Third edition of fair brings large response, as 250 brands from Turkey and 10 other countries are displayed at CNREXPO Fair Center in Istanbul.

The Eurasia Lift Fair, organized by Istanbul Fuarcılık, ASFED (Elevator Industrialists’ Federation), TASIAD (Turkey Elevator Industrialists and Businessmen Association) and the CNR Holding companies, took place on March 22-25 at the CNREXPO Fair Center in Istanbul. This third edition of the fair, also known as the International Eurasia Elevator, Escalator Industry and Technologies Fair, brought 250 brands from 10 countries and was produced with the support of KOSGEB, the small and medium-sized enterprise division of the Turkish Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology. The fair hosted 32,922 professional visitors, including 3,812 foreigners, and the great interest in the event led organizers to open expanded space at the center.

The fair is among the largest expositions for the Eurasian elevator industry and brought together under one roof many of the Turkish companies in the sector. Purchase delegations from 30 countries, including Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Brazil, Mexico, Iran, Egypt, Qatar, Algeria, Morocco, Ukraine, Georgia and Pakistan, met with exhibitors and established business contacts.

The Eurasian fair stands out as a platform to put the Turkish elevator industry – with about 3,000 companies – in the spotlight. Turkish companies had numerous products on display, from cabins to automatic door systems, from electronic equipment to security systems, and a range of accessories. The fair also showcased 250 new products from exhibitors that included the most important representatives of the Turkish elevator industry, as well as companies representing 10 other countries, including Germany, China, India and Ukraine.

“Road to Europe for Anatolian Tigers”

Cem Şenel, CNR Holding general coordinator, gave the opening speech. He noted that he saw significantly more participation than at the last iteration, and he went on to highlight innovative products introduced at the fair.

Then, Ahmet Fikret Gökhan, chairman of TASIAD, took the floor. Expressing satisfaction with the progress TASIAD has made since its founding, Gökhan looked ahead to the organization’s educational efforts:

“We intend to establish an elevator school with the revenue we have obtained from here. Necessary permissions were received from the municipality. Protocols were signed. We will train and educate very valuable young people here for the future, and we will meet the needs of the industry here.”

Finally, ASFED Chairman Yusuf Atik took the floor and offered a rousing statement of encouragement to the assemblage of Turkish companies: “I call those who participate in this fair Anatolian tigers, and I regard this fair as a road to Europe for Anatolian tigers. I wish and hope this fair will bring you benefits and advantages.”

The fair also saw participation of many national and international civil society organizations, including VFA, the German elevator association.

Additional Hall Opened

Because of increased interest, CNR Expo opened a 10,000-m2 hall in addition to the 25,000-m2 exhibition space. Halls 5, 6 and 7 were filled in a short time thanks to a surge in interest, so the extra space was opened to fair participants.

Fire-Resistant Cable on Display

Akış Asansör unveiled its FE-180 elevator cable, which the company guarantees will maintain elevator operation for 3 hr. during a fire. Fair visitors were impressed that the cable maintained its integrity even as it was subjected to a constant 750°C temperature during the entire fair.

“According to fire regulations, elevator drive engine supply cables have to be fire resistant,” said Bekir Gürbüz, general manager of Akış Kablo. He continued:

“We conduct such a test to show our customers how reliable and how good we are in this business. In case of a possible fire around our cables even for 3 hr., we guarantee that the engine will keep running. However, during the test we made throughout the fair, we tested the cable for four days with continuous flame testing at 750°C and showed that the engine has not stopped. Halogen-free cables, known as nonflammable, are sensitive to the environment and prevent the cable from releasing gases that will affect breathing in the event of a fire. However, it is not the case that the cable is not nonflammable. Thanks to this FE-180 flame-resistant cable we produce, we guarantee the operation for 3 hr. without affecting the operation of the elevator during the fire with these features. With this test we conducted at the fair, we are introducing our system so that our customers can use our product with peace of mind.”

The company conducted the test at 750°C with continuous flame, according to the TS IEC 60331 standard. Gürbüz added, “At the same time, we are avoiding electromagnetic noises with this cable, which is braided and prevents electromagnetic interference.”

Merih H-MAX Draws Attention

Merih Asansör, one of the leading automatic-door manufacturers in the sector, drew a great deal of attention with its “H-MAX Model 8 Panels Automatic Elevator Door.” Proclaiming that the company has exhibited products that combine quality and aesthetics, Product Development Manager Ömer Gürkan Gürbüz discussed his company’s wares on display:

“There are some of these products that have seen a great deal of interest. One of these was undoubtedly our H-MAX door model, the largest automatic elevator door ever, which has been exhibited at all the fairs organized to date in the sector, not just this fair. We designed the H-MAX model operating fully automatically with floor and cabin doors at 4,000-mm width and 3,000-mm height as eight panels. This door model is usually used in factories, garage doors, car lifts, industrial constructions and other large-scale spaces. The most important feature of the product is that it can be manufactured in a single process with an integrated structure without additional parts. Manufacturing of the product as a single part in these dimensions without any additions or assemblies is showing that we, at Merih, manufacture with highly advanced machinery technology.”

Another notable Merih product at the fair was the L-FIT model elevator door. Gürbüz described this model, saying, “This product allows automatic door assembly by operating inside a semiautomatic lift-door frame. This provides a practical solution to modernization applications. In addition, our antivandal cabin model, ‘Kanuni’ . . . is resistant to intentional destruction and has attracted great attention in our booth.”

