Lifting 3D design to the next level

Liebherr Tower Cranes was looking to switch to a parametric design system to optimize the new and further development of its tower cranes. The company’s choice here fell on PTC Creo. And thanks to MAIT, Liebherr got much more than just new software.

DIE 3D-KONSTRUKTION AUF DAS NÄCHSTE LEVEL HEBEN

PTC Creo lays the foundations for integrated communication between the manufacturing department, suppliers, and customers

Liebherr Tower Cranes is one of the world's largest manufacturers of tower cranes. At the company’s headquarters in Biberach in southern Germany, and at two other production sites in Spain and India, around 2,000 employees design and build the landmarks of modern lifting technology that are "outstanding" in every sense of the word. When designing new cranes or developing existing ones, efficient methods and a powerful CAD program are crucial. So-called parametric design methods are particularly suitable for adapting existing models. "A non-parametric system tends to mean more work. Every change there virtually amounts to a new design," says Sebastian Schell, who works as a CAD method developer at Liebherr. And it was precisely this kind of non-parametric system that Biberach had been using exclusively for many years. "We wanted to put our 3D design on a new footing to make ourselves truly future-proof in this area too. In addition to new methods, we also needed modern design software here," says Peter Gottschling, Head of Enterprise Solutions at Liebherr Tower Cranes. The choice of software fell on "Creo Parametric" from the world-renowned software manufacturer PTC. The versatile and flexible 3D CAD application enables the particularly efficient and precise design and development of high-quality products. PTC Creo also lays the foundations for integrated communication between the manufacturing department, suppliers, and customers. In addition, PTC was already being used worldwide in the Liebherr Group in the areas of CAD and PLM. So it was also about consolidating the organization on a global level.

Sector Mechanical and plant engineering

Region Germany, India, Spain

Company size 2000 employees

First step—implementing new methods and processes

Peter Gottschling turned to MAIT to develop and implement methods and new software. The software and IT experts have been working with Liebherr for over 20 years. MAIT has been a technology partner of PTC since 1991 and is effectively "at home" in the manufacturing sector. So once again, MAIT quickly delivered the necessary proof of concept for Liebherr. As requested, one focus of the concept was on developing methods. To define the optimum workflows for developing the Liebherr products, MAIT first collected the requirements from various departments and teams. How do welded assemblies need to be mapped organizationally and in the CAD system for instance? How could and should departments work together beyond design? This resulted in optimized workflows, mostly based on what is termed "concurrent engineering" in the PTC Creo top-down design approach. For the steel construction division, for example, MAIT used a special Creo module and adapted it to Liebherr's needs. "The MAIT team didn't just demonstrate their thorough understanding of software, IT, and the industry. The advice they gave us on methods and processes was also invaluable," says Sebastian Schell from Liebherr.

"We wanted to put our 3D design on a new footing to make ourselves truly future-proof in this area too. In addition to new methods, we also needed modern design software here."

Peter Gottschling

Head of Enterprise Solutions at Liebherr Tower Cranes

Parallel approach and user training

Now that the development of methods has been completed, the focus since the beginning of 2022 has been on the application itself—on production operations and on continuously optimizing them. The production phase with the first designs began in mid-2022. From July of that year, the Liebherr designers created the first crane type using parametric design with PTC Creo. For the time being, the old and new systems will run alongside each other. One by one, all existing and new crane types are being transferred to PTC Creo. Peter Gottschling knows that switching to PTC Creo requires a complete rethink. That is especially true for the many experienced Liebherr design engineers who have been doing their job on a non-parametric basis for years or even decades. "New software in the company is always a challenge for the users. This applies all the more if it is replacing familiar workflows with completely new ones, as in the case of PTC Creo," he points out. The future key users therefore received training for the new application.

This will gradually be extended to all other users over the coming months. The joint MAIT-Liebherr project team is also planning a so-called "hypercare phase" to dispel any concerns from the outset. During this time, the design engineers concerned will receive particularly intensive support and guidance.

In focus: New quality standards with PTC Creo

The effects of the new system cannot be exactly quantified as yet. But: "Experience suggests that new working methods and the parametric approach will shorten the lead times for optimizing existing designs," says PTC expert Thomas Härtig from MAIT, who is in charge of the Liebherr project. This would mean that instead of four optimization loops, Liebherr could in future perhaps even achieve six within the same time and at lower cost. And what about the quality? That will increase too, says Härtig: "Because more iterations are now being achieved and all departments involved are better connected and networked, the results from the design department will be more precise and of higher quality in the future." On top of this, automating design tasks reduces the error rate and saves time, he adds. The Creo software also enables analyses, renderings, and animations. All of which means: ideal prerequisites for even greater productivity in Liebherr's design department in Biberach.