EURASIA LIFT FAIR Continues to Grow
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.