FCC

Liebherr Opens EUR 2.5 Million Excavator Test Bench

2026-07-30

Liebherr France SAS has commissioned a new crawler excavator test bench at its development and production facility in Colmar, France. The company has invested nearly EUR 2.5 million in the facility to improve the performance, durability and structural robustness of its machines.

Located close to Liebherr’s engineering teams, the test bench enables potential structural weaknesses to be identified at an early stage. This is expected to shorten the time between detecting an issue and implementing the required design improvements.

The facility can simulate accelerated ageing of excavator structures under controlled conditions. With an acceleration coefficient of 17, one hour of testing represents approximately 17 hours of actual construction-site operations.

Machines undergo intensive testing involving vibrations, impacts, bending and torsional forces. The testing procedures are based on operational data collected from customer sites across different applications. Field trials are subsequently conducted to validate the components.

The enclosed facility includes a test track and trench, along with a concrete wall and six-metre-high noise barriers to meet local noise protection requirements.

Excavators operating at the test bench are equipped with autonomous capabilities, allowing tests to be repeated without personnel being physically present. The procedures are remotely controlled and monitored from an external control room using cameras, sensors, laser systems and GPS tracking.

The project required nine months of planning and seven months of construction. Most of the mechanical steel structures were manufactured internally by Liebherr’s production teams at the Colmar site.