Izmir Symposium a Success

Turkey’s important industry symposium is held in conjunction with expo.

The Symposium and Exhibition on Elevators was held successfully in Izmir, Turkey, on September 25-27. The biannual event is one of the most important in the country and was organized by national industry associations EMO (Chamber of Electrical Engineers) and MMO (Chamber of Mechanical Engineers). Nearly 1,400 representatives attended the symposium, which focused on safety and technology.

The event began with a concert performed by the band Grup Feb, made up of chamber members. Then, there was a moment of silence for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the martyrs of the Turkish War of Independence. Opening speeches were made by MMO Izmir Branch Executive Board President Güniz Gacaner Ermin, EMO Izmir Branch Executive Board President Mahir Ulutaş, IFO (Istanbul Fair Services) General Manager Zekeriya Aytemur, President of AYSAD (Turkish elevator association) Sefa Targıt, MMO Executive Board President Ali Ekber Çakır, EMO Executive Board President Hüseyin Yeşil and Mayor of Bornova Olgun Atilla. The connecting theme of the speeches was work safety, which was particularly timely given the September 6 Istanbul accident in which 10 workers died after a builders’ hoist on which they were riding plunged 32 stories. Chamber presidents drew attention to the importance of periodic elevator inspections in their speeches, and Targıt commented that according to a 2014 Turkish Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology report, 40% of the elevators inspected failed to meet the required basic safety standards. Targıt stated these results revealed that 64% of the elevators in Turkey are not eligible for proper use.

An open session and panel were also held. The former, “Different Approaches to Periodic Controls Measures,” moderated by Serdar Tavaslıoğlu, saw chamber members and elevator-industry representatives speak on the situations and the results caused by different code interpretations from many inspection enterprises. Suggestions to unify the results were presented and shared with the audience. The panel, “Industrial Applications and Evaluations,” moderated by Ali Ekber Çakar, was a productive session attended by many professionals.

Besides the open session and the panel, there were 12 sessions in which 36 articles were presented. Four articles were presented by Giuseppe De Francesco from Sematic Group in Italy, Oliver Vahsen from Ziehl-Abegg in Germany, Christian Mohr from Henning GmBH & Co. KG, and Paolo Tattoli, European Committee for Standardization EN 81-77 Committee president.

During the second day of the event, the course “Electrical Wiring, Residual Current Protective Device on Elevators, Related Standards and Safety” was presented by Bülent Çarşıbaşı. He taught on the wiring of elevators with regards to regulations and standards. IFO organized an elevator-industry exhibition that was open during the whole event. The three days ended with a question-and-answer session and final declaration reading.