A technical tour de force: Dr Ulrich Hamme

It is the end of an era at Liebherr-Werk Ehingen in Germany. The huge business, with its vast wheeled and crawler mobile crane manufacturing complex situated between Stuttgart and Munich, is soon to say goodbye to its technical managing director of just over 30 years.

Dr Ulrich Hamme, retiring after more than 30 years as technical managing director at Liebherr-Werk Ehingen in Germany. Photo: Liebherr

Dr Ulrich Hamme is only the second holder of the post since the Ehingen company was started in 1969. Since then it has been expanded into a business widely considered as being the pinnacle of mobile crane development worldwide. As a division of the family-owned Liebherr group (Euro 14 billion in annual sales) it accounts for one quarter of the total annual turnover.

One of many elements of the story in Dr Hamme’s time at Liebherr has been the emergence, development and coming of age of the all terrain crane and the realisation of this crane type’s full potential. Liebherr wheeled mobile telescopic boom cranes of the all terrain type are designated LTM and LTC in their nomenclature.

Alex Dahm asked Dr Hamme about his time in the industry and his take on all things mobile crane.

Alex Dahm: What was the first contact you remember having with the world of mobile cranes?
Dr Ulrich Hamme: At the beginning of the 1990s I worked as a technical manager in a steel and plant construction company. At the time, we manufactured steel carrier frames for the mobile and crawler cranes for Liebherr in Ehingen, in the production facilities in Saarland, Germany, and Alsace, France.

During this time, I made my first contacts with Liebherr’s production and customer service departments.

AD: How did your career in the mobile crane industry begin?
UH: At the end of 1993 the first technical managing director of the Liebherr company in Ehingen (founded in 1969), Rudolf Becker, wanted to retire.

To find a successor, a nationwide job advertisement was published in the national print media in Germany at the time. I successfully applied for the position. Since mid-1994, I have been the second technical managing director at Liebherr in Ehingen.

Which crane was the first to be designed and produced under your responsibility?

The first crane Dr Hamme started to design, in 1994, was the 5-axle LTM 1160/2 with a 6-section 60 metre boom. Photo: Liebherr

The first completely new crane type that we started to design in 1994 was the 5-axle LTM 1160/2 with a 6-section 60 metre boom, the first crane with the revolutionary telescoping rapid-cycle system Telematik.

The crane was first delivered in 1996 and was sold more than 500 times in the following seven years.

What were the biggest changes and advances in design and development tools during your many years in the business?
With the gradual development from two-dimensional design to modelling with 3D CAD systems, from the drawing to the digital 3D model, we were able to optimally support the needs of our manufacturing company.

A suitable product lifecycle management system (PLM) then became the digital basis for our development and production processes. Design and production ‘merge’ in the virtual crane model. All areas, including training and education, documentation and customer service, are integrated.

A two axle LTM 1030-2.1 from the fleet of Franz Bracht working at the Möhnetalsperre reservoir in Germany. More than 3,000 of these two axle 30 tonners have been delivered. Photo: Liebherr

I am sure you have some favourite cranes. What are they and why?
The development of our first successful cranes under my responsibility had a decisive influence on the start of my career at Liebherr. I could name the LTM 1030-2.1 [30 tonnes capacity] and the LTM 1500-8.1 [500 tonnes] as my favourite cranes.

The LTM 1030-2.1 impresses with its simplicity, performance and economy. It was the first highly digitised all terrain crane of its time.

The 8-axle LTM 1500-8.1 (later with Y-guying) is legendary and was built more than 600 times. At the end of its production period in 2021, it was ennobled by a customer as the ‘best crane of all time.’

The 500 tonne capacity LTM 1500-8.1 is one of Dr Hamme’s favourite cranes. This one, owned by Hofmann, is pictured in 2012 erecting a wind turbine in Germany. Photo: Liebherr

Which is the most popular crane you have developed in terms of the number of units sold?
Our ‘smallest’ and ‘oldest’ is our ‘biggest’. We have sold almost 3,000 units of the 2-axle LTM 1030-2.1 since 1997.

Together with its ‘big brother’, the LTM 1040-2.1, we have sold around 4,000 units. The 4-axle LTM 1070-4.2 ranks second in the series of large-volume units with approximately 1,800 units sold.

What are the five most important innovations in mobile cranes you have experienced during your time in the industry?
Mobile cranes have developed fundamentally in almost all areas over the last 30 years, both in terms of vehicle and crane technology. The flexibility with which they can be used worldwide under the most diverse conditions and the resulting cost-effectiveness have been significantly increased.

