Moving People

Global manufacturer MP Lifts uses extensive R&D, partnerships to compete with major brands around the world.

The imposing city of Seville, nestled in the south of Spain, attracts people from all over the world thanks to its creativity, folklore, traditions and sheer beauty. It is here where MP Lifts, a family business, is headquartered. MP is a global company boasting cutting-edge technology that designs, produces and distributes lifts. Our people are at the core of our strategy. We have more than 900 employees and an estimated turnover of EUR120 million (US$107.8 million) for 2016.

We have two factories in Spain, one in Zaragoza and another in Seville, the latter boasting a car showroom, a smart logistics platform and two R&D centers with advanced testing labs. From here, we strive to use our special way of doing things to foster a unique relationship with clients all over the world.

A Meaningful Partner

At MP, we meet our commitments and put ourselves forward as a long-term technological partner for companies within the lift sector, with whom we work in the interest of their development and continuity and to whom we offer much more than a mere relationship based on a product or service. We offer our clients a personal touch with long-term global support to provide access to technology that companies within the sector need for their development and continuity.

Truly Global

We base our development on international expansion, with 90% of our consolidated turnover from international markets. We have installed more than 100,000 lifts that boast more than 10 million users a day. We maintain business relations in more than 100 countries and have 15 technical sales offices that attend to a network of 1,000 installation and maintenance distributors.

With almost 50% of our team being international, we carry out our day-to-day work in more than 18 languages with official technical information translated into various languages.

We support each other and promote alliances and partnership agreements with suppliers and international centers of technology.

Products

Installation and maintenance companies may find a wide range of entire lifts, renovation kits and components at MP. MP’s reliability is reflected in its products that can be easily and safely installed, work well, have a long service life and are delivered punctually and packaged correctly.

Our products are adapted to the operating needs of each client, and meet market demands and stringent regulations. They include ecodesign techniques, as is the case with the MPGO!evolution, a gearless lift with a machine room and energy class A.

We work with all forms of lift technology — gearless, hydraulic and asynchronous variable frequency. We have also launched a new range of cars, MP CARevolution, with a modern and customizable design, all with LED technology and advanced construction solutions. The CarDesigner tool (www.mpcardesigner.com) allows customers to configure their cars intuitively and preview designs, either by printing them or with the help of virtual reality.

Services

We train our network of professionals for maintenance and installation companies to enhance them with their day-to-day work. Moreover, the customer service we offer includes:

• Customer relationship management and business-to-business expertise
• Engineering and regulation support service for companies in the sector for complex or special projects
• After-sales service to quickly deal with complaints
• Assistance in more than 10 languages
• A team of experts exclusively for special projects trained in helping in all project phases
• More than 10 sales tools for renovation and new work made available to clients: technical and sales documentation is also available on the MP website and the MPliftsmobile app, providing drawings, reports, etc.
• Spare parts and components online with 24-/48-hr. delivery through our SERVICEnter
• Access to numerous communication tools and the advantage of an internationally recognized brand

Multilingual ongoing in-person and online training takes place via the MP Lifts School. In 2015, the facility provided approximately 850 hr. of training to more than 250 participants, both MP employees and customers. In the program, online training complements onsite training on the MP product range. Last year’s online training strategy contributed to more than 75% of the total training hours. Onsite training was in excess of 160 hr. in 2015 at our facilities in Seville and the Netherlands.

Last year also saw online courses on MP Solutions for reduced dimension shafts and large-capacity lifts, as well as training about the new platform sigma4Lifts, for customers and those in MP’s commercial network. The 2016 academic year is underway and full of training in new products and news in Lift Standards.

Sustainability Commitment

We want to live in a better world, and we are committed to improving the environmental wellbeing of its inhabitants by including eco-design techniques in our projects, monitoring emissions from our operations and promoting reuse in the recycling phase. MP GO! model lifts promote this philosophy, as does the smart controller ecoGO, a robust controller with various functions that complies with the most stringent energy-efficiency regulations (e.g., the BREEAM sustainability assessment method for masterplanning projects, infrastructure and buildings).

Innovation

Thanks to our constant focus on R&D, using our own resources and working with our partners, we design technologically advanced products for all forms of lift technology. The latest culminations of this work are the MPecoGo, a new smart controller, and sigma4lifts, a remote-monitoring platform (ELEVATOR WORLD, December 2015). These components are not only for MP lifts, but also for those of other major brands. Later this year, we plan to launch products that will improve the customization of cars and further widen our range of products and flexibility for existing lifts, as well as adapting the entire MP range to the EN 81-20/50 standard.

