lifting experience Otis

lifting exPerience

Founded 165 years ago, Otis remains the world’s leading manufacturer and maintainer of people-moving products, including elevators, escalators and moving walkways. Innovation continues to be at the forefront of the company’s strategy – to provide better, safer, greener and more efficient solutions for smart buildings of the future. Romana Moares reports.

Apioneer in its field, Otis is the world’s leading manufacturer and maintainer of people-moving products, including elevators, moving walkways and escalators. Its lifts, escalators and walkways are moving people on every continent and its nearly 68,000 employees serve customers in approximately 200 countries and territories. The company has numerous manufacturing units as well as a network of research and engineering facilities and test towers around the world.

Creating industry-defining lifts that change the way people move has been one of the factors that has cemented the company’s leading position. Its product range is wide and fully reflects the modern market requirements. The revolutionary Gen2® and cutting-edge SkyRise® systems are two of the latest examples designed to make the most of ambitious plans and carry people in refined safety.

Safe, efficient and green

The environmentally-friendly Gen2 elevators set the new standard for performance, reliability, design flexibility and comfort – while reducing costs and energy usage throughout their lifecycle. This technology comes in a variety of solutions, whether new lifts are needed for new or existing buildings, or an upgrade package for older equipment is required.

Otis’ patented polyurethane-coated steel belts enable a more compact, energy-efficient machine, freeing up valuable building space and reducing operating costs. With all major components located inside the hoistway, the Gen2 system’s streamlined installation process – standard worldwide – has minimal impact on building construction or other trades. The ‘green’ aspect is particularly remarkable – an abundance of excess energy, which is often wasted as heat when an elevator is empty or goes down, is turned by the Otis ReGen™ drives into electricity and the captured power is then fed back into the building’s electric grid for reuse by other building systems such as lighting. Even better, ReGen drives produce ‘clean power’ thanks to low harmonic distortion, which minimises impact on the building’s electrical system and helps protect sensitive equipment.

Otis’ most advanced high-rise lift yet is the SkyRise elevator system, combining cutting-edge science and precision engineering to deliver solutions to modern skyscrapers around the world. The SkyRise system is available in a range of speeds, duties and rises to support any high-rise project. The double-deck configuration reduces the number of lift hoistways needed for the building, increasing rentable space by up to 40 per cent. The super double-deck system frees architects to design buildings with floors of different heights. The sys-

tem automatically adjusts the distance between the upper and lower cars while the lift is moving – without passengers noticing.

Otis has been developing new solutions across its whole product range. In order to achieve safe, energy-efficient and environmentally responsible solutions, the company relies on engineering capacities, including those from its local and WHQ engineering teams as well as researchers at the United Technologies Research Center.

Global reach, local presence

Otis has manufacturing plants around the world. One of them is located in the Czech Republic in Břeclav, near the Austrian and Slovak borders, and manufactures new escalators, moving walkways and solutions for the modernisation of elevators, escalators and moving walkways. Otis follows in the traditions of the biggest local elevator manufacturer Tranza and became the biggest company in the industry. Otis entered the Czech market in 1991 by acquiring a local lift manufacturer and has become one of the largest companies in its sector in the country.

The company has seen particularly dynamic development in its escalator division, especially in the area of escalators designed for heavy-duty operation – such as metros, airports, train stations and so on, with much of the demand coming from Europe.

It is not only new escalator equipment, but also elevator and escalator modernisation that form a big part of the business of Otis Breclav. Its elevator modernisation solutions using not only Gen2Mod, but also roped and hydraulic systems, can be found all over the world. This very unique focus makes Otis Breclav a key supplier that increases safety, eco-efficiency, smoothness of ride and aesthetic attractiveness.

Its sophisticated solutions include the delivery of escalators for new Prague metro stations. Within the scope of this important contract, the Czech Otis production plant delivered its longest escalator to date (for the Petřiny station) with a vertical rise of 38 metres, which corresponds to a total length exceeding 84 metres.

Other local projects have included a comprehensive modernisation of all the lifts in Corinthia Towers, one of the most famous hotels in Prague. The local projects, however, represent only a fraction of the Czech factory’s output – most of the escalators are sold in export markets, such as for the London, Stockholm and Paris underground systems or various shopping centres in Germany and other countries.

The Otis brand itself is a great asset – it embodies a wealth of experience, know-how and references, technical expertise, engineering services, research capacities, top quality products and a wide range of comprehensive services. Lifts, escalators and moving walkways by Otis have been implemented in thousands of buildings used by people all over the world every day. Otis products have been installed in many of the world’s tallest buildings and the company has been a partner to the most prestigious of brands. n