The sharp downturn in the Chinese construction market, which began in recent years and is still ongoing, has negatively affected the balance sheets of globally active lift companies. The simultaneous sharp rise in interest rates has also affected the debt position of a large company like Wittur, which has reacted with a recapitalisation and change of ownership, making Wittur’s balance sheet now one of the strongest in the industry. We talked about this with Andrea Gorlezza, Managing Director Wittur Project Business and Field Services EMEA division. WHAT IS THE STATUS OF WITTUR’S RECAPITALISATION? The recapitalisation of Wittur’s balance sheet and the related transfer of ownership to the new partner - one of the largest global private equity firms - are underway and will be completed within a few weeks, subject to approval by the relevant authorities. This recapitalization provides significant resources, makes Wittur’s balance sheet much stronger and reinforces Wittur’s leadership position in the elevator components market. The readers of ANACAM MAGAZINE who visited Interlift 2023 may have seen that Wittur is back as an industry leader – with a much stronger company structure and an impressive array of innovative products, developed with increased focus to solve real customer issues. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE NEW ORGANISATION? I confirm that Wittur has a new organisation, however the changes are limited to Europe and Turkey and are designed to respond faster and better to customer needs. We created a division called “Project Business and Field Services EMEA”. This newly formed division serves our local customers through the Wittur Sales Offices in EMEA, backed by the related manufacturing plants. Over the next years, we expect such clearer focus to deliver significant improvement to our customers’ experience, both in terms of the breadth of our product / service portfolio, and of our industrial and logistic capability. The Project Business and Field Services EMEA division is under my lead and within it, Janne Piiroinen has taken over management of all EMEA sales organizations. This change should not affect the day-to-day operational contacts of our customers with Wittur; all sales contacts remain the usual ones in all Wittur sales offices. EARLIER, YOU MENTIONED WITTUR’S INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS ON DISPLAY AT INTERLIFT…Yes. Wittur is the only player on the market to offer such a broad suite of product solutions – much more than doors. In particular, this year we launched a further extension of our service to customers in the field: ElevatorSense®, an innovative platform designed to simplify the installation and maintenance of Wittur doors. As very well known in the industry, elevator doors are by far the most exposed elevator component: 70% of emergency calls and related costs are due to door malfunctions. For this reason, Wittur has developed ElevatorSense®; based on the latest sensors, artificial intelligence algorithms, IoT - Internet of Things - technology, and incorporating more than 50 years of Wittur experience in design and manufacture of elevator doors, ElevatorSense® easily connects to the Wittur ECO+/MIDI+ controller and analyses door operation. Data are sent in encrypted format to Wittur data centers and processed. Field technicians can consult the results via an easy-to-use App, which returns accurate information and step-by-step recommendations for solving any detected issue. WHICH SERVICES CAN BE ACCESSED? The ElevatorSense® App allows access to different digital services: Installation control to test installation quality, identify and solve door installation problems; once installation is completed, a certificate of installation quality can be generated, a very helpful tool to prevent problems and efficiently manage any subcontractors; wireless programming to adjust the door operating parameters to the optimal setting; real-time diagnostics to monitor door movements in real time and detect abnormal behaviours; preventive maintenance to plan spare parts replacement based on actual use data. A COMPLETE LIFT PACKAGE WAS ALSO AVAILABLE AT INTERLIFT. IS THIS A NEW PRODUCT? Wittur has been supplying single components but also solutions including several 56 DURING INTERLIFT 2023 WE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT WITTUR AND THE NEW PRODUCTS WITH ANDREA GORLEZZA, MANAGING DIRECTOR WITTUR PROJECT BUSINESS AND FIELD SERVICES EMEA DIVISION Wittur, full steam ahead. STRONGER THAN EVER AZIENDE DI CARLO FERRARI
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