Gaining Global Relevance

In this Readers’ Platform, your author describes how Inovance helps local OEMs make elevators in India for export worldwide.

As a global company that sells to the Indian market, we believe strongly in the “Make In India” philosophy. For us, this doesn’t mean manufacturing every single component in India. It means enabling India to set up a strong manufacturing sector that is competitive domestically as well as in the wider global market. At Inovance, we are fully committed to the Indian market, where we have made very large local investments, with more than 100 employees (including a significant R&D presence) based across our pan-India office network that spans Chennai, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and New Delhi, as well as a wider sales network spread across Kolkata, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Pune, Vadodara and Jaipur.

Inovance’s Role in “Make in India”

We think that Indian elevator OEMs have a bigger role to play in terms of “Make in India.” The goal is to build elevators locally and sell them not only within India, but all around the world. So how can we help them do this? To succeed globally, one thing Indian elevator OEMs need is high-quality, affordable elevator control technology.

Without access to top-tier technology, in the long run, Indian elevator OEMs cannot hope to compete with the major international providers. But, if Indian OEMs do have access to what they need, then, ultimately, we see no reason they shouldn’t be able to export their products globally. At Inovance, and with our dedicated elevator business platform Monarch, our goal is to help Indian OEMs embark on a journey to greater global relevance.

How Can We Help?

We offer a range of products that can be integrated with all types of elevators. The SLC Slim Line series (Inovance and the Free Energy Systems) is a compact solution, specially designed for machine-room-less gearless elevator applications. It is suitable for medium- and low-rise buildings, with a maximum running speed of up to 1.7 m/s. Meanwhile, the NICE1000+ (EW India, 2nd Quarter 2021) is a “local flavor” and feature-rich product suitable for medium- and low-rise buildings of up to 16 floors with a maximum running speed of 1.75 m/s. It supports multiple door configurations, such as manual, automatic and semi-automatic doors.

On the other hand, the NICE3000+ (Improving Efficiency) is a high-end product suitable for high-rise buildings of up to 64 floors with a maximum running speed of 4 m/s. Both NICE1000+ and NICE3000+ are designed for closed loop gearless and geared elevators. Another “local flavor” product is the NICE100+ (Growing Trends in Elevator Modernization), which is specially designed for low-rise buildings, with up to 1 m/s running speed and open loop geared elevator arrangements. Like the NICE1000+, the NICE100+ also supports different door configurations, such as manual, automatic and semi-automatic doors.

The goal is to build elevators locally and sell them not only within India, but all around the world.

At Inovance, we supply the drive along with the elevator control board, while our customers create the entire control panel. The drive is integrated with our NICE Integrated Controller unit alongside other control components such as the power supply unit, transformer and contactors to produce the complete control panel. Along with this, we provide our customers with full technical guidance and support, and also offer a range of supporting components such as LOPs (landing-operating panels), COPs (car-operating panels) and field harnesses. Ultimately, this allows our customers and distributors to create a complete electrical package for elevators locally in India. We also encourage our customers to source all possible components (including the ARD [automatic rescue device], which is made in India) while using our NICE integrated controller.

The Benefits of “Make in India”

The “Make In India” scheme offers a path whereby Indian elevator OEMs can learn to compete with some of the leading global elevator manufacturers. Integrating internationally competitive elevator drive and controller solutions is key to this. It is the only way that elevator OEMs can be assured their products are of the highest quality.