As
technology advances, we see more and more options to replace human beings with
computer systems. In our industry we see more and more opportunities to replace
the most expensive part of our maintenance expense, the people. Before we replace all of the people hours in
the realm of elevator maintenance there are somethings we should pay attention
to.
Yesterday
People/labor - Years ago it was standard that each hydraulic
elevator got one hour per month for elevator maintenance and traction elevators
got at least 2 hours a month for maintenance.
You knew your elevator person and the building developed a relationship
with the person. The elevator mechanic
knew the quarks in your elevator system.
Equipment - These elevators were
relay logic and required maintenance to be completed on the relays. Our
traction elevators had motor generators that needed to be maintained and
monitored. Maintenance on relay logic controllers and generators is an art. Our
elevators did not have all of the life|safety devices[phones, emergency lights,
fireman’s recall, etc] as they do now.
Our elevator pits did not have as many sump pumps, fire recall detectors
and other non-elevator related devices in the hoistway.
[Older elevator controllers have more items that should be reviewed on a regular basis]]
[This old gem has two motor generators that should be looked at, at least once a month]
Today
People/labor - Today original
equipment manufacturers such as Otis, Schindler, Thyssen Krupp, Kone are not
going to buildings as frequently as yesterday and are driving more maintenance
agreements to go to a quarterly basis versus monthly basis. More and more companies are going to team
maintenance which give 2 mechanics 400-500 elevators to have in their portfolio
to maintain, service, respond to service calls, complete testing and any other
request. We call the new normal a Super
Route. With the assumption that we have
20 working days in a month and work 8 hours a day we have 160 work hours to
complete all of our tasks as an elevator mechanic. More often than not, the numbers do not add
up.
Equipment - Most of the older
elevator systems that have relay logic systems have been replaced with solid
state systems. Our new elevators all have phones, phone line monitoring,
emergency lights, firemen recall phase I & II and we have more non elevator
devices in our hoist way such as sump pumps and fire recall detectors.
Tomorrow
People/labor – If there is a linear
relationship between yesterday and today and you reflect that relationship to today
and tomorrow, we as an industry will not be visiting your buildings very often.
We as an elevator industry are implementing and deploying elevator monitoring
systems. What these elevator monitoring
systems are doing are monitoring electricity and noises to identify issues or
potential issues.
Equipment – Our elevator
equipment will become more sophisticated and have more life safety devices.
Each time there is an elevator death we as an industry react to prevent that
accident from occurring again. This
means one more device or feature added to your elevator system that needs to be
tested/checked. Perhaps brand new elevators can be monitored remotely for a certain period of time and not visited, cleaned or looked at. Is your elevator brand new?
[The device circle is an elevator monitor - this elevator is not brand new 15-20 years old]
Advancement in elevator
monitoring
– The advancing elevator technology to do predictive modeling and monitoring
your elevator system is pretty impressive.
We can capture faults on elevators, we can tell if the elevator is shut
down, we can monitor electricity and noise and develop predictive modeling
algorithms which design standard deviation curves from normal usage and flag
items when they fall outside the 1st or 2nd deviation. Sounds great, easy, sign the deal, right? Well keep reading.
Monthly elevator code
required testing
– Our elevator code requires a few items that do need to be checked each
month. If an elevator mechanic doesn’t
go to a building each month, who will complete these tasks?
Fireman’s
service exercising
– Every month the elevator phase I key switch must be turned, the elevator
captured at the main landing, the phase II key switch turned to the on position
and the elevator taken to one landing, cycle the doors to make sure all
functions of FEO are working correctly and then returned to the main landing.
Phone – The elevator phone
should be checked each month. Newer
elevators have elevator phone line monitoring, this is a device at your main
landing that will check your phone and phone line at intervals. If your elevator system was not installed
under the 2013 code or newer it will not have this feature and someone should
push the button each month to see if it is operating correctly.
Softside or non-quantifiable
reasons to rethink the interval trends – As we progress as an industry we are
removing labor hours away from elevator maintenance. Instead of monthly we go quarterly. Instead of someone actually walking into your
building we have a computer monitor your elevator system.
Housekeeping - Here is some quick
math to review.
Monthly visits – 1 hour per month = 12 hours
per year
Quarterly visits – 1 hour per quarter = 4 hours
per year
Moving from a monthly visit to a quarterly or
“as needed systematic” visit is a 75% reduction in time you have an actual
person in your building maintaining the equipment. What gets lost? Time for Housekeeping,
attention to detail, familiarity with the specific elevator requirements. The
list goes on.
Below are some pictures of elevators we have
recently taken over from companies that have “Super Routes” that visit
buildings on a “regular systematic as needed basis”.
[This is a building that had an OEM with a route mechanic that was overloaded, there had been no housekeeping for years]
[A super route's elevator pit]
[This hasn't been wiped off in a while - building was paying the elevator company monthly]
[OEM had this elevator for 15+ years since installation]
[First month with Colley]
[Elevator pit when we took over]
[Elevator pit after first month of Colley maintenance]
Softside – When you go into
buildings on a regular basis and actually look in the elevator pit and car top
you will find things out that can save the building money and headaches. The picture below is from a school, if the
water came up any more it would have evacuated the entire school because the
elevator pit was flooding. We got to the
building on our maintenance visit just in time to identify the sump pump wasn’t
working.
[We caught this in the nick of time - if we did not get here, the alarm would have went off and the school would have been evacuated.]
Take away – Each building has
different requirements for maintenance based on usage, age, traffic patterns,
environment and several other factors. A
6 story condominium with 60 units requires different maintenance than a 3 story
building with 12 units. There is no one
program that fits all buildings. An
elevator mechanic is only as good as the tools he is given from the company he
works for, if the company doesn’t give the mechanic the time, material and
equipment to properly maintain an elevator it will be impossible to maintain an
elevator system properly. Big names, flashy products and sales person promises
do not necessarily translate into better maintenance and a longer elevator
system life. If we don't come in your buildings because we have "systematic or regular" visits or our routes are too large, we cannot care for your equipment. Something to think about before signing your next elevator contract. Easy solution is to ask and make sure your concerns are included in the next contract, do not take the sales person's word.
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If
you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to
contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or
630-766-7230 ext. 107 or on our web page at www.colleyelevator.com
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