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Hilti and Liebherr: Every single product represents the brand
How product design and brand management work together — with examples from Hilti and Liebherr.
Connect product ranges into a family.
Different generations and brands need not become identical. What matters is a shared logic that organises common ground and individual character.
Start with the existing range.
Established product families can rarely be renewed all at once. We consider existing sizes, functions and generations and determine the features that should connect the family in future. This creates principles that remain useful during gradual updates.
Bring brands together deliberately.
Following an acquisition or within a group, the question of independence also arises. Which shared features help customers, and which differences sustain a brand? Corporate Industrial Design can make these decisions visible in the products; the business decision about the brands precedes the design.
Develop a transferable design logic.
Recurring details, proportions and operating logic are aligned with technical platforms. Wöhner demonstrates identity across different products. It is linked here as an example of a product family, not as evidence of an acquisition or a multi-brand strategy.
Perspectives in Insights.
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Industrial design creates recognition for capital goods
How different products come together as a recognisable family.