Merih, founded in 1977 by the Chairman of the Board Yusuf Atik, also organized a celebration of its 40th anniversary on the second day of the fair. After a speech by Atik, a cake was cut, and the event was completed with a dance show.

Metroplast Introduces Gearless Engine

Metroplast’s R&D studies have been ongoing for a long time, and one of the fruits of these efforts, the company’s gearless engine, was introduced at the fair. Metroplast General Manager Levent Akdemir indicated that R&D studies for the engine are in the process of being completed, and serial production will start very soon. He added that the company was very satisfied with the level of interest it received at the fair.

Accessibility a Topic at Seminar

A number of seminars and panels were organized on the second and third days of the fair. Devrim Gecegezer, chairman of Genemek, made a presentation on EN 81-70: Effects of Accessibility on Floor and Control Panels for Passenger Lifts, including those for people with disabilities. Gecegezer noted that a person’s height is taken into account regarding disabilities, and he offered information on the height limitations in the joint control system and cabin button panel. Gecegezer said:

“The goal of EN 81-70 is to make the elevator available to everyone. When you press the button, how do you know the button works? People who aren’t sight-disabled can understand the button’s function from LED lights. But, how can a sight-disabled person understand it?”

Noting that some buttons will sound when pressed, he continued:

“Unfortunately, a great number of buttons which will sound after pressing are sold out in the market. EN 81-70 is important. It is not required by law; it just says it should be. If an applicable law is enacted, [EN 81-70] indicates how to implement it. At the same time, the buttons need to have Braille alphabets.”

For the elevator contractor, Gecegezer said, it comes down to one thing: “If you place a button without following the rules, you are violating the rules.”

“We Want to Take Our Place”

The second panel of the day was led by two representatives of NIDEC Elevator Turkey: İsmail Kosovalı, Middle East, North Africa sales manager, and Mohamed Ezzeddine, Middle East, North Africa business development director. Ezzeddine, noting that NIDEC Turkey is part of a company that has been manufacturing motors for about 109 years, said:

“Today we have to talk about the high-speed elevators of NIDEC Kinetek Corp. The important thing here is that an elevator works most properly at high speed, not reaching the highest speed.”

Displaying machine and control technology of Kinetek, Ezzeddine said:

“We can produce high-speed solutions in high buildings. In high-rise buildings, people mainly use the elevator. Proper management is very important in such areas. You can enable people to reach their destination quickly, but it is important to reach the right floor at the right time, and to do it safely.”

Sharing the application fields of Kinetek High Speed Projects with the participants, Ezzeddine pointed out:

“We’ve carried out high-speed projects since 1994. We have many projects in countries like the U.S., India and Mexico. We would like to perform this in Turkey. Thanks to the system that we have installed in the Porsche Design Tower in Miami, people can take their Porsche to their offices and homes. We have more products and projects for China, since we are U.S.-based. We also develop products conforming to EN 84 and EN 81 for the Turkish market. We want to take our place powerfully in the Turkish market in the coming periods.”

Hydraulic and Traction Elevators

On the third day of the fair, the seminars continued at full steam. Luc Rivet, secretary general of the European Lift Components Association (ELCA), gave his organization’s presentation, which addressed hydraulic and traction elevators. At one time, he said, hydraulic machines were the dominant elevators across Europe but have lost popularity in favor of traction machines.

He underlined that ELCA performs various activities, such as lobbying activities and participation in European Committee for Standardization (CEN) groups. He also touched on ELCA’s cooperation with European societies on research studies. Mentioning the Aragon Technology Institute (ITA) in this scope, Rivet said, “I requested a study from ITA on traction and hydraulic elevators. We also obtained financing from nonmember and member organizations of ELCA for this comparison.” He continued:

“We at ELCA are actually an objective federation. We support both traction and hydraulic elevator manufacturers. We are trying to balance the competition. The big companies tried to collapse the hydraulic-elevator market by explaining that too much electricity was consumed for the hydraulic elevators. When we focus on energy consumption, the difference in energy consumption between hydraulic and traction elevators is only EUR50 (US$53.81) per year. There are also various proposals and advisory documents about this, but, as you know, there are striking statements in these documents. When we look at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) documents among them, there are reports that the traction elevators have serious electricity savings. This is really annoying and totally wrong. When we focus on the distribution of elevators on the market, the housing sector has a 64% share. When we look at the buildings, the electricity consumed during work is generally shown. In the hydraulic elevator, this status changes in standby mode. However, the customer thinks that the hydraulic system consumes a lot of electricity and is going to other options.”

Rivet said that all elevators are ecologically calculated in the footprint and that the performed work is fair and honest. Referring to the fact that the modernization of hydraulic elevators was focused in a partial sense, Rivet said:

“In this context, we have examined the products of companies like KLEEMANN. In order to be able to obtain data, we have observed products of companies in countries like Greece and Sweden. İTA can do research in Turkey and decide whether hydraulic elevators or traction elevators are appropriate for you.”

In the second seminar of the day, a panel was organized on inspection and the differences in periodic controls, and took the form of mutual questions and answers moderated by Cem Bozdağ, deputy chairman of ASFED and Bursa Industry and Commerce Chamber Machine Committee member. Other panelists were Serhat Mayer, regional manager of the Royalcert certification body; Mustafa Tutsak, general manager of AYK Technical Inspection Co.; and Fehmi Pireci, who served as chief auditor at TÜV, Austria and Szutest.