Case Study Liebherr

Since 1976, Liebherr-Werk Telfs GmbH has been producing a steadily growing range of construction machinery with hydrostatic drive. The company can draw on the many years of experience of the Liebherr Group – one of the world’s largest construction machinery manufacturers – with this type of drive. The vehicles produced in Telfs are consistently designed for high cost-effectiveness, with a focus on increasing efficiency and reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

State-of-the-art, computer-aided technologies are used in both development and production. The site, which employs more than 850 people, relies on consistent digitalization measures to ensure the necessary flexibility, quality, and delivery reliability as customer-centric success factors. Toni Ferstl, Head of Industrial Engineering Manufacturing, was tasked with selecting an MES for manufacturing at the time. He recalls: “An efficient shop floor is, of course, indispensable; that has always been clear to us. With the introduction of an MES, we have taken a logical evolutionary step that helps us to significantly optimize transparency, response speed, and personal responsibility in manufacturing.”

MES: Single point of entry for workers

Christina Radis, Business Solution Architect Production – MES, is also very familiar with the opportunities and challenges associated with this: “Our construction machines are characterized by an extremely high degree of equipment variability. Every order and every step involves specific requirements in terms of materials, manufacturing steps, and, of course, our employees. It is therefore crucial to ensure that workers have comprehensive information throughout the manufacturing process.” The all-important drawings, parts lists, work plans, and instructions are now available in ONE place: cronetwork MES! “What used to involve lots of paper documents, repeated searches for information, and potential sources of error, we wanted to provide our colleagues on the shop floor with a single point of entry. All the necessary information about the current order is now available in one system and no longer has to be laboriously gathered together. This allows us to eliminate manual errors, become faster overall, and take a big step toward paperless manufacturing,” says Radis, who sees further added value in the fact that users can not only obtain information, but also provide feedback (e.g., noting missing parts on the parts list). She adds: “For the manufacturing area, MES has become the most important tool alongside our ERP Infor LN, from where material calculations, work plans, and instructions, etc. are provided in cronetwork, and the provision of drawings from PLM also works flawlessly. We can also access these on our tablets to ensure maximum mobility at the set-up stations.”

Data hub cronetwork MES

cronetwork MES was introduced in the areas of cutting, steel construction, mechanics, painting, and intralogistics with the aim of providing broad coverage across the entire production area. In addition to the aforementioned central function of providing information to workers, the use of PDC reporting terminals also plays an important role at the Liebherr plant in Telfs. In addition to classic order reporting, MES incident reporting is the first option for workers to pass on information when there is a problem or an unforeseen incident to report. Radis knows that this is an important point for those responsible at Liebherr, as it ensures the necessary transparency in the area of in-house production: “During ongoing operations, we repeatedly identify potential for optimization, e.g., with regard to reducing missing parts and waiting times, and we also obtain important key figures in the administrative area for increasing productivity in production.”

This refers, among other things, to expert portals that give master craftsmen and team leaders real-time insight into their production from their PCs and provide a picture of what is currently happening on the shop floor. Production control also makes intensive use of cronetwork MES and, in particular, PIDO Business Intelligence for evaluations, on the basis of which further measures and strategies are planned.

In total, nearly 100 workers at 80 terminals and approximately 40 administrative staff (foremen, team leaders, production managers, production controllers, industrial engineers, etc.) now work with cronetwork MES on a daily basis. Right from the start of the MES project, all employees were extensively informed and trained as part of a change process, which today, in conjunction with the recognized potential, is reflected in high acceptance and productivity. For Christina Radis, the integrated no-code approach in the software is a key factor for success, as it allows optimizations based on employee requests to be implemented quickly and easily, which ultimately leads to additional acceptance.

Professional partnership instead of in-house programming

For several years now, Liebherr has been moving away from individual in-house programming toward external professional systems from providers who understand their “craft.” The best-of-breed approach pursued allows for long-term and sustainable partnerships. “In Telfs, we have been manufacturing heavy construction machinery for more than 50 years. This is where our core expertise lies. We were looking for an equally professional partner for shop floor digitalization—and found it in Industrie Informatik,“ says Toni Ferstl, who goes on to explain the decision in favor of cronetwork MES: ”At Industrie Informatik, we were impressed by the size and culture of the company and its customer base. In addition, with cronetwork, they offer a compelling solution that grows with market requirements and always pursues the goal of remaining genuine standard software. To date, we are happy with our choice!” According to Ferstl, this is also due to the targeted support and close cooperation in independently driven further developments and any projects.

Even at the highest management level, people are aware of the advantages of a digital shop floor in conjunction with cronetwork MES: Liebherr Werk-Telfs Managing Director Alfred Weithaler: “As an order-based factory with a wide range of products and diverse options in product configuration, it is important to me to provide our customers with the right parts at the right time and in the best quality. Fast throughput times are essential for this. The greatest potential for optimizing throughput times lies in eliminating downtime. The MES from cronetwork supports us in this, and we have made the leap from manual “foreman control” to professional, digital production control.”

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the benefits of Liebherr’s digital efforts at its Telfs site can be summarized as follows:

• Increased transparency and, as a result, greatly improved decision-making quality
• Reaction speed to disruptions and incidents has been dramatically increased
• Bundled information provision for shop floor employees
• Single point of entry for bidirectional information provision with the option of providing additional tools for workers in cronetwork MES

And there is still a long way to go! While Infor LN is still being used for planning against unlimited capacities, cronetwork detailed planning APS is expected to deliver the next wave of efficiency and optimization potential.

As mentioned at the beginning, the introduction of cronetwork MES was a conscious evolutionary step that has so far paid off in many ways for Liebherr Werk-Telfs GmbH and its responsible players, and both Liebherr and Industrie Informatik are looking forward to further steps in partnership toward a paperless, digital future!

photos: © LIEBHERR