Code, Communications and Careers

Presentations on VT issues of interest draw a large crowd to EAOF meeting in Tampa. 

The offices of Elevated Facility Services Group at Hidden River Corporate Center One office park in the Tampa Palms neighborhood of Tampa, Florida, were abuzz with conversation the morning of February 12 to kick off a well-attended Elevator Association of Florida (EAOF) meeting. More than 80 vertical-transportation (VT) industry professionals from as far away as Toronto, Canada, were present to hear in-depth presentations about augmenting emergency communications and recruiting VT personnel. 

Many had been at the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation (EESF) Annual General Meeting the day before at the nearby Marriott Tampa Airport, so attending the EAOF meeting was a no-brainer. “I think this is one of our largest crowds ever,” EAOF President Michael Loeffler, who is also regional vice president Southeast at VDA, observed. 

The unexpected cancellation of a planned code revision presentation was not a problem, as the remaining speakers — Robert Schram and Jason Godwin of CEDES/2N, Evan Rahey of Wurtec and Vong Keovongsa of Elevator Services Group — attracted lots of interest and sparked a lively back and forth. Michael Nadler, Southeast regional sales manager for Iowa-based Encoder Products Co. (EPC), also stepped up to the podium to deliver a talk on Encoder Solutions’ encoder for home elevators. 

As they enjoyed Valentine’s Day-themed donuts and coffee to start the day, attendees went around the room and briefly introduced themselves. Present were representatives of associations, VT suppliers, independent elevator companies, the state of Florida, International Union of Elevator Constructors chapters and more. Companies and associations represented included EESF, the National Association of Elevator Contractors, Patriot Elevator, TEI Group, VDA, Lerch Bates, The Peelle Co. and many more.

EAOF Treasurer Nathan Hall, CEO of Pompano Beach, Florida-based Vasile Elevator, gave the treasurer’s report and observed the association has 70 paid members. “Your membership pays for these meetings for the betterment of our industry,” Hall said, adding that such meetings are ideal for forging industry connections with both VT colleagues and the state and local AHJs. 

An Advanced IP-Based Emergency Communications System

The first presentation was by Godwin, regional 2N sales manager for North America, the U.K./Ireland and Australia/New Zealand and CEDES Senior Account Executive Schram. The pair spoke about and demonstrated 2N Sentrio, an advanced Internet Protocol (IP)-based emergency communicator with a 7-in. display. Compliant with ASME A17.1-2019 emergency communications requirements, Sentrio boasts reliable Voice over Internet Protocol audio calls, multilingual text messaging for the hearing impaired, a live video stream from the elevator cabin and more. Speakers also shared a little about themselves, with Godwin stating his family was involved with Lerch Bates in Europe and that he previously had a long career with KONE. “I love the industry; it’s in my blood,” Godwin said. Schram has a long career that includes a stint at relayr and a seven-year span at Oracle Elevator Co., where he led business development. 

Schram said that Prague-based 2N, with global distributor CEDES, is constantly adding new smart features to Sentrio, such as an Internet of Things (IoT)-powered data hub. Schram praised CEDES CEO Patrick Bass for being instrumental in realizing the partnership with 2N, summing up Sentrio as “a cohesive IT solution that’s future-proof.” He said that 2N and CEDES will be keeping a close eye on cybersecurity as it becomes more and more important, and updating Sentrio accordingly. 

VT Talent Recruitment

Next up was the always entertaining and charismatic Keovongsa, who told the crowd about his personal and professional journey that started in Laos and culminated in his current role with Susie Madden leading Elevated Services Group from his home base in Florida. Keovongsa got attendees immediately engaged with a fascinating “Jeopardy”-style quiz session. Fun facts such as France’s King Louis XV in the 1700s installing the only known elevator built inside the Royal Palace of Versailles (a chair lift to smuggle his mistress in and out) eased attendees into the nitty gritty: outlook and strategies for elevator talent recruitment. 

In the U.S., Keovongsa observed, more than 19,000 firms are currently installing and servicing elevators. These firms directly employ approximately 107,000 people each year, he said, and competition for top talent is fierce. One of the biggest barriers to company growth is the lack of qualified field mechanics. “There is a war for talent and some of you are coming at this with slingshots,” he said. Adding to this is that 2024 saw a record number of retirements (overall) with more than 11,200 workers turning 65 every day from 2024-27. 

To win the war for talent, VT companies should employ numerous strategies, Keovongsa said, including:

• Investing in robust recruiting technology
• Budgeting for pay compensation
• Implementing retention programs (such as earn-and-learn and gain-sharing programs)
• Leveraging variable pay programs
• Planning to relocate employees (75% of Elevated Services Group’s placements are relocated to clients) 
• Being available for recruiting or considering outsourcing recruiting

Later this year, Elevator Services Group plans to launch a nationwide job board open to all elevator industry employees to post job openings. Also in the works this year are temporary staffing and contract-to-hire services. 

A Code-Compliant Monitoring System

Rahey, Wurtec sales and product strategy leader, spoke about the company’s Wur-Com ASME A17.1 code-compliant two-way audio, text and video monitoring system. Confident, clear and concise, Rahey clearly knew the offering from A-Z. Wur-Com provides an array of user-friendly and discrete video camera options: car operating panel-mounted, corner-mounted and dome-mounted. “Friends don’t let friends install bubble cameras,” Rahey joked, referring to the easily recognizable (and arguably intrusive) security cameras encased in a dome-shaped housing. Wurtec’s Wur-Com clients include chains of major retail stores that desire a discrete, effective elevator monitoring system. 

Liftgate, Wurtec’s machine room hardware that includes an ethernet converter, wireless gateway, battery backup and phone/video connection, currently powers two cars, but “will have a version for four cars very soon,” Rahey said, adding that “security and IT is a huge issue in 2025” that only promises to become more important as current code is more widely adopted. “We have a lot of great things coming to make our system the most secure on the market today,” he said. 

For those who need to get rid of plain old telephone service (POTS), to be compliant with 2019 code, Wurtec offers the WUR-LINK cellular bridge that provides a cellular connection for emergency elevator phones, eliminating the need for POTs, Rahey said. 

Prior to a brief introduction to the EESF for those not familiar with it by EESF Executive Director Amber Catlin-Kolodziej to wrap the meeting up, Nadler spoke about EPC’s 30M magnetic encoder module for home elevators — when and why the product was conceived and its abilities to monitor speed, control acceleration and deceleration, determine position and monitor doors. He passed around a sample 30M encoder so attendees could get a close-up look at its compact 30-mm size. 

The next EAOF meeting is planned for May 6 in Fort Myers, where the focus will be flood operation, “an important issue for nearly every elevator in Florida,” as well as the two-stop exemption for elevators now allowed by the State of Florida, according to Loeffler.