by Nick Drew | Sat 16 Apr 2016
Being Part of Something Bigger
“Be Part of Something Bigger” was the catchy slogan plastered all around Liebherr’s impressive booth at Bauma which covers an area of 14,000m2, that’s the size of two football pitches! The Digger Man Blog was kindly invited along to take a closer look.
The importance of social media channels grows every day and full credit must go to Liebherr who have clearly recognised the potential to reach out to a massive online following from readers who are passionate about plant and machinery, including enthusiasts, operators, and existing and potential customers. In what I see as a ground-breaking move, Liebherr invited a select group of around a dozen people who have a large online presence who they described as “social media influencers” guys like Lasse Holst of the Danish Construction Channel and Chris Maginnis with his Awesome Earthmovers page, both of whom have a huge following and are still doing it as a hobby just like I was when I first started on this journey in 2008. The assembled group were given an exclusive look around the booth and some of the 60 products on display including 20 global premieres.
Over the coming days we will take a look at some of these products individually in more detail. But first up among the new products Liebherr presented were the new generation of mid-sized wheeled loaders featuring the latest Stage IV/Tier 4 final emissions compliant engines. The new range comprises of three models, the L 526, L 538 and L 546 which tip the scales from 11,250kgs to 14,200kgs with bucket capacity’s ranging from 2.1m3 to 2.8m3.
According to Liebherr the new L 526, L 538 and L 546 models have been developed to meet the current requirements of the market. The well proven and efficient hydrostatic driveline also looks set to impress with fuel savings quoted to be up to 25 % in comparison with wheel loaders of the same size class. Liebherr offers numerous application-specific solutions to increase versatility. With these models, customers can choose between Z-bar linkage for standard applications and parallel lift arms for industrial applications.
The hydrostatic driveline allows rapid and continuous acceleration in all speed ranges, without discernible gear-changing processes and without interruption in tractive force. In addition, it autonomously applies the brakes so that the service brake only has to provide supportive assistance and thus remains almost free of wear. Continuous traction control, combined with automatic self-locking differentials, prevents wheel spin. This means that tyre wear is reduced by up to 25 % and operating costs are decreased.
These machines use the proven exhaust gas after-treatment system, which comprises of a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC), diesel particle filter (DPF) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR). The system is state of the art in this machine class.
A wide ladder leads to a roomy, modern comfort cab that is ergonomically adjusted to suit the machine operator. The interior of the cab is logically structured and provides a spacious feeling. Storage and stowage facilities appear tidy and are well-conceived down to the smallest detail. Displays, control elements and operator’s seat form an ergonomic unit. The control instruments are laid out in a clear manner so the machine operator can view all operation-related machine data at a glance.
I spent some hands on time on a smaller Liebherr wheeled loader at a quarry just a stone’s throw away from the Messe Munchen exhibition centre and found the machine to be very impressive, even though they are not something I tend to spend much time on, but more on that in a future blog post.