by Brianna Crandall — May 2, 2016 — With indications for the future of the elevator industry, following the release of Chinese governmental guidelines encouraging paperless elevator maintenance management, Otis China says it continues to lead the industry with the rollout of its paperless Otis Eagle Service (OES), starting in Tianjin. Otis, a global manufacturer of people-moving products, is a unit of United Technologies Corp.
Published in February 2016, the Guidelines for Encouraging Use of Paperless Elevator Maintenance Records encourage the industry to adopt information technology (IT) to improve the quality and efficiency of elevator maintenance management and safety supervision.
In January 2016, OES was approved for use in Tianjin. In support of the Guidelines, Otis China plans to extend OES to other major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou. The Huangpu District in Shanghai launched its paperless elevator maintenance project in December 2015. Otis China plans to extend OES to all service centers nationwide.
The digitized elevator service maintenance system (OES) allows mechanics to upload daily maintenance data through mobile terminals and send directly to city archives.
Otis introduced its digitized elevator service maintenance system (OES) innovation for the industry in 2013. The system allows OES mechanics to upload daily maintenance data directly through mobile terminals and complete the maintenance process by obtaining e-signatures from customers. This eliminates paperwork and significantly enhances the efficiency and transparency of elevator maintenance, says Otis.
Using cloud-computing storage, the OES system saves maintenance reports directly to the Tianjin Municipal Archives and allows customers and supervisory authorities to read, track and manage them online. These e-reports are official documentation for elevators maintained by Otis, helping to improve the efficiency of the quality inspection process.
OES connects mobile phones to the Otis central maintenance computing center. Technicians can automatically receive their assignments, access detailed information on specific elevators, and provide feedback to customers and the central hub upon completion of work. The system also monitors other information in real time, such as records of maintenance processes, parts replacement and service completion acknowledgment by customers.
According to Otis, the breakthrough OES system replaces traditional maintenance management that relied on manual processes and paper records for more than a century. Meanwhile, the system also makes elevator service maintenance more eco-friendly. It is estimated that about four sheets of A3 paper are required every month to record maintenance data for each of the 4 million elevators now in use in China. Assuming that one tree can produce 25,000 sheets of A3 paper, 640 trees would be saved each month if all of China’s elevators were maintained with the paperless OES system, or about 7,680 trees annually.
