What distinguishes Liebherr from its competition in the hospitality sector?
Nick Cooper: Liebherr products are renowned for outstanding build quality and energy efficiency. Reliability, sustainability and maximum use of available space are key design factors for us, and the combination of these aspects results in products that are long-lasting, quiet and cost-effective.
Furthermore, Liebherr continuously strives to improve products for the benefit of its customers. This entails ongoing substantial investment in developing innovative products and manufacturing technologies. We implement a long-term programme of product rejuvenation and development with regard to new technologies, changing market requirements and customer feedback. This year, many Liebherr products for the hospitality sector will move to larger temperature displays and simpler operation while incorporating the changes required for our connectivity solution.
Your latest refrigerators and freezers now include remote connectivity. What advantages does this offer to hotel managers regarding the running of their kitchens?
Our new connectivity solution provides a number of useful benefits for hotel managers. The dashboard is designed to give, at a glance, an overview of all the connected refrigeration units within a manager’s portfolio – which could be spread over multiple locations – with a simple indication as to whether everything is working within the defined parameters. At a stroke, HACCP temperature-monitoring duties become a thing of the past, with all data capable of being downloaded at regular intervals from the cloud and stored at one central point. Beyond monitoring temperatures and storing data, the Liebherr solution will also provide analytic functions that can help to identify operational issues or provide alarms where an erratic function is registered.
What lengths has Liebherr gone to in making its refrigeration and freezer units environmentally sustainable?
Sustainability is a part of Liebherr’s DNA. It was possibly the first of the larger manufacturers to introduce the use of environmentally friendly hydrocarbon refrigerants in its entire standard professional range. Within the production process, heat energy is reclaimed and plastic materials are recycled. A considerable part of the distribution from the factories is by rail, thus further reducing the environmental footprint. An ISO 14001 environmental management system has been in place for many years in all Liebherr refrigeration factories.
What after-sales services do you offer customers?
Liebherr has either branches or sales-and-service partners for refrigeration products in 38 countries in Europe and in over 40 countries outside of Europe. The global service network is continuing to expand and continuous training programmes are in place to improve the quality of our service as appliances become more sophisticated. Liebherr is in a strong position to support its products with multinational hospitality customers in many locations around the globe.
Furthermore, the company goes to great lengths to ensure the availability of spare parts. The spares parts and service documentation, which is available online to our service partners, is exemplary and covers products going back 20 years or more. We believe that excellent products should also have excellent service support, and are therefore committed to continuously improving our customer service as part of our corporate strategy.
On 5-8 March 2018, Liebherr is exhibiting at Hotelympia in London. What products will you be displaying?
As with previous exhibitions – where we forged lasting relationships with UK distributors and design houses – we are once again looking forward to engaging with our colleagues who support the catering, hospitality and retail sectors.
At stand 1250 of the Professional Kitchen Show, Liebherr- Great Britain will be showing a cross section of products relevant to many segments besides food service, including beverage, bakery, ice cream and food retail. Our exclusive range of wine cabinets will also be represented, including dual and triple temperature models. We will be on hand to discuss future and current refrigeration requirements, as well as welcoming ideas for future development.
