What are customer demands as regards speed, safety, and overall performance of elevators?
The elevator industry in India is witnessing tremendous technology change. The rising population of the country, especially in the metro cities, has no option other than to live in skyscrapers to meet their need for affordable housing.
Given the fast-paced life in cities, residents in high rises today are impatient to wait even for 2-3 minutes for an elevator to reach their floor. Hence, the elevator Industry is focussing on developing newer technologies for high-speed elevators. Very soon you will see high speed elevators in India like the ones in UAE and other developed countries.
To achieve a smooth ride quality in high-speed elevators, the industry will need extraordinary components to meet the need for speed along with safety. The industry will also need to work on automation in the elevator installation process, else it will be difficult to achieve high accuracy and efficiency in performance.
What recent innovations has Apson made in its products?
APSON is coming with a new product “Chetak by APSON” which is an elevator gearless traction motor. It will be available in two variants which will be launched at ISEE 2022.
One variant of the product is for heavy load lifting capacity up to 28ton load and the other is for ultra-high-speed elevators with a travelling speed capacity of up to 12.0 m/s.
APSON is the first company in India to have developed such a motor, which shows the capability of Indian manufacturers. In the past we have also developed an ultra-slim traction machine which can make it possible to install a wider cabin in a narrow shaft.
Please tell us about your manufacturing facility and annual production.
Our manufacturing unit is spread over 20,000 sqm in the outskirts of Ahmedabad city. We invested 5 million euro (~ INR 40 crore) in 2018 to establish this unit. It is India’s most advanced manufacturing unit with a dust-proof room for traction machine assembly, a noise-proof room for noise test, an overload testing facility, etc. Our annual production capacity is 24000 traction machines. Production has been increasing with an average growth rate of 158.60% since the last 5 years.
Which elevator brands is APSON catering to with its gearless motors?
We are currently catering to some well-known regional brands of India such as Express Lifts (owned by Fujitech Japan), and we have more than 300 customers in India. Last year, we established our subsidiary in Europe to cater to the European market.
Please give a brief background of your company.
APSON is an Indian multinational elevator component manufacturing company established in 2016 by Arvind Panchal. The company’s aim is to develop the safest and premium range of power-efficient elevator traction machines for the elevator industry.
With 30 years of experience in the mechanical and automation industry; APSON signed a non-disclosable joint venture in 2016 for developing and manufacturing elevator traction machines. In 2018, the company launched a complete range of elevator gearless traction machines and also became the world’s first company to offer a 4-year warranty on the machines.
APSON is the only company in India to have elevator motors up to 48 poles. With a capacity range up to 3000 kg and speed up to 2.5 m/s, we are in the process of innovating ultra-high-speed and heavy capacity elevator gearless traction machines.
We have a highly experienced R&D team. Our mission is to convert all end-users of elevator geared traction machines to elevator gearless traction machines for better growth of the industry as well as the environment by saving energy.
To ensure fault free production of elevator gearless traction machine, we have our own designed state of the art technology for assembly and testing. The company has envisaged further major investment for product development up-gradation, renovation and modernization of production and testing facilities as required from time to time.
Our Made in India Elevator Motors are as efficient as the European Elevator Motors. Our aim is to provide advanced technology products for every segment of the industry which can save the environment with minimum power consumption at an affordable cost.
Hiren Panchal
Please tell us about some of your advanced products.
Our Slimmest Elevator Traction Machine under APSON’s Zero Figure series, which has proven its efficiency and smooth performance, is the world’s slimmest elevator machine; it can be installed on the back of the guide rail in a space of only 220 mm. It also has negligible brake opening and closing noise compared to all other motors. Though its initial price was high, we are now going to bring it into commercial production soon and significantly reduce its price.
Our series of Eco-Strong Elevator Motors have low weight, a high lifting capacity, extremely low noise, very high power efficiency, and most importantly, they are less expensive. Their performance is comparable to that of our premium series elevator motors but the specifications are exclusive to residential projects. By modifying the specifications of our premium series, we are understanding and meeting the needs of the industry. We have especially developed this product for customers who want to install an economical and safe elevator.
