by Harry Hunter | Thu 30 Jul 2026
Liebherr continue investment in Colmar facility
Liebherr France SAS has commissioned a new crawler excavator test bench at its Colmar production and development facility, strengthening its ability to validate machine designs, improve durability and accelerate the development of autonomous technologies.
The new facility, which represents an investment of almost €2.5 million, entered service earlier this year and is designed to identify potential structural issues much earlier in the development process. By locating the test bench alongside its engineering teams, Liebherr aims to shorten development cycles and bring design improvements to production more quickly.
The installation replicates the demanding conditions crawler excavators experience on site, subjecting machines to vibrations, torsional forces, impacts and bending loads under carefully controlled conditions. Accelerated durability testing allows one hour on the rig to simulate 17 hours of real-world operation, enabling engineers to assess long-term performance far more efficiently.
Test programmes are based on operating data collected from customer machines working across a wide range of applications, ensuring realistic testing before final field validation.
The facility consists of both a test track and a trench housed within an enclosed building. A concrete wall and six-metre-high noise barriers have also been incorporated to ensure the site complies with local industrial noise regulations.
Beyond structural testing, the installation also plays an important role in Liebherr's autonomous machine development. Excavators operating on the test bench can carry out repeated testing cycles without an operator onboard, with all activities controlled remotely from an external control room using a network of cameras.
A combination of physical barriers, electronic safety systems and GPS monitoring ensures the autonomous machines operate safely within the test environment and cannot leave the facility without authorisation.
The project was led by Liebherr's testing department and required nine months of planning followed by seven months of construction. Much of the mechanical steelwork used to build the facility was manufactured in-house by production teams at the Colmar site, highlighting the company's extensive in-house engineering capabilities.
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