Schindler's new elevator machine for Hong Kong's International Commerce Centre (ICC) is to be adorned in a fetching light-blue colour rather than the traditional field green or grey.
But despite its urbane appearance, the new machine will be a real heavyweight, capable of lifting
11.5 tons.
In fact, it will be the most powerful machine in the Schindler family and used to hoist double-deck elevators.
The FM710S – assuredly far prettier than the name suggests – is a gearless giant capable of hoisting elevators to heights of half a kilometre. It can heave them skywards at an impressive
10 m/s, and can carry weights of 4,500kgs.
Performing to the limit
In the 490-metre ICC, the new machine will be performing almost to the limit. An impressive 40 double-deck elevators are planned and several will be travelling at speeds of up to 9 m/s over distances of nearly 400 metres.
In terms of aesthetics, the FM710S marks a significant break with the past. Once such machines were routinely subjected to rough handling, and exposed to dirt, oil stains and other indignities. It therefore made sense to coat them in rugged, dull colours so the stains didn't show and they remained as inconspicuous as possible.
Today, machine rooms are far more sterile environments, allowing other considerations to come into play. And with double-deck elevators planned for the ICC in Hong Kong, it was a good moment to rethink the product design of high-performance elevator machines.
Top Range
R&D set to work, and with the help of the Top Range Division (high-rise) and the production plant in Ebikon, Switzerland, came up with a more market-friendly variation.
Schindler's corporate identity specifies "red, white and bright", and because the colours were not possible for practical reasons, the R&D team chose a bright, light shade of blue, which complements well the colour red in the Schindler logo.
For senior R&D engineer, Heini Küttel, the colour is ideal for the new design concept. "Blue invokes feelings of ease and satisfaction, but it also symbolises performance and energy."
Aesthetic
Küttel is hopeful that the appearance of the machine will uplift the engineers and service technicians who install and maintain the equipment. "The aesthetic aspect is not the goal. Rather it is to encourage more careful handling of the machinery."
That might sound like wishful thinking in the manly world of machine engineering: But the people who actually install the equipment may be more susceptible to its charms than one might assume.
"It looks good and packs a real punch!" was the verdict of two technicians invited to inspect the new machine.
Bruno Tschuppert, who's responsible for production of the FM710S in Switzerland, says the fact the machinery is new, and will look new for longer, is a benefit in itself. "One automatically treats new equipment more carefully," he says.
Urban mobility
Meanwhile the mother of machines, in her light-blue coat, is being put through her paces in the R&D testing area. By 2009, she'll be providing urban mobility throughout one of the world's tallest buildings.
Travel within the super-structure will be organised by Schindler's state-of-the-art traffic management systems.
Visitors will be directed to the elevator heading to their floor with the fewest number of stops. With double-deck elevators, one deck serves the odd, the other the even-numbered floors, and escalators provide fast and easy connections from one to the other. This is urban mobility.
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