ThyssenKrupp unveils plan for faster lifts

A long way up: ThyssenKrupp has a plan for improving lifts. Above, the company's headquarters in Essen, Germany. Rolf Schulten / Bloomberg

New York // The German elevator maker ThyssenKrupp late last month unveiled a technology it says will boost global productivity.
The company has teamed up with Microsoft over the past two years to create Max, a "smart elevator" software technology that could significantly cut the time wasted by office workers when lifts malfunction, or are simply inefficient. With the planet home to about 12 million lifts, according to ThyssenKrupp, reducing waiting time globally would boost the output of the world's ­workforce.
The system, unveiled on Tuesday, uses software to stream data about critical elements of the machinery to Microsoft's Azure cloud platform. This is diagnosed and accessed by ThyssenKrupp technicians to identify potential problems. That enables each lift to get maintenance before it malfunctions, cutting downtime.
"We believe we can release 95 million hours for elevators around the world with the pre-emptive maintenance program we want to implement," said Luis Ramos, ThyssenKrupp's head of commun­ications.
By using Max, large buildings and towers can also set their elevators to anticipate rush-hour surges in the lobby or on upper-level floors that have higher demand. Max can also drive other efficiencies, such as keycard connectivity that can automatically move passengers directly to their floor.
The technology, which will be rolled out across the world over the next two years, takes about 15 minutes to install and is about the size of a small PC. At a cost of about US$200, according the ThyssenKrupp's chief executive Andreas Schierenbeck, operators will be unlikely to baulk at the price.
ThyssenKrupp admits there are other hot spots, as it calls them, elsewhere that can do much the same thing but using Azure will give the company a global footprint - the technology is available in 140 countries.
The financial benefits for the company are more difficult to quantify. "Customer retention is a monetary value," said Mr Schierenbeck. "And there is significant cost saving by using pre-emptive diagnosis - that is a value point."
The firm implies that users, for instance hotel guests, would be willing to pay more for a better service, while corporate operators would be happy to pay if it improves worker productivity.
Also, "it's about customer value", said Patrick Bass, the company's chief executive for North America.
As the software uses "machine-learning" - artificial intelligence to create an ever-growing source of data about the performance of monitored elements deemed vital to efficient functioning - it takes about six months to gain enough information to be properly effective and boost efficiency.
And improved efficiency means savings for operators. "Buildings are the largest consumer of energy in the world," Mr Ramos said, adding that 40 per cent of the world's power is used by buildings. "Elevators can consume up to 10 per cent of that."
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