Ever Better

Liebherr USA Co. has a new general manager of customer service for mobile and crawler cranes.

In April, Arnold Burger succeeded Ralf Vieten, who had led the group since 2017 and is now working on a special project.

Burger was chosen for this important leadership role because leaders at Liebherr headquarters in Ehingen, Germany, felt his success at leading customer service throughout the southern half of Africa made him a perfect fit.

“During a meeting of customer service managers in Ehingen, Ralf and Liebherr’s head of customer service asked whether I’d be interested in leading the U.S. customer service team,” said Burger. “Of course, I was excited about this tremendous opportunity, but moving from South Africa to the U.S. would mean some very big cultural changes. Still, it didn’t take long for my wife, two daughters, and I to decide to make the leap.”

New Country, Culture In March 2022, the Burgers moved to Virginia, the home of Liebherr USA, and began getting used to the new country.

“The transition was not always easy, but it was mostly good,” Burger said. “For one thing, in South Africa we spoke Afrikaans. It’s a lot like Dutch. After having lived here 16 months, we’re now used to speaking English.”

Burger said one plus about the U.S. is better schools, and a second is that the power company doesn’t cut electricity to some customers when demand is high. “In South Africa,” he said, “they sometimes shut it off three times a day for three hours each time.”

Burger also said Vieten helped smooth out the transition by explaining how life in the U.S. works, including how to buy a house and a car.

Well Qualified

Technical education, apprenticeships, and more than 16 years of serving Liebherr customers taught Burger the job well. 

After graduating from technical school as an electrician, he spent four years as an apprentice who maintained heavy equipment in mines.

That experience led to his joining Liebherr South Africa in 2007 as a field service technician repairing cranes all over the southern half of the continent.

In 2009, Burger became a technical advisor. Instead of being in the field, he used a phone and computer to help other technicians diagnose and solve problems.

In 2009, he also was promoted to field service foreman-manager, a position that carried the added responsibility of scheduling, training, and other managerial duties.

Over the next seven years in that role, Burger got a solid education about delivering excellent customer service.

Burger learned a lot by being part of a strong, motivated Liebherr team, and particularly from Lex Winson, the region’s head of customer service. “Lex did everything properly, by the book. I learned so much from him,” Burger said.

In 2016, Burger was put in charge of the entire service department, including field service, the repair shop, parts, training, and administration.

That’s where he was in 2022 when the opportunity to become head of customer service for Liebherr USA’s mobile and crawler crane division came knocking.

Growing in U.S.

Here in the U.S., Burger is in charge of the entire customer service team, from field service, to parts, training, in-shop techs, and administration.

Today, that’s a staff of 122. By year’s end it will grow to 132.

“We have a strong customer service team, but we must always be getting better, and we need to grow in order to keep up with the ever-expanding population of Liebherr cranes in the U.S.,” Burger said.

He noted that Liebherr now has 41 traveling field service techs in the U.S., and that the number will grow to 50 by year’s end.  

Liebherr techs initially work in the company’s shops for about two years, so they can learn with the help of veteran technicians. 

As they get closer to being ready for field duty, Liebherr sends them out — at its expense — with experienced field techs. 

In addition to the field and shop technicians, Liebherr USA has eight technical advisers and three technical managers to provide support both for Liebherr techs and for customer techs.

To speed up response to calls for information or service, , the company has set up a ticketing system with a goal of responding in 30 minutes or less.

For fastest parts response, Liebherr’s four U.S. warehouses collectively stock 80% of the parts for models that are in the country.

And Liebherr USA’s customer support looks like it will get even better.

“We have a couple of interesting projects coming up. Stay tuned,” Burger said.