A Forward-Looking “Vision”

Elevator door protection company Formula Systems looks to replicate its North American success in Europe and the U.K.

By Trudi Osborne

A subsidiary of the Airdri Group, the U.K.’s largest manufacturer of warm-air hand dryers, Formula Systems has supplied its elevator door protection and speech products to the U.S. market for almost 35 years. In summer 2019, it appointed Ian Martyn U.K. sales manager, in an effort to lay the groundwork for making the elevator door protection system provider a market leader in the U.K. and Europe. From its office in Chicago, Formula Systems has grown to become a major North American supplier of light curtains to international OEMs and leading independents. The company holds full ISO 9001/2 accreditation. Ian, who comes to Formula Systems after having worked for companies including KONE, Otis, Dewhurst Plc and thyssenkrupp, has been working alongside Formula Systems Director of North American Operations Cornelius Walls since he came onboard. He says:

“Over the coming months, I look forward to introducing Formula Systems to the European market and to replicating its success in North America, where it’s earned an excellent reputation for its highly reliable door protection and speech products. From our headquarters in Oxford, our design engineers work to ensure Formula Systems continues to lead the market through innovation. For example, Vision, one of the company’s bestselling products, incorporates a range of creative features designed to both enhance the passenger experience and reduce the risk of harm to both the passenger and the elevator door.

“I’m confident that 2020 will be an exciting year for the company. I look forward to introducing the current product range — in particular, Vision — to a new market. Moreover, 2020 will also see new products enter the market with the launch of both a new speech product and a new door protection product based on time-of-flight technology. By utilizing a patented, hybrid technology, the product will be a fraction of the size of current door protection systems, significantly reducing its carbon footprint. By reducing storage space requirements for stock and deskilling the installation process, there will be significant reduction in the total cost of ownership for both elevator manufacturers and aftermarket support companies.”

Roots in Hand Dryers

Automatic hand dryers and elevator-door protection systems and speech annunciators may seem like strange bedfellows, but they coexist quite easily and profitably for U.K.-based Airdri and Formula Systems. Today, Airdri’s products are sold all over the world.

In 1974, Peter Philipps and Peter Allen probably knew more about the field of warm-air hand drying than anyone else in the U.K.  They met working at Smiths Industries, an international supplier of aerospace electronics, medical systems and specialized industrial products, where they were qualified mechanical and production engineers with many years’ experience in air dynamics.

After leaving Smiths, Peter Philipps moved to the U.S., where he became a management consultant specializing in manufacturing systems. In 1973, he relocated back to the U.K., where he teamed up with his former colleague. They embarked on a detailed study of scores of hand-drying units manufactured in both the U.K. and the U.S.

At the time, no British hand dryer satisfied them in design, efficiency or reliability, and an ambition to produce the best warm-air hand dryer on the British market was conceived. Together, in January 1974, they formed Airdri Ltd. and set about designing hand dryers. Little could they have known then that a small partnership initially managed from a garage would quickly grow into the global engineering and manufacturing company it is today. An early contract with Hollywood, California-based Bobrick, one of the largest US-based washroom equipment companies, saw Airdri’s hand dryer production grow. Within 25 years, Airdri was the largest manufacturer of warm-air hand dryers in the U.K. and one of the largest in the world.

The Genesis of Formula Systems

In 1983, Airdri saw a significant change in direction that was the genesis of Formula Systems. To stay ahead of the game in the hand dryer industry, Airdri started to look at new technologies. The automated sensor technology now needed to progress hand-dryer innovation was already being used extensively in the elevator industry. Developing expertise in this new technology not only brought automation to hand dryers, but also saw Airdri expand into a new industry.

Formula Systems was launched in 1983 to provide products to major elevator companies for door protection and speech units within cars. Twenty years later, Formula Systems opened a U.S. branch in Chicago, where it has been managed ever since by Cornelius Walls, and is now firmly established as an authority in the design and manufacture of elevator door protection systems and speech annunciators.

Changes in Management

In 2013, the management of the company passed to Peter Philipps’ sons, Bruce and Toby Philipps, Airdri’s president and chairman, respectively, who were committed to building on the previous 40 years and modernizing the business so it would continue to succeed over the next 40 years. 

Having manufactured in China for many years, the company needed to take new measures to ensure total control of its operations and support future growth. In 2013, its first fully owned office opened in China, establishing a sales, quality and administration base to support its manufacturing facility. “A company can only develop if it has a true vision for the future and works relentlessly to develop the landscape in which these developments can be realized,” says Stephen Whittall, who was appointed group director of operations in October 2014. He says the company is committed to continual investment in R&D, which was evidenced when, in 2016, it embarked on its largest internal development project: the opening of two new facilities.

China Operations Launch

Driven by the ambition to have total control of its engineering, development, quality and supply chain, in 2016, The Airdri Group opened two new operations in China. The first is a wholly owned, purpose-built manufacturing facility in Guangzhou. The 30,000-ft2 facility now employs more than 35 personnel in engineering, quality assurance, warehousing, sales and administration. Guangzhou manufactures more than 35,000 hand dryers each year and provides an office base for the sales managers of both its hand dryer and elevator products. 

At the same time, a joint venture with Formula Optics Technology (FOT), based farther north in Yuyao, was concluded in 2015. FOT is responsible for the manufacture of the company’s elevator-protection and speech products. However, investment is not confined to buildings and R&D: Airdri has increased its workforce over the past four years and now employs more than 200 personnel worldwide and supports an ongoing recruitment and training programme.

The R&D team is currently undergoing intensive training in product design methodology to optimize and standardize the design process to significantly reduce time to market for new products. Based at the company’s headquarters in Oxford, U.K., the R&D team is continually refining the safety features of its products and minimising their environmental impact through reductions in size and weight, energy consumption and improved materials recycling. 2020 will see the implementation of Formula Systems’ strategy to become highly visible throughout Europe and the U.K., providing elevator door protection and speech products designed to meet its customer’s specific needs.

Formula Systems plans to exhibit its full, EN 81-20-compliant product range in September at The Elevator Show in Dubai.