Gray skies, wind and blowing rain couldn’t stifle the enthusiasm and comradery at Liebherr USA Customer Day 2022 last week on the supplier’s sprawling new Newport News, Virginia, campus. More than 600 customers, partners and dealers from across multiple sectors toured the new state-of-the-art facilities, perused more than 30 exhibits, and witnessed demonstrations of more than a dozen machines.
Managing Director Dr. Tim Gerhardt delivered opening comments to the press, stating that the company is seeing a possibly sustainable uptick in business and expects a solid performance in 2022 if current trends continue.
“Despite the current challenges, I am pleased to report that Liebherr USA has started the year with plenty of force, and we are cautiously optimistic about the rest of the year,” he said. “The continued success of the group lies in the teamwork, dedication and enthusiasm of our most important resource, our employees.”
Liebherr USA employs 1,200 in the U.S.
Of its mining machines, the company showcased the 70-metric-ton PR 776 GA dozer, successor to the PR 776, described as the world’s biggest hydrostatic dozer. The unit offers “best-in-class efficiency for customers,” the company reported.
Liebherr officially announced the opening of the 23,000-m2 expanded campus in the third quarter of 2020. The campus provides workspace for roughly 500 employees in administration, finance, human resources, sales, information technology, marketing, product support, and distribution for nine different products, including mining haul trucks.
“With the new technology hub and point of contact for our U.S. customers here in Newport News, we are preparing for the future while investing in our customer’s success,” Gerhardt said.
With substantial workshop space, the new facilities offer “enhanced service and repair capabilities,” and “increase our capacity for repair operations and pre-delivery inspection,” he said. “We also have space for reconditioning machines.”
The new workshop is “closer to our many customers in the Northeast region, which will contribute to lower costs” both for Liebherr and customers, Gerhardt said.
The $60 million expansion project began in July 2020.
