Year in reflection – Colley Elevator Blog – 2023 review

 

Welcome 2024!  We had a great 2023 at Colley Elevator, this is a quick recap of our year and moving forward to the next.  For me it is a great way to see where we came from and where we want to go. I’m lucky to have such great people around as we enter our 116^th year of being an independent elevator contractor.  Thank you to everyone that was part of our 2023 year!

Annual reflection – This year we saw our maintenance portfolio grow to over 2350 elevators.  We had some bigger portfolios come over but a majority of our new customers are buildings with one or two elevators.  We bought more Smartrise Engineering controllers than last year, we ordered a few Alpha Elevator controllers and had the chance to put in a good amount of MCE.  We probably ordered over 100 door operators, 75+ fixtures packages, 50+ power units, a few elevator packages[MEI and Canton], a whole lot of cylinders from EECO along with Custom and ITI.  Colley Cares, our philanthropic outreach, gave out over $12,000 to philanthropic organizations ranging from substance abuse to food depositories.  The Colley team came together to help out Toys for Tots and a Food Depository this fall/winter with a truck load of gifts and food to help out those in need.  We work with incredible people who made this all happen and our average employment is about 12 years. I’m proud to work side by side with everyone here and that we have a culture of openness at Colley that helps get everyone done at a high level! Thank you to our coworkers, customers & suppliers for being great!  In 2023 Elevator World did not let us in the Ellies competition but we are happy our friends at Midwest Elevator won.  We lost our long time leader, Ray Zomchek, earlier in the year after 60+ years of working at Colley Elevator.  We lost too many legends this year. 

Post reflection – Take a look at the great catalog of blog posts in 2023, go back and read some.

1/1/23 – Year in reflection – Colley Elevator Blog – 2022 review

1/7/23 – New Construction – Hydraulic Elevators – Chicago Public Schools

1/14/23 – Elevator pit water damage – Hydraulic Elevator

1/21/23 – Colley Cares – Colley Elevator Gives Back – 4^th Quarter 2022

1/29/23 – NAEC Spring Conference – 4/16/23-4/19/23 – Waikoloa Beach, Hawaii

2/4/23 – Hydraulic Elevator modernization – Norridge, IL

2/11/23 – Elevator picture Hall of Fame 2023 – Superbowl of Elevators

2/26/23 – Community Associations Institute [CAI] – Condo – HOA – Conference & Expo 2023 - Rosemont, IL

3/5/23 - Excellence in Execution – Virginia Controls Hydraulic Elevator PLC

3/11/23 - Elevator Contractors of America – ECA – Annual Meeting – Key Largo, FL

3/19/23 - Hydraulic Elevator Modernization – Northbrook, IL

3/26/23 - State of Illinois Fire Marshall to Remove Temporary Acceptance from Elevator New Construction & Elevator Modernization

4/2/23 - State of Illinois Fire Marshall to extend FAID requirement on hydraulic elevators to 12/31/24

4/9/23 - A17.1 2019 Visual Text Communication – Wurtec

4/15/23 - Celebrate National Library Week – April 23rd – April 29th 2023

4/23/23 - IUEC Safety Stand Down - 4/28/23

4/30/23 - A17.1 2019 Visual Text Communication – Rath Communications/Janus

5/7/23 - Mechanic charged with homicide in fatal NYC elevator plunge

5/20/23 - Hydraulic Elevator Modernization – Itasca, IL – Freight Elevator – In Memoriam Ray Zomchek 1935-2023

5/29/23 - Elevator 101 – Elevator Education For Property Managers

6/11/23 - Elevator 101 – Elevator Education For Property Managers – Recap

6/25/23 - US Elevator – 3 Board Hydraulic Elevator Microprocessor Control Systems

7/4/23 - Independence Day – 4th of July 2023 – 115 Years of being an Independent Elevator Contractor

7/8/23 - Hydraulic Elevator Modernization – Chicago, IL

7/16/23 - Colley Cares – Colley Elevator Gives Back – 2nd Quarter 2023

8/1/23 - Apples To Apples Elevator Modernization – Decision Making Process

8/6/23 - Chicago Elevator Association Annual Golf Outing 2023 - Klein Creek Golf Course

8/13/23 - Elevator Picture Hall of Fame 2023 – Volume 2

8/27/23 - Traction Elevator Modernization – Evanston, IL

9/4/23 - Elevator maintenance pride – Labor Day - Rolling Meadows, IL

9/11/23 - Chicago Elevator Association – September Meeting – VDA Elevator Consulting

9/18/23 - NAEC 74th Annual Convention – Reno, NV

9/24/23 - Colley Elevator’s 11th annual QEI education training – Keep on learning!

10/8/23 - Hydraulic Elevator Modernization – Palatine, IL

10/15/23 - Colley Cares – Colley Elevator Gives Back – 3rd Quarter 2023

10/22/23 - State of Illinois 5 Year Elevator Fireman’s Recall A17.1 2019 Code Modification Requirement - Update

10/29/23 - Keep High Voltage Wires Away From Low Voltage Wires

11/5/23 - Making Elevators Great Again – Northfield, IL

11/26/23 - New construction hydraulic elevator – Lincolnshire, IL

Blog reflection – 39 posts in 2023[that is a lot of words, pictures and time], over 82,400 views, over 287,592 views in the blog’s history.  

Elevator resolution – This next year, I would like to take the opportunity to encourage everyone to go past their ceiling, giving the tools and time to do great things in their particular position.  Industrywide there is too much cannibalism for short term gains which diminishes our jobs and how we are looked at.

FAID inspections– The FAID inspection has been a big challenge for everyone, we are doing a great job.  We are going to hit 2024 running on getting everyone signed up, coordinated and passed.

2023 projects/relationships – In 2023 we have been booking larger projects, more traction projects, more multi elevator projects.  Our mix of work mod/construction work has been very successful in the light of the “no temporary” acceptances, which has made it very challenging to get elevators passed with a clean bill of health, we have been doing a great job.  

Suppliers – We have some incredible suppliers that delivery every day, all day, all year.  Thank you!  On the other hand we have seen some of our historically great suppliers do incredibly terrible trying to implement corporate modeling, hiring marketing clowns and implement new software programs.  A message for some of our suppliers who have forgotten what made the companies they work for great, do better! You aren't going to value engineer, restructure or sell your way to more profit or a to a better company. You will trip, fall and ruin good names and legacies. Don't forget your roots and where you came from. 

Thank you for everyone who took the time to read the blog.  Work safe, getting better, do great things and make our industry a better place for everyone.