In addition to economic efficiency, the environmental compatibility of mobile cranes has been significantly improved. I would like to mention the following key technical innovations in detail:

- Telescopic boom design with single-cylinder cycle telescoping system Telematik

- Reduction of exhaust emissions by more than 90 per cent up to the current emission stage V

- Lightweight construction with high-strength fine-grained structural steels up to S1300 (1,300 MPa)

- Single-engine design for all – from the smallest to the largest – all terrain cranes

- Safe lifting of loads and setting up of mobile cranes thanks to powerful, digital crane control systems such as Liccon 3.

Which advances in new materials have had the greatest impact on the design and performance of mobile cranes?
Lightweight construction has always been one of the key development drivers for mobile cranes. Mobile cranes must be able to move flexibly on public roads and then lift the highest possible loads in a large working area with little effort at the place of use.

The load-bearing material for this lightweight construction is and remains steel. Modern steels, both sheets and tubes, have been further developed in recent decades, particularly for the extraordinarily demanding applications in mobile construction cranes. Cold formability and weldability have been further developed to meet the high demands on strength, ductility and toughness.

Today, steels with yield strengths of up to 1,300 MPa are used in boom constructions.

How important are patents for the protection of intellectual property?
At Liebherr in Ehingen, we pursue a ‘passive’ strategy with our intellectual property rights. First and foremost, we want to ensure that we can continue to develop freely in the future and turn our ideas into future-orientated new products without being hindered by others. In addition, industrial property rights are suitable for stimulating the inventive spirit and creativity of our employees.

Which last crane design are you working on before you retire?

The new LTM 1120-4.2 with Liccon3 control system making its debut at the Bauma trade show in Munich on 7 April. Photo: Liebherr

I can’t answer this question today, as the finished crane will only be launched on the market in the next few years. But you can be sure: the development of modern, future-proof cranes, with all their increasingly complex requirements, is continuing at our company. We have new, spectacular crane concepts in the pipeline. Our customers can already look forward to them.

We have also completed the development of some very current products. These machines are now being launched at Bauma in Munich. A completely new 3-axle crane, of course with Liccon3, with a high load capacity and incredibly light, to quickly and easily solve the problem of weight-limited bridge structures worldwide. A concept that sets new standards in terms of lightweight construction and of which I am absolutely convinced.

Then a look at our electric fleet. For the first time, we are launching a 5-axle crane with a battery for electric crane work [ICST March 2025, page 13]. It can work both on the grid and autonomously on the construction site with its battery. This makes it locally zero emission free – and not only carbon dioxide emission-free, but also significantly quieter. This 150 tonne crane comes as a Liccon3 crane, at the same time as the new Liccon3 version of the LTM 1150-5.3, which will then run as the LTM 1150-5.4 with immediate effect – or as the LTM 1150-5.4E in the electric version.

This means we now have alternative drive concepts for all terrain cranes with the LTM and LTC, for mobile construction cranes with our entire MK series and for smaller crawler cranes up to the 300 tonne crane with electric drive and battery, the LR 1300.2 SX unplugged.

This means that we are probably currently the crane supplier with the largest range of alternatively powered cranes in the world. It is clearly one of our most important future directions.

We are also presenting another crane in Liccon3 design, the LTM 1120-4.2.

The second important direction is digital products and services. In our pavilion at Bauma, we are showcasing numerous further developments that simplify the day-to-day business of our customers around the world, namely the operation of mobile and crawler cranes, whether it’s job planning, maintenance and service or the training of drivers and workshop personnel.

Last but not least, on the subject of design, we are currently designing the first Mobile Crane Operator World Championship. We are looking for the best mobile crane operator on the planet. Find out more at Bauma!

What advice would you like to offer your successor at Liebherr?
In my opinion, it is important that my successor finds the balance between what has already been done successfully recently and what needs to be new and further developed for a successful future.

In doing so, it is important to ‘take along’ many know-how and knowledge carriers from all areas of the company and the industry as a whole, especially our customers, of course.

The development of high-quality, technologically sophisticated capital goods such as our mobile cranes is constantly evolving, as requirements and technical possibilities are constantly changing.

My successor Bernd Boos should also succeed in forging and then implementing good crane concepts under these conditions. Bernd Boos has been with us for many years and knows our philosophy and crane construction with all its components – so I am optimistic about the future of cranes at Liebherr.

Dr Hamme, left, with his successor Bernd Boos, ready to take over as only the company’s third managing director for design and engineering since it was started in 1969. Photo: Liebherr