Hyundai Elevator Completes R&D Center With Test Tower

Hyundai Elevator, Korea’s largest elevator manufacturer, has announced the completion of its new R&D center in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea, expanding its innovation capabilities, The Korea Herald reports. The Hyundai Asan Tower, which integrates laboratories and a test facility, consolidates all the company’s previously scattered research functions into a single location near its headquarters. The new R&D center includes a three-story laboratory facility named after the late chair, which will house the company’s expanded research staff, now totaling 160 full-time personnel. The centerpiece of the complex is a 250-m test tower that can test up to 19 elevators simultaneously, including Hyundai’s high-speed model traveling at 1,260 m/min, and systems for free-fall safety testing. The new tower ranks among the world’s top three elevator test towers in terms of height and is 45 m taller than the company’s previous test facility in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, the company added.