ThyssenKrupp Elevator Consultants Open House

In October 2010, elevator consultants from the U.S. and Canada traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to participate in a ThyssenKrupp Elevator Consultants Open House a

In October 2010, elevator consultants from throughout the U.S. and Canada traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to participate in a ThyssenKrupp Elevator Consultants Open House and Tradeshow, and tour ThyssenKrupp’s manufacturing facilities in Middleton, Tennessee, and Walnut, Mississippi. Arriving on October 25-26, event participants were met at the Memphis ­airport by a number of ThyssenKrupp hosts, who efficiently escorted them to the ­Doubletree Hotel in downtown Memphis, where the first day of the event took place. Guests arriving early spent the first even­ing catching up with each other and meet­ing with the first ThyssenKrupp personnel to arrive from the U.S. and Canadian branch offices, as well as the company’s corporate executives, who came in from various North American locations.

On the afternoon of the 26th, the tradeshow began in a finely appointed hotel ballroom, in which exhibit stands were set up to display the numerous products and ­services that ThyssenKrupp offers the industry. These ­included specific elevator and escalator products such as the Synergy machine-room-less elevator system, an ­escalator modernization package, the TWIN elevator system, the company’s destination-dispatch control system, its downloadable Building Information Management (BIM) software and numerous other ThyssenKrupp products. Management and service concepts that the company ­offers and implements on a global basis were also featured, as were classes at some of the stands. These classes were on the use of elevator traffic-analysis and BIM software, and the design and application of the company’s Synergy and TWIN products.

Following the tradeshow, attendees wrapped up the first day’s activities, during which the consultants were divided into a number of smaller focus groups, which met with ThyssenKrupp executives and branch managers to consider how the company could best serve the elevator consulting segment of the industry, as well as the consultants’ clients and ThyssenKrupp’s customers.

Following a day of productive work, the group enjoyed a fine dinner accompanied by music in a well-known restaurant owned by and named after the hometown of one of the world’s best-known Blues musicians –B.B. King. Occupying a prominent location on Beale Street, the Itti Bena Restaurant is located over the B.B. King Blues Club, where the famous musician/vocalist ­frequently performs. Unfortunately, King was not in town that evening, but that only gave the event’s attendees a good reason to revisit Memphis.

On Wednesday morning, the group boarded buses to travel to the two ThyssenKrupp manufacturing facilities located 60 miles east of Memphis. The first stop was at the Middleton factory, where ThyssenKrupp parts and products are manufactured and assembled. Elevator entrances are manufactured, painted, quality inspected and tested at this location, as well. A US$30-million, automated Salvagini elevator entrance manufacturing and assembly-line conveyor was proudly explained and demonstrated by the plant managers. Guided by an extensive computer-controlled system, the Salvagingi conveyor selects pieces of sheet steel from an adjacent storage area and feeds them automatically into the production line, where they are punched, cut, formed and assembled into finished elevator entrance frames and door panels. The door panels and entrance frames are then transferred onto and transported by another conveyor into a powder-coat painting station, which is environmentally designed to capture, ­recycle and reuse over 80% of the paint overspray that a typical powder-coat painting operation creates.

Additional products seen being produced in the ­Middleton facility included elevator cabs, signal fixtures, door operators, machines, safeties, governors, sheaves, buffers, hydraulic jacks, hoistway accessories, platforms, car slings and counterweight frames. These were observed in various stages of production, through their completed form – packaged and made ready for shipping to jobsites throughout North America. During the tour, it was stated that approximately 700 employees work in the 515,000-square-foot, ISO 9001: 2008- and ISO 14001: 2004-certified facility, which, in conjunction with the nearby Walnut, Mississippi, factory, produces over 8,000 units a year.

After re-boarding the buses and traveling a short distance across the nearby Tennessee/Mississippi border, the ThyssenKrupp hosts and their guests entered the ­Walnut factory to observe enthusiastic employees engaged in the manufacturing of traction and hydraulic elevator con­trol­lers, and dry and submersible power units. Carrying the same ISO certifications as the Middleton facility, the ­Walnut plant contains a shop floor space of 104,000 square feet, on which 130 employees work to produce the full range of ThyssenKrupp controllers and hydraulic pump units. A barbecue lunch with all of the Southern trimmings and plenty of Southern hospitality rounded out the day for the guests and their hosts.

ThyssenKrupp also operates the historic 138-foot-tall Test and Qualification Tower, located in nearby Horn Lake, Mississippi. Though not visited in this tour, nine ­engineers with over 100 years of combined experience work here. In this facility, 14 elevator hoistways and an environmental chamber are used to test various products and complete elevator systems. Here, an additional Model Simulation Test Tower is used to test traction, freight, ­hydraulic and TWIN elevators. A Safety Drop Tower to test elevators designed to run as high as 1,400 fpm is also contained in this facility.

From the top of the landmark test tower, you can see the three states of Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas. On any day inside of the tower, you will see Thyssen­Krupp engineers hard at work ensuring that the company’s products are designed and manufactured to meet the ­demands of building vertical transportation and fulfill the needs of its customers and the elevator riding public.

The open house was a fulfilling experience for the ­consultants and offered a good opportunity for all in ­attendance to get to know each other better, and for the consultants to witness firsthand the extensive amount of effort that ThyssenKrupp puts into ensuring that it ­provides quality products and offers responsive service to its customers and the consulting segment of the elevator ­industry. The event was well organized by the company’s staff, and it was unanimously agreed by those in attendance that it was a worthwhile experience for all.