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Mitsubishi Electric Building Solutions Corporation (Japanese: 三菱電機ビルソリューションズ株式会社) is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation that manufactures elevators, escalators, moving walks, spiral escalators and dumbwaiters. It is the largest Japanese elevator manufacturer and is along the biggest elevator manufacturers in the world. It also has largest international presence in elevator market from all Japanese companies.

History

Although the division began in 1954, Mitsubishi Electric started manufacturing, installing and maintaining elevators and escalators in 1931, and its first elevators and escalators were delivered in 1935. Between the 1930s and possibly 1970s, it produced elevators under technical partnership with Westinghouse Electric Corp. of USA because Mitsubishi had signed a technical licensing agreement with Westinghouse in 1923. In 1937, it built a factory for manufacturing elevators and escalators at Nagoya Works.

In 1954, Ryoden Service Co., Ltd. was established, which ran as a company providing maintenance services for Mitsubishi elevators and escalators manufactured by its parent company. Mitsubishi Electric established Inazawa Works in 1964, and became a major factory for manufacturing elevators and escalators. In the 1980s, Mitsubishi manufactured an elevator with VVVF inverter control, which was the first of its kind in the world. Mitsubishi started installing elevators in North America in 1985. In the same year, Mitsubishi launched the first practical "spiral escalator" in the world, with the first unit installed in Osaka, Japan.

In 1990, Ryoden Service Co., Ltd. was renamed Mitsubishi Electric Building Techno-Service Co., Ltd. and started integrated building system business. Mitsubishi supplied and installed high speed elevators at the Yokohama Landmark Tower in Yokohama, Japan in 1993. With a speed of 12.5 meters per second, they were the fastest elevators in the world at the time of their completion and continued to hold such title until 2004 when it was surpassed by Taipei 101's high speed elevators (installed by Toshiba and using technologies from KONE) in Taiwan which ran at a speed of 16.8 meters per second.

In the late 1990s, Mitsubishi marketed its own machine room less elevator, the Mitsubishi GPQ. It was later succeeded by its Elenessa model in 2001.

Mitsubishi entered the Dutch market in 2000 as Mitsubishi Elevator Europe (MEE) when it acquired 51% shares of Wolter & Dros, an elevator manufacturer based in Amersfoort, Netherlands. Wolter & Dros (initially Wolter & Dros EVLI after merged with Eerste Veenendaalse Lift Industrie in 1973) had been making elevators with Mitsubishi as its main component supplier between 1976 and the late 1990s.

In 2011, Mitsubishi received orders to install high speed elevators for the Shanghai Tower in Shanghai, the tallest structure in China. Completed in 2016, these elevators runs at speed of 73.8 km/h (or 20.5 m/s, 59 feet)[1][2], and were awarded by Guinness World Records for being "the fastest elevators in the world", surpassing Taipei 101's Toshiba high speed elevators which ran at 16.8 meters per second. However, the record was later passed over to CTF Finance Centre's Hitachi (also Japanese company) elevators in Guangzhou, China in 2019 which runs at 21 meters per second.[3]

In 2022, Mitsubishi Electric Building Techno-Service Co., Ltd. merged with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation's Building Systems Group and became Mitsubishi Electric Building Solutions Corporation, the present day company that consistently carries out development, design, manufacturing, sales, installation and maintenance of elevators and escalators.

Location

Mitsubishi Electric is currently based in, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. A manufacturing plant called "Mitsubishi Electric Building Solutions Corporation Inazawa Building Systems Works" is located in Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, which contains the SOLAÈ elevator testing tower, one of the tallest elevator testing towers in the world[4].

In Southeast Asia, Mitsubishi Electric has elevator manufacturing plants located in Indonesia and Thailand. The Indonesian plant, operated by PT. Mitsubishi Jaya Elevator and Escalator, is located in Karawang International Industrial City (KIIC) in Karawang, West Java and was opened in August 1997[5]. It also has a training tower which was opened in 2004. A second plant in the same area was completed in June 2015[6]. In Thailand, the manufacturing plant is located in Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate, Chonburi.

Other Mitsubishi elevator factories are located in China (in Shanghai and Guangdong (Guangdong Ryoden)), Taiwan, South Korea, Netherlands, United States, Mexico and Colombia.

