Liebherr Mobile and Crawler Cranes has upped the ante in terms of product support with the appointment of Dino Mosca as Product Support Manager. Dino explains more about this newly created role and what customers can expect to see from Liebherr in terms of product support.
“I started with Liebherr in the Crawler Crane and Foundation division 10 years ago. My initial role was as a Technical Support Manager for the first five years. When the opportunity arose, I progressed to become the head of Customer Service and National Service Manager for the Crawler Crane and Foundation business.
“When this new role was created, I saw it as an exciting opportunity to move across to the Mobile Cranes and Crawler Cranes division. I have extensive experience with mobile cranes having worked for almost 20 years as an auto electrician, which introduced me to the vast range of brands and models of crane s within the industry,
“My initial responsibility has been supporting our highly skilled team, on the delivery of 24 machines to the Commonwealth. I project manage the final stages of the delivery of the machines within set deadlines and then provide continued support to the Commonwealth thereafter. This will be successfully achieved with the assistance of digital packages such as MyLiebherr. My Liebherr is our online customer portal which provides the customer with an extensive range of services, including but not limited to machine documentation, spare parts catalogues and digital products,”
Dino says.
“In addition to this project, being the designated point of contact for the customer after the handover of a new or used machine, my new role will also focus on enhancing customer satisfaction, and to support growth of the after sales market. Customers will be encouraged to provide feedback to assist in fine tuning our performance throughout the delivery process,” said Dino.
Another element of the role which flows on from aftersales, will be overseeing the warranty and modifications programs. Fine tuning these processes will make an important contribution to the overall customer service experience.
Supply chain disruptions continue to impact on delivery times for new equipment says Dino, and it’s a situation that isn’t going to change any time soon.
“The biggest issues we’re facing at the moment are the delays with sea freight and delays relating to components as a result of disrupted supply chains. Manufacturing is impacted because of the lack of availability of steel, silicon and other components provided by external suppliers.
“The other major challenge is staff shortages and the lack of adequate skilled personnel to cover the volume of work that we have here at Liebherr. Managing this is an ongoing challenge, to support the needs of a growing business. Our customers are faced with the same problem, how do you attract skilled people into the industry and how do you retain them?,” said Dino.
Despite these challenges, Dino confirms the market is very strong at the moment.
“Our regular meetings here at Liebherr indicate the market is very strong for the crane industry at the moment. The industry sectors where most cranes operating include construction , resources and renewable energy look set to remain strong for some time to come.
“My role as Product Support Manager is designed to support our team, achieve our goals with a special focus on the customer and the introduction of our digital platform. While the role is slightly different to my previous roles, my background has predominantly customer service focused.
“With 30 years of experience, dealing with customers and working with sales, parts and service teams, is definitely my strength, I have a technical background as well and have found this to be of great benefit in my role,” Dino says.
The new MyLiebherr is Liebherrs’ new digital platform. It is the entry point for a customer who has purchased a machine. MyLiebherr is an online customer portal enabling the customer to access machine specific documentation. Dino explains more.
“MyLiebherr is a very exciting development, and it is going to make product support even more comprehensive for our customers.
“There is a complete spare parts catalogue available on-line specific to their machine serial number, along with the possibility of ordering parts on-line directly, in the not too distant future.
“In addition to spare parts, customers can purchase digital products, training packages and renew license’s online. Being able to access all product segments from one interface will make the experience effortless for those customers with products across different segments within the Liebherr group. MyLiebherr is constantly improving and developing with a strong focus on customer service needs.”.
With the launch of Hybrid initiatives from several crane manufacturers, the success of the Liebherr Unplugged series, and increasing demands to reduce carbon footprints in most industry sectors, Dino can see some significant changes coming to the
crane sector.
“We are looking at some very interesting product developments over the next few years. I won’t say the market is going to go purely electric because there are a number of alternate fuels emerging which will suit applications better,” he says.
“If you look at the full lifecycle of electric batteries compared to an internal combustion engine, they are very close. Of course, there are emissions with the combustion engine, and this impacts the environment, but you also need to consider all direct and indirect factors associated with the total life cycle of the batteries and what application it will be used for. All of this needs to be factored into the conversation.”
“It goes without saying that Liebherr is constantly working on all of these developments and our design and engineering teams will always work to produce the right products for the right applications. This means my role will continue to evolve and develop. As new products are rolled out, it will be my job to ensure we have the right product support in place for these new and emerging technologies
“Our product and brand are very strong globally but at Liebherr we understand the need to be at the top of your game all the time. There is always room to learn, grow, adapt and react to changes. The Liebherr brand is very strong, but other manufacturers are coming with competitive products which are only going to get better. Liebherr will need to be prepared for all of these scenarios. Being confident and having the name is not enough, we need to be ahead of the game and Liebherrs increased focus on product support is the ideal step forward in keeping ahead of the game.”