VT, Post-Covid

National elevator and escalator marketing promotes growth across the country.

Recently, it has been observed that the Indian economy is returning post-COVID-19. Many sectors like the Indian real estate and elevator/escalator industries are expected to revive with increasing income and economic growth. Real estate projects have significantly seen a rapid rise in most of the major cities in India over the last quarter, which in turn has created a positive sentiment for 2022. Most rating agencies and banks, such as Moody’s and S&P, have estimated that the Indian economy is set to grow by 8-10% in FY 2022, which promises to further push the demand for elevators and escalators in the coming years.

As the market sets back, the elevator and escalator market size in India is expected to grow by US$659.2 million during 2020-2024. The elevator and escalator market in India is expected to post a year-on-year growth rate of 7.68% during this period. Going forward, the elevator industry is expected to develop indigenously, bringing new technologies and innovations to India that will require less reliance on manpower and increased scaffold-less construction, augmented Internet of Things (IoT)-based data collection and learning to determine parameters based on actual usage of elevators to help analyze values on which lift traffic analysis was modeled.

The COVID-19 outbreak severely impacted society, businesses and the economy, leading us to think again about more effective health and safety measures. People are getting very conscious about an elevator’s hygiene and safety protocols. Companies working for the vertical-transportation (VT) sector have been trying hard to provide solutions for safer rides. Most of the solutions are based on digital enhancements and technologies.

Since the virus and other bacteria can be transferred through hand contact with different surfaces, elevator passengers increasingly demand better protection for their daily rides. Solutions, such as regular cleaning of elevator surfaces, touchless technology and antimicrobial sanitation, are getting ever popular among elevator service providers and manufacturers.

Smart Elevator Technology

Mostly, high-rise commercial buildings demand high-speed and high-capacity smart elevators that can safely and comfortably carry a maximum number of passengers in one go.

One of the most popular smart elevator features is Destination Oriented Allocation System (DOAS). When a passenger enters the elevator lobby and selects the destination floor number, the elevator panel immediately indicates the elevator car that will arrive to reach the destination floor. This is due to the pre-registration of the destination floor, which prevents selection or pressing of buttons inside the elevator car. This feature allows destination-wise dispersal of passengers, which prevents congestion inside the elevator car and minimizes the wait and travel time of passengers. The DOAS feature reduces the possibility of over-crowded elevator lobbies and tends to increase flexibility in elevator grouping and lift core layouts, and helps enhance overall building design.

Elevator Modernization

As elevators age, their ride quality deteriorates, which increases running costs and results in longer downtime due to frequent breakdowns or maintenance work. Just like other building equipment, elevators also require updates. They are designed for a service life of approximately 20 to 25 years. To reduce the burden on building management and update to a safer and comfortable elevator ride, instead of replacing the entire system, only the equipment that requires an update should be replaced. That’s the modernization feature offered by Mitsubishi Electric ELEMOTION.

Instead of replacing the entire elevator car, replacing only essential components/equipment helps to maintain renewal expenses at a reasonable level. In addition, this can prevent the hold needed to be put on the building operations during the repair, and shorten installation periods.

M’s BRIDGE™ Global Remote-Maintenance Service for Elevators

In this modern era, usage of elevators has become frequent and essential. Elevators form the vertical public transportation system. To ensure efficient usage of elevators by the general public at all times, their functions must be kept fully operational through appropriate maintenance work and safety assurance.

Apart from general maintenance servicing, it is highly important to provide “proper maintenance” with the usage of the latest technologies to ensure that issues faced by people are prevented and resolved.
Elevators are used consistently for a long period and are not easy to replace. Therefore, systematic maintenance is required to prevent failure or breakdown of the elevator car.

M’s BRIDGE is a global remote-maintenance service for the continuous monitoring, inspection and data analysis of elevators via Mitsubishi Electric’s IoT platform. This inspection service is provided 24/7, year-round, to avoid any halt in the elevator car. The service will provide a range of maintenance-management support, such as failure analysis for early recovery and the formulation of optimal maintenance plans.

The key features of M’s BRIDGE are:

1. Faster and more convenient elevator repairs based on remote failure detection and analysis
   1. Remote 24/7 monitoring of elevator operation and automatic detection of failure
   2. Remote analysis of failure data and identification of causes to facilitate rapid repairs, contributing to improved safety, peace of mind and convenience for customers
2. Remote inspection data for efficient, high-quality maintenance
   1. Automatic detection and alerts, even for minor signs of potential malfunctions, enable maintenance engineers to prevent elevator failures
   2. Efficient, high-quality maintenance based on collection and analysis of remote inspection data that maintenance engineers can utilize during regular on-site inspections

Mitsubishi Electric has turned elevator maintenance services provided by overseas service offices worldwide into a computer application that uses our IoT platform. By doing so, we provide services that are more sophisticated than ever before, which simultaneously improves user safety and convenience. Additionally, big data obtained through elevators around the world can be utilized through our digital technologies, including AI and data analysis.

This new wave of digital growth has pushed every sector into this new era, and the elevator industry is working hard to keep up with the modernizing digital trends.