Projects

In terms of major iconic projects, we live in interesting times. One of these projects is the 265,000-m2 North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels (EW, June 2011 and February 2012). MP is supplying the project, said to become the global icon of the decade. Another major development in which we are involved is the ITER, a joint nuclear-fusion project by the European Union, Japan, the U.S. and Russia being built in France. This is one of the most expensive projects in history. More work in which MP is contracted includes:

• IKEA Mall (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
• National Museum (Manila, the Philippines)
• European Spallation Source (Lund, Sweden)
• Caixa Forum (Seville, Spain)
• Antofagasta Hospital (Antofagasta, Chile)

Values

Long-term results and sustainability depend, to a large extent, on the leadership style of those who run a company. Our motto “Enjoy Your Work” represents a particular way of management. Our personal values are centered around this way of seeing business, based on ethical leadership, to take the company in the right direction for the good of all. They enable us to work toward our vision to become the best alternative to the multinationals in the lift sector as the company most highly valued by clients, employees and shareholders.

History

by Lee Freeland

The origins of MP Lifts go back to the creation of the firm Mecanismos y Accesorios S.A. (MAC) at the beginning of the 1970s by a group of young engineers from Seville, Spain, for the purpose of manufacturing mechanical components (such as shock absorbers, cams and terminals) for lifts. During the 1980s, the company also started to manufacture electromechanical control panels and other small electrical lift components, such as selector switches, magnetic switches, photoelectric switches and position indicators. In 1988, founding partner Valentín de Madariaga y Oya bought all the company’s shares and incorporated his family into the company management, appointing his son, Gonzalo Madariaga, company president. The years that followed were marked by innovation and internationalization, eventually culminating in the modern company’s presence in more than 20 countries — offices from which it maintains commercial relations in more than 80 countries. The following milestones are most notable:

• 1991: This year witnessed the startup of Electronic R&D, which pioneered electronic control panels and preassembled electrical installation processes. These products brought added value to the business, and, through them, MAC became consolidated as a manufacturer of mechanical and electronic components. This was the first milestone in the strategic evolution of the modern MP.
• 1993: MAC took its first steps along the road to internationalization through purchasing companies in Greece and Portugal.
• 1994: MAC purchased the majority share of complete-lift manufacturer Puertas Aragón, S.A., making MAC a manufacturer of complete lifts for the first time.
• 1995: Work commenced on reorganizing R&D in other product lines based on the same philosophy as that undertaken in 1991 for Electronic R&D. Also, MAC and Puertas embarked on international expansion.
• 1997: MAC and Puertas merge, becoming Mac Puar S.A.
• 1998: Opening of technical and sales offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Turkey, China, Thailand, Holland, the U.K., France, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Austria and Germany. The company’s new 10,000-m2 standard plate plant in Alcalá de Guadaira, Spain, and the purchase of a factory in Seville from Grupos Hidráulicos allowed Mac Puar to incorporate the only lift components it did not yet make.
• 1999: Promotion of the “MP Lifts” brand as a company dedicated to the manufacture (not installation) of complete lifts with 16 subsidiaries throughout the world for marketing, sales and aftersales
• 2001: MP Lifts Strategic Plan 2002-2005 attached priority to the objectives of quality and production; the integration of technical resources for complete lifts; consolidation of the internationalization process; and unification and integration of all R&D resources. The plan also steered the company toward the strategic alternative of changing to installation and maintenance.
• 2004: MP Lifts’ first steps in installation and maintenance through the awarding of projects by large construction firms and the purchase of installation and maintenance companies
• 2005: MP Lifts Strategic Plan 2006-2009 attached priority to a change in company management aimed at the vertical integration of and internationalization by acquired installation and maintenance businesses.
• 2007: Anticipating the global financial crisis that started in August, MP Lifts made adjustments to maintain its competitive edge: rehabilitation and reform activities were consolidated to combat the foreseen reduction in demand for new-construction lifts.
• 2009: Large projects were signed and commenced upon, and the company was steered toward more profitable installation and maintenance markets (such as France, the Benelux Union, Austria and Ireland), white-label products and the reformation of company structure in Spain to focus on modernization work.
• 2010: MP Lifts Strategic Plan 2010-2013 aimed to give continuity to major projects. This was supported by achieving growth in maintenance, sustaining leads in product technology and growing brand image via the trust of the independent market.
• 2013: Introduction of the manufacturing of gearless machines at MP’s Alcalá de Guadaira factory and launch of the SV-140 reducing machine and Ambientum range of cabs
• 2014: Launch of the space-saving MPHSIN and GO Flex 2400 lifts
• 2015: Launch of Greenvalve electronic valves, CARevolution cabins and online CarDesigner tool