Time Is Money – Spend Wisely

Industry labor costs and suggestions as to how one can lower them

The best projections regarding future trends in the elevator industry predict already-high labor costs significantly increasing over the next five years. Some estimate the hike to be as steep as 8% per year in that period. As labor costs soar, businesses often see their margins sinking. This sobering fact, nevertheless, may be good news for savvy elevator contractors. It’s really not complicated. Businesses providing reliable products with higher rates of installation efficiency and, therefore, lower costs to their customers hold a competitive edge and win a larger market share.

PTL Equipment suggests three labor-saving features to help its customers cut costs. First, mechanics never seem thrilled about having to remove eight or 10 vandal-resistant “spanner” type screws from an elevator car-operating panel (COP). Not only is the process time consuming, there is also always the risk of marring the faceplate with a slip. PTL’s COP Cam Lock Enclosure System affords an average 90% labor savings over conventional screw-type enclosures. When you consider this 90% savings each time the enclosure is opened and closed across the fixture’s lifespan, it’s easy to see how this feature can add up to real and substantial savings.

Secondly, PTL is able to prewire fixtures at a fraction of the time and cost of field wiring. Experience and knowledge are key in this process.Components must be properly connected at the outset of the installation process. The diagnostic costs to locate errors after installation can be high. Considering median-wage scales for elevator mechanics and cost structures for billable hours, this feature can save significant time and money in wiring-related costs.

Finally, another often-overlooked area for savings is in choosing the right button lighting system. The industry norm for button lighting has shifted to LED bulbs over the past several years. Simply put, they last longer. These bulbs are predominantly being built into integrated circuit boards, which also facilitate the button’s function. The highest probability of failure for a high-quality elevator button involves its LED lighting. Unfortunately, with the new integrated circuit board styles, something as simple as replacing a button light may become a protracted and inordinately expensive proposition. PTL’s Button LED Lighting System can help solve this problem with the company’s small, quick-replace LED lighting boards. This is another savings realized throughout the fixture’s installation lifecycle. Removing and replacing two screws fits a fresh LED into the button housing with cam-locking enclosures.