Peelle Is Global

Your author explains how its International Sales Group can help customers in Europe, France, Germany and beyond select the right vertical slide elevator door.

by Jose Vilchez

Headquartered in West Brampton, Ontario, Canada, The Peelle Co. Ltd.’s International Technical Sales Group offers service to international customers outside of Canada and the U.S. supported by local commercial and technical representation in the U.K., France, Germany, the Middle East and Singapore. Through the years, Peelle’s strategy has evolved to meet the changing landscape of the elevator industry in the demanding goods lift segment.

Elevator professionals sometimes find themselves outside their comfort zone when it comes to non-standard goods lifts for demanding applications. Due to cost and familiarity, this often leads them to select traditional passenger-style doors for their elevator packages. Peelle understands the importance of selecting and supporting the appropriate door to suit the specific requirements of the lift, as at least 80% of callbacks are related to doors. In many applications, vertical slide doors are the best solution for demanding goods lifts.

Peelle developed a seven-step process to lead customers from initial quotation to final commissioning of vertical slide doors. This process consists of:

1. Consultative Selling: When a quote request is received, project data, dimensional information and application are reviewed before a door solution is offered. When further discovery is required, we contact the customer to ask about their needs, their client’s needs and what issues they are looking to resolve. Depending on the customer and their experience with vertical slide doors, this stage also involves determining whether their company can design a robust elevator to suit our door solutions and has the technical expertise to handle and install our doors safely and correctly. To avoid any potential oversights that may arise due to inexperience, it is essential to have this discussion upfront. It’s important to ensure that our customer is set up for success, right from the beginning.

2. Sales Service & Support: In the tender stage, follow-ups are done to ask about the project’s status while ensuring that our customer has the correct information to present the technical and commercial advantages of Peelle doors. We offer pictures, videos of our doors functioning in different applications, a reference project list in specific market sectors, an animated video that demonstrates the six key technical advantages of vertical slide doors, Peelle reference drawings, technical and/or commercial training on Peelle doors and a consultants’ report that outlines the return on investment with vertical slide doors. Periodic communication by email, text, phone or video conference allows us to better understand the needs throughout the tender process, raises the confidence level and improves the commercial relationship with our customers.

3. Project Management: Once an order is received, we enhance the experience for our customers by offering a single point of contact; availability by text, phone or video conference in their time zone; review of the Peelle approval drawings; and meetings with their mechanical and electrical engineering teams to make sure proper interface is established. This is another opportunity to raise the confidence level of the technical teams but — more importantly — clarify all questions related to the function of Peelle equipment. This stage is considered fulfilled once the approval drawings are received from our customer, and our internal technical team clarifies all questions. Peelle project management works closely with our customers to determine an appropriate shipping date and other related information. Our German representative has further enhanced customer experience in their specific market by offering complete logistics services from our factory in Canada to the final destination in Germany, which we believe offers a seamless process from quote to delivery.

Our German representative has further enhanced customer experience in their specific market by offering complete logistics services from our factory in Canada to the final destination in Germany.

4. Pre-Installation Support: Peelle engineering submits a final set of drawings to the customer when a project is completed.  We follow up by submitting a detailed email outlining the key installation points, along with manuals to illustrate and explain each key point. This email has information about structural channel entrance frame installation, storage and handling, elevator requirements (i.e., working platforms), installation tools and key points to consider when installing the landing and car door equipment.

5. Installation Review & Training: The customer is given some time to review the content of the email sent before being contacted to set up a video conference call with their field installation manager where each of the key installation points is explained in detail. A review of the Peelle visual and detailed manuals, the maintenance manual and the recommended maintenance schedule is also done to educate the field or technical manager.

6. Technical Support: During the installation of Peelle equipment, our technical support team can assist via email, phone, text or video conferencing to answer any questions that may arise. We can directly offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, Mandarin and Polish from our headquarters in Canada. Our local commercial and technical representatives can also provide on-site support if needed.

7. Assistance in Commissioning of Doors: During the final installation phase, we make ourselves available to review the function of the Peelle doors. Mechanical adjustments are reviewed before the elevator controller’s final electrical interface is completed. We remain present until the lift with Peelle doors is handed over to the end user and they are satisfied with the performance of the doors.

Successful installation is our priority. Our strategy has allowed us to complete important projects for clients including Mercedes and Ford in South Africa, Continental Tyres in Romania, Cookie Factory in Germany and Pirelli in Mexico, to name a few.