Mission-styled room less lifts will be prominent in the elevator industry

Albert Dhiraviyam, Country Head of Marketing at Johnson Lifts, talks about the need to address the sustainability and safety issues in the lifts and elevators business as India grows vertically.

Could you brief us on Johnson Lift’s journey?

Johnson Lifts Pvt. Ltd., established in 1963, is one of the leaders in the elevator industry, with recorded sales of over 30,000 lifts and 1,000 escalators. They have fourteen models and four factories with a production capacity of 30,000 lifts per year, a gross turnover of about $2500, and an employee base of over 9000 people working with us.
Johnson Lifts is associated with most of India’s top builders, architects, and project management consultants.

We are also talking about Indian MNCs, which means  we are exporting to 10 countries today, from Nepal to Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. We are a leading player in Metro. We are the first company to do 16 metros; we have close to 2500 employees and around 3000 escalators running various metros in the country.

And that is our biggest strength—with the product management expertise that has been gained, we are growing smarter and stronger. Today, we have around 15,000 lifts running in India, and out of that, 90,000 plus lifts are under our service base. We have 80 branches in countries spread out across India, and with the native service centres, we reach every nook and cranny of the country. And with all this strength and these credentials, we can cater to all builders today.

Our 14 elevators and models primarily cater to segments and buildings having lifts for residential bungalows, commercial buildings, villas, high-rise buildings, apartments, societies, and hospitals; in commercial applications, airports, railway stations, and metros; meanwhile, government buildings and hotels are all major buildings that require lifts, and we have been catering to all these segments.

What’s the significance of lifts and elevators in modern buildings?

Unlike in the past, when people preferred individual houses, today’s people choose to live in flats and societies because they include amenities that individual houses do not have, such as swimming pools, gyms, cafeterias, clubhouses, and so on. With all of this, India is going vertical; high-rise structures are the same now since the cost is fractional, and people prefer to live in this society.

The lift is now an essential component of any construction. A lift is necessary for any building since individuals cannot climb stairs. Another factor to consider is the increasing average age of Indians, as well as the better affordability of housing as a result of all of the government’s initiatives. Therefore, even in private homes, people have begun to purchase lifts to help senior citizens go to higher floors. Hence, vertical transportation is increasingly used in modern high-rise buildings to convey people to different occupation floors.

What do they add efficiency to managing commercial buildings and Airports?

We should reduce machine downtime, especially for airports and commercial buildings, because there will be a large quantity of transportation every time a train arrives and stops; 1000s of people will get out whenever a flight arrives and lands, and 1000s will come down. As a result, they must be evacuated or relocated as soon as possible via rapid mass transit.

Because the elevator must operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, your downtime must be minimal. So, we have excellent service backups provided for all these commercial buildings, especially for these critical situations in airports and railway stations, wherein our service teams are attending to the complaints through predictive maintenance, reducing our complaints. Even if there is a breakdown, we attend to it quickly so that the lift is up and running immediately.

Can you brief us on your innovative range and which marketers you cater to most?

The gearless motors used in the emission formula sector are becoming prominent in the market. Even the live commission room segment is growing exponentially due to the architect’s preference and technological advancement. These mission-style room less lifts are the in thing, a modern technology that has arrived and that everyone is looking forward to.

We are catering to the high-rise segments, the multi-floor buildings promoted by the major builders, where they are constructing buildings to the tune of 20 floors, 30 floors, and 40 floors. This is the segment we are catering to on a vast scale today.

What measures has your company taken to maintain safe operations and easy navigation?

The safety of a lift is a primary and most important concern. Every lift has been coded to the BIS standards that precisely define all the safety features a lift has to incorporate. In many states in India, the lift inspectors are very strong, and they govern the complete coding system. We at Johnson Lift follow BIS Safety norms. From entry into the lift, there is a safety system of a screen sensor where, whenever somebody goes, automatically, it will open; it will not close.

People used to crash in the early days of technology, and they would have accidents and die as a result. So, as soon as you enter the overload protection, if it is a six passenger lift and eight people go in it, the lift will not move. So, all of them are defined by the BIS standard we follow.

How does your company’s product differ from those of other companies on the market?

There are only a few major components in the lift industry. All the major players in the industry, the MNCs and the Indian players operating in India, will be providing the same component. So, the only difference, if any, is in the company’s deliverables and services; otherwise, everyone provides the same product. It is about the service we provide—we give trouble-free service because the breakdowns are less, which makes the difference.

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