Lerch Bates Visits Hyundai Elevator

Jay Popp, vice president of Lerch Bates Inc.(ELEVATOR WORLD, April 2013), recently visited CNS Automation, the exclusive sales agent for Hyundai Elevator in North America. The purpose of the visit was to tour the company’s R&D facility and Asan Test Tower Factory in Incheon, South Korea, as well as its corporate headquarters in downtown Seoul. Despite the political news regarding the region, the trip was a success.

The tour began on March 30 with the facility’s elevator showroom, located at the base of the test tower. It showed the company’s 27 years of service and innovation, as well as its many certifications and projects. In addition, the tour included a showing of Hyundai Elevators Material Handling Systems’ offering, which interested Popp, and subsequently led to a presentation the following day on the company’s escalators, moving walks, platform screen doors and parking systems.

Moving on, the tour included CNS Automation’s Destination Selection Method, which features touchless buttons, intended for hospital settings where bacteria must be kept to a minimum. Several of Hyundai Elevator’s contemporary cab finishes were also displayed.

After a thorough review of the showroom, your author took Popp to the test tower to ride the various units currently being tested, including the worlds’ fastest observation elevator, Hyundai’s Double Decker Elevator, and the world’s fastest elevator, Hyundai’s EL Exclusive Leader, which travels at 1,080 mpm. Popp was particularly interested in the doors that seal to pressurize the cab. He spent a lot of time in the penthouse of Asan Tower in close proximity to the nine-phase, 16-mT machine that powers the fastest elevator. Y.K. Park, vice president of Hyundai Elevator, said Popp is the most knowledgeable elevator professional to whom he has ever given the tour.

After a traditional lunch, we began the factory tour, where Hyundai Elevator produces approximately 13,000 elevators annually just for domestic consumption. The company also produces most of the escalators and moving walks from here, as well. Popp seemed a bit surprised at the number of traditional geared machines being produced; however, it was explained that while it still made some economical sense to do this domestically for the lower-rise market, the gearless production does outpace the geared nowadays. After the factory tour and a wrap-up meeting with the R&D group and international sales team, we were taken back to Seoul, where we had dinner with Martin Han, president of Hyundai Elevator. The following day was set for meetings at the headquarters. We were extremely honored to have a meeting with Jeong-Eun Hyun, chairwoman of Hyundai Corp. Popp spent the remainder of the day traveling around Seoul visiting various Hyundai installations; overall, he was impressed with what Hyundai Elevator has accomplished in its 27-year history.