What Direction Is Maintenance Headed?

Dear readers,

The topic of this issue of Elevator World Türkiye is maintenance and modernization. Looking back, memories of the days when I was responsible for installation and maintenance at a branch of a lift company in Anatolia 20 years ago came flooding back. Of course, looking back from today, 20 years ago feels like the Stone Age. It was a time when mobile phones were just becoming widespread, but they only offered basic functions like making calls and sending text messages. Those were the days when we printed out project documents and guidebooks, carrying pages of documents to the site with us.

I used to draw up the maintenance plan in my area on MS Excel myself. Back then, auxiliary software such as SAP had not yet entered the industry. We used to anticipate at least 3 h of maintenance work per month for each unit. I had several projects with 20 floors, and for them, we would ask our employees to work on each unit for half a day. Two technicians would go together for maintenance. This was an indispensable requirement both for the safety of the technicians during maintenance and for ensuring thorough maintenance procedures.

The brakes, sheaves, ropes and rope tensions of the machine were checked each month, and adjustments were made if necessary. The settings of all landing door mechanisms were checked and readjusted if necessary. Special attention was paid to the car door mechanisms and all relevant settings were checked. The doors were not supposed to make noise as they closed, and they were not supposed to get loose at the moment of their final closing. When reaching the top of the car, the frame or brackets of the door mechanism were never to be stepped on.

All safety switches were checked. Limit switches, buffer switches, door contacts and brake contacts were always checked.

The panel, machine room, shaft bottom and door mechanism surfaces were cleaned. So, to put it in a nutshell, we used to spend quite a bit of time on maintenance. Maintenance was a profitable business. We used to make good money. In some of my projects, including hotels with lifts operating under heavy traffic conditions, there wouldn’t be any malfunctions for an entire year.

Times have changed, technology has advanced and fancy terms like IoT and AI have entered the lift industry. Nowadays, we’re using the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and augmented reality glasses in the lift industry. Everyone is using various ERP programs and auxiliary software now. In some countries around the world, certain brands have started implementing remote maintenance services. There’s preventive maintenance and modular maintenance. Maintenance is now carried out by just a single person, thus, we save on the number of personnel and expenses. Thanks to preventive and modular maintenance methods, maintenance tasks are completed more quickly. We’re keeping up with the times, carrying out maintenance tasks faster and more efficiently (!).

And, what else is happening nowadays? There are still prominent industry stakeholders who perform maintenance for as little as TRY 200 per month. This is because they believe they need to expand their maintenance portfolios, and because there is competition. We expect service technicians to perform maintenance on 10-15 units per day, depending on the type of lift and the number of stops. How are technicians supposed to perform maintenance on 10 lifts within 8 h? What is the time frame for technicians to visit the lift, communicate with the building owners, perform maintenance, complete the records and move on to the next lift, regardless of whether it’s for modular or preventive maintenance? Maintenance prices have dropped so low that we’ve reached a point where we need to go to the authorized Ministry and request the establishment of a base price for maintenance. We need them to set maintenance prices. So, what’s happening on the field? Of course, we have some industry stakeholders who provide excellent maintenance services. However, our field audits often reveal such unbelievable situations that I find myself at a loss for words to describe them. One time, I saw that the safety gear wedges of the car were at the bottom of the shaft. When I asked the technician about it, he explained that “the brake block was making noises, and he didn’t have time to adjust it, so he had to disassemble it and leave it at the bottom of the well.” Later, during the evaluation meeting, the service manager explained the maintenance strategies developed by their company and the effective maintenance methods they implemented.

Well, with all these technological advancements and innovations, shouldn’t maintenance be more accurate, efficient and profitable? Shouldn’t the components have longer lifespans, and shouldn’t there be fewer breakdowns? Is there something we’re missing or dropping the ball on? Aren’t there some things slipping through the cracks?

I’m sure anyone who has worked in the industry for a while will provide the right answers to these questions. Yet, one thing I’m more certain of is that nothing will change; this technological, efficient and effective trend will continue.

I wish you healthy and safe days.