CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7 - 13

a library of general and specific information that is

kilometers by our service technicians, and thus preventing

immediately relevant to a technician on a service call:

nearly 4,500 tons of carbon emissions per year.

technical specs and diagrams of the different elevator

The "Fifth Pillar" While not an element of our

models, a spare parts catalog with ordering system,

Integrated Digital Service Platform, we haven't forgotten

the service contract covering the equipment at this

the party who is perhaps the most important beneficiary

location, information about the customer. Perhaps most

of a superior digitally enabled experience - the

important is that our remote monitoring of the elevator

passengers riding Schindler elevators, escalators, and

and analysis of data generated by the sensors means

moving walkways.

that the technician will also find in his toolbox possible

Our new PORT (Personal Occupant Requirement

causes of the problem. It might suggest that, say, spare

Terminal) Technology, developed by our Transit

part 4711 is the most likely cause of the problem with

Management Group, both optimizes elevator usage

the door and provide him with repair instructions if that

within a building, leading to significant energy savings,

turns out to be the case.

and personalizes elevator service. For example,

To aid in trouble-shooting, the technician can use his

the passenger's use of a programmed access card

iPhone as a diagnostic tool, connecting it to the elevator

automatically customizes the elevator ride to her needs,

control panel with a cable or via Bluetooth. This allows

whether it be a longer door-open time for a disabled

him to see the error log, make setting adjustments using

passenger or an automatic stop at a tenant's floor. Or,

the touchscreen on his phone, and, once the repair is

during off-peak hours, some elevators in a building are

made, run a test on the elevator. When finished, he can

put on standby to save energy, without substantially

move on to his next job, referring to his daily job list, also

increasing waiting times.
In the case of one PORT Technology feature recently

on his phone.
Smart Processes By processes I don't mean traditional

launched in China, an app on an individual's phone

processes, such as supply chain planning, that are

takes the place of the access card. This means that

governed by ERP systems. I'm talking about processes

the passenger, immediately upon entering a building,

that are enabled by the comprehensive adoption of

is directed to an elevator programmed to stop at the

digital tools and the use of smart digital algorithms.

correct floor. A building resident can provide a similar

To cite just one example, we worked with the Fraunhofer

experience for an expected visitor, by sending a coded

Institute, a large research organization, to adapt

message to the visitor's phone before he arrives.

an algorithm they developed for airfreight route
optimization for use with our service technicians. The
aim is to calculate the best route for a service technician
to take from one service job to another. And the
algorithm doesn't just take into account distance and
time; it also integrates such factors as the type of the
equipment being serviced at a particular site, the kind
of service required, and the expertise and skills needed

The elevator
service technician's

to provide that service. Consequently, the fastest and

toolkit is very small

most efficient way to get an elevator back in service may

and quite light -

involve sending a service technician who isn't the closest
technician to the site. Optimizing service routes in this

because it is contained

way and providing technicians with immediate access

in his iPhone!

to relevant data on their iPhones has had astounding

1980

consequences, eliminating roughly 40 million driving

I.A. Tjomsland gives a talk titled "Where Do We Go From Here?" at the Fourth IEEE Symposium on
Mass Storage Systems and says that Parkinson's First Law may be paraphrased to describe the
storage industry: "Data expands to fill the space available."

CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7