute and sell through their network. The serviced parts will be released with appropriate airworthiness certifications and will come with a "Repaired by Liebherr" tag instead of a "New" tag. It is reported that their initial focus will be on Airbus fleets and families with a subsequent expansion. The target Customers are those with mature fleets, who will be requiring OEM quality parts at lower operation costs.Research and development
The firm was reported to have invested in 2017 about €70 million in R&D: more than 17% of revenue.B777X Wingtips
One of the most recent developments is the design of folding wingtips which are being implemented on the Boeing 777X. Due to its much larger wingspan the 777X could not be classified in the same category as the B777. With the folding wingtips 777X will still be in the same wingspan category as the B777. For take-off, the wing tips will be unfolded back into the horizontal position, providing the benefit of an extended span to increase fuel efficiency. The folding wing tip system is the first of its kind in commercial aviation.3D Printing and Fuel Cells
The firm uses 3D printing technology to manufacture some of their products. The firm has also invested in developing tools and parts of their products using titanium because of the benefits it offers.The firm is working on developing fuel cells along with their partners General Motors. Liebherr is interested in the use of fuel cells to replace APU's on conventional aircraft, greatly reducing emissions. GM on the other hand is aiming to develop a primary source of energy for electric cars.