Products

Current products

Elevators

  • NexWay: Compact machine room passenger elevator model produced since 2002.
  • Elenessa: Machine room less elevator model produced since 2001.
  • NEXIEZ: Series of standard passenger elevator models produced since 2010.
    • NEXIEZ-MR: Machine room type elevator model. Launched in 2010.
    • NEXIEZ-MRL: Machine room less elevator model. Launched in 2011.
    • NEXIEZ-GPX: Launched in 2012 and only sold in Latin America. Comes in MR and MRL type.
    • NEXIEZ-LITE: Machine room type elevator model only sold in India. Launched in 2014.
    • NEXIEZ-S: Small machine room less elevator for small commercial and residential applications. Launched in August 2016.
  • MAXIEZ: Series of passenger elevator models only sold in China and manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric Shanghai Electric Elevator.
    • MAXIEZ M/H: High speed custom type elevator, based on NexWay.
    • MAXIEZ CZ: Compact machine room elevator, based on NexWay-S.
    • MAXIEZ LZ: Machine room less elevator, based on Elenessa.
    • MAXIEZ B: Hospital elevators, based on NexWay-S Hospital.
  • NexPia-21: Compact machine room less elevator, only sold in South Korea.
  • DiamondTrac: Machine room less elevator only sold in the U.S.
  • Diamond HS: High-rise elevator only sold in the U.S., successor of GPM-III.
  • GPE-MRL: Machine room less elevator, only manufactured and sold in the Netherlands.
  • GPE-T: Traction elevator, only manufactured and sold in the Netherlands.
  • GPE-H: Hydraulic elevator, only manufactured and sold in the Netherlands.
  • MEECOM: Machine room less elevator, only manufactured and sold in the Netherlands by Mitsubishi Elevator Europe BV.
  • MOVE: Machine room less elevator for low-rise residential buildings. Introduced in 2019 and manufactured by Mitsubishi Elevator Europe BV in the Netherlands.
  • Freight elevators
  • DOAS-S (Destination Oriented Allocation System): Destination dispatch elevator system. (Also known as ELE-NAVI in Japan.[7]) It work faster than Schindler Miconic 10 and Schindler ID.[8]
  • Home elevators
  • AXIEZ: Machine room less elevator only sold in Japan since 2005.
    • AXIEZ smart-R: A version of AXIEZ for smaller residential buildings. It was launched in 2009.
    • AXIEZ LINKs: A new version of AXIEZ with cloud based management. It was launched in October 2020.
  • NEXCUBE: Custom type elevator only sold in Japan since 2002.
  • CPX-3: Residential elevators only sold in Taiwan.
  • Hydraulic elevators: Conventional hydraulic elevators which are only sold in the United States.

Escalators and moving walks

  • Seriez Z: Standard escalator model produced since 2006.
  • Series S: Standard escalator model launched in 2016 (only sold in Japan and certain markets)
  • u series: Standard escalator released on December 7, 2020. At present, it is targeted for the Southeast Asian, Indian and Latin American markets.
  • Spiral Escalator: Launched in 1985, it is the only spiral escalator product in the world.
  • A-Type: Moving walks

Modernization solutions

These solutions are applied to the facilities originally installed by Mitsubishi Electric only.

  • ELEMOTION: Elevator modernization solution for low to mid-rise buildings, introduced in 2001.
    • ELEMOTION + and ELEMOTION + R: Only sold in Japan.
    • ELEMOTION + for COMPACT 4: Modernization for COMPACT 4 elevators in Japan.
    • ELEMOTION-T: Taiwanese version of ELEMOTION which is only available in Taiwan.
  • EleFine: Modernization solution for hydraulic elevators into machine room less, introduced in 2011 and only sold in Japan.
  • NexWay Modernization: High-rise elevator modernization solution, introduced in 2011 for outside Japan.
  • ESMOTION: Escalator modernization solution with leaving only the existing truss within the site. It was introduced in 2005 for Japan and later 2020 for overseas markets.

Others

Discontinued products

Elevators

  • Elepet: Standard passenger elevator made from 1960 until the late 1980s. It's their first model.
    • Original Elepet: Relay logic passenger elevator with AC/2 traction, introduced in 1960 until mid 1980s. Also known as ACR.
    • Elepet Advance: Computerized AC feedback controlled passenger elevator with ACVV traction, introduced in 1979. Also known as AC-VV (CCL). Successor of ACEE.
    • Elepet Advance V: Computerized elevators made from 1983 until the early 1990s with VVVF traction with a larger capacity and speed range than SPVF. Also known as MPVF.
  • OS-System 700: Group control elevator system, launched in 1972.[9]
  • OS-System 2100S: Gearless elevator with full solid state, launched in 1978.[9]
  • AI-2100: Group control elevator system with Artificial Intelligence (AI), launched in 1988.[9]
  • ACEE: Relay controlled ACVV traction elevator. Succeeded by AC-VV (CCL).
  • SPVF: Standard geared traction elevators produced between 1985 and 1997 for markets other than Japan. Might have been based on Elepet Advance V. An observation elevator version of this model is called SOVF.
  • VVGD: Relay controlled traction low to mid rise elevator with geared DC motor. Made from 1960s to 1988. It's their second model after ACR.
  • TFHL: High rise elevator with gearless DC motor, based on ACR. It can be relay controlled (earlier installations) or computer controlled (later installations). Made from 1960s to 1988.
  • TFNL: Improved version and successor of TFHL. Introduced in early 1980s and discontinued in 1991.
  • TCLM: Computer controlled high-rise elevator with DC motor, based on SP-VF and MP-VF. Successor of TFNL. Introduced in 1985 and discontinued in 1997.
  • HVE/HVE-G: Hydraulic elevator model that manufactured from 1977 and discontinued in 2001.
  • HVJ-G: Hydraulic elevator model that manufactured from late 1990s.
  • GRANDEE: Standard VVVF passenger elevator introduced in 1990 which uses LED floor indicators.
  • ACCEL: Fully computerized custom made elevator introduced in 1982.
  • ACCEL-AI: Custom made elevator, introduced in 1992.
  • COMPACT 4: An elevator for low-rise apartments, introduced in 1983.
  • MEL WIDE: Elevator for low to mid-rise apartments, introduced in 1997.
  • MEL CITY: Elevator for low to mid-rise buildings, introduced in 2000.
  • WELL: Mitsubishi's first home elevator designed for private homes, introduced in 1988.
  • GPQ: Bottom-drive machine room less elevator, introduced in 1998. It is known as ELEPAQ in Japan. Succeeded by Elenessa.
  • ELEPAQ-i: Machine room less elevator only sold in Japan, introduced in 2001. Outside Japan, it is known as Elenessa.
  • GPS: Standard geared elevator for low to high-rise buildings for markets other than Japan. Predecessor of GPS-II and GPS-III, possibly based on GRANDEE. Available from the mid until late 1990s.
  • GPS-II: Standard passenger elevator, successor of GPS. However, except a few hardware/software upgrade as well as the flat stainless steel panel, there is almost no difference (compared with GPS). The controller used is VFDL-II.
  • GPS-CR: Standard residential elevator, based on GPS-II.
  • GPS-III: Standard passenger elevator, introduced in 1997. Succeeded by NexWay.
  • GPX: Compact passenger elevator for low-rise buildings with a maximum capacity of 10 persons and serves up to 16 floors
  • GPM Series: High speed passenger elevator for high-rise buildings.
  • GPM-III Series: High speed elevator for high-rise buildings. The U.S. model was discontinued and succeeded by the new Diamond HS model in 2018.
  • GPS-IIIMZ: Elevator modernization solution for low to mid-rise buildings, based on GPS-III.
  • GPM-IIIMZ: Elevator modernization solution for high-rise buildings, based on GPM-III.

Escalators and moving walks

  • J-Type: Standard escalator which was sold from 1986 until the mid 2000s. Its successor is Series Z.
  • Series A Modular: Heavy-duty escalator designed for public transport facilities.

Others

  • MELMOS-II: Elevator monitoring and control system within the premises.

Subsidiaries

Notable installations

Main article: List of notable Mitsubishi elevator installations

Incident

In November 2006, Mitsubishi Elevator Europe along with Otis, Schindler, Kone and ThyssenKrupp were fined 479 million Euros by the European Union for committing price fixing cartel over nine years[13].

Overseas sole agents/distributors

Current distributors

Company Country(s) Notes
Agencias Generales S.A. Costa Rica
Ascensores S.A. Belize
Guatemala
Ascensores Heavenward S.A. Argentina
Chile
Paraguay
Uruguay
C.A. Venezoelas de Ascensores (Cavenas) Venezuela
Coheco Cia. Ltda. Ecuador
Cylift & Equipment Ltd. Cyprus
Electronec Technical Associates United Arab Emirates Based in Abu Dhabi
Elmas S.R.L. Romania
Emirates Technical Associates United Arab Emirates Based in Abu Dhabi.
FAIN Ascensores Spain
Inelec de Costa Rica Limitada Costa Rica
Inelec Nicaragua S. de R.L. Nicaragua
Inelec S. de R.L. Honduras
Infinity Lifts Ltd. Ireland
Inpelec S de R.L. El Salvador
Instalaciones Electro-mecanicas S.A. Panama
Inter-Up Elevators Ltd. Israel
International Elevator & Equipment Inc. Philippines
JCW Lifts Ltd. United Kingdom
MC Elevator (Myanmar) Ltd. Myanmar
MC Lifts & Solutions Co., Ltd. Cambodia
Mits Electrical Company Ltd. Kenya
Mitsulift Lebanon
Jordan
Cyprus
Malta
Nigeria
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Based in Lebanon, Established in 1984.
San Miguel & Cia Dominican Republic
Serge Pun & Associates Myanmar
Syscon Trading & Mechanical Co., WLL Bahrain
Thang Long Elevator Vietnam Based in Hanoi.
Toan Tam Engineering Vietnam Based in Ho Chi Minh City.
Trianon Ascensores S.A. Peru
Uniheis A/S Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Belgium
Luxembourg
Since 1985
Mainly serves Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Former distributors

Company Based in Notes
China Engineers Ltd. British Hong Kong
Singapore
Malaysia
China Engineers began distributing Mitsubishi elevators and escalators in British Hong Kong in 1959 to replace its agency for Schlieren elevators. In 1966, it formed Ryoden Electric Engineering Co. Ltd. under a joint venture with Mitsubishi.[14]
In Singapore and Malaysia, it started in 1960. The Singaporean branch merged with Ryoden in 1972 and became China Engineers-Ryoden and later Ryoden Singapore in 1975.[15]
China Ryoden Co., Ltd. Taiwan
Ennis Lifts Ltd. Ireland Merged with Kone in 2017.[16]
Lödige Fördertechnik GmbH Germany
Austria
Switzerland
1997-unknown[17]
PT. Jaya Teknik Indonesia Indonesia 1971-1996[18][19]
Ryoden (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. Malaysia Now Mitsubishi Elevator (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
Ryoden (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Singapore 1975-2006
Now Mitsubishi Elevator (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (MESP)
Ryoden Electric Engineering Co., Ltd. Hong Kong, China 1966-2004
Joint venture between China Engineers Ltd. and Mitsubishi.[14] Predecessor of Mitsubishi Elevator Hong Kong Co. Ltd.
Worachak International Co., Ltd. Thailand

Trivia

  • Mitsubishi is the most common elevator brand in Thailand so far, with 30% market share in Thailand's elevator market in 2015.[20]
  • Mitsubishi and Shanghai Mitsubishi are the only elevator companies to provide an option to present the basic operation information rather than the full floor announcement, which known as AAN-B[21].
    • When the door open button in some Mitsubishi and Shanghai Mitsubishi elevators is kept pressed for a long time, there will be a voice guidance saying "Sorry to keep you waiting" when the doors are closing.
    • When the door has been held open for too long, there will be a voice guidance saying "Doors closing" followed by three continuous beeps.
    • When the doors closed and there are no hall or car calls, there will be a voice guidance saying "Please press the button for the desired floor".
    • If the user pressed the floor buttons which has been lock off, there will be a voice guidance saying "Button for non-serviced floor does not light up" or "Sorry, the floor selected is a restricted floor".