thyssenkrupp engineers to repair elevators hands-free using Microsoft HoloLens

Germany's thyssenkrupp Elevator has unveiled a partnership with Microsoft for use of its HoloLens technology in its elevator service operations worldwide.

Demonstrated today at the One World Trade Center in New York, the special mixed reality device is set to empower more than 24,000 of the company’s service technicians to do their jobs more safely and efficiently, and keep people and cities moving better than ever before.

Currently, the global elevator service industry is valued at over $US 44 billion/year and more than 12 million elevators transport over a billion people each day. Using HoloLens, service technicians will be able to visualize and identify problems with elevators ahead of a job, and have remote, hands-free access to technical and expert information when on site – all resulting in significant savings in time and stress. Initial field trials have already shown that a service maintenance intervention can be done up to four times faster than before by using the device.

Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO of thyssenkrupp Elevator said: “With elevators transporting over one billion people each day, the service industry has a critical role to play in keeping cities moving. We remain focused on leading the transformation in this industry; introducing the latest technologies, processes and training to enable technicians to do a better job with less stress and more fun. Our goal is to dramatically increase efficiency, raise elevator uptimes and speed up service interventions to ensure mobility equipment is always running as it should, providing each passenger with the safest and most comfortable travel experience possible."

“This application of HoloLens in our service operations was made possible through our collaboration with Microsoft, and the close integration with their software experts has even allowed us to explore dedicated HoloLens apps to meet thyssenkrupp’s specific requirements.”

Launched by thyssenkrupp in 2015 as the industry’s first predictive maintenance solution, MAX is already connected with thousands of units in the pilot countries of US, Germany and Spain, and is on track to be connected with 180,000 units by the end of 2017. The successful implementation in the pilot countries has also set the stage for rollouts in additional countries by the end of 2016. Iconic buildings whose elevators are already cloud-connected through MAX include the One World Trade Center.

The building has elevators that travel faster than Usain Bolt, capable of moving from the ground floor to the 102nd floor in just 60 seconds, and regenerative drives that convert energy produced when elevators decelerate into electricity that can be used to significantly reduce the building’s energy consumption. Now equipped with MAX and HoloLens, the tower is setting new standards for sustainability and building efficiency.

We will be featuing thyssenkrupp's newest innovations in coming editions of our magazine, first in November in an interview with UK Elevator CEO William Nehring and again in the new year with more detail on HoloLens and how this is set to revolutionise the industry and urban mobility. 

Read the September 2016 issue of Business Review Europe magazine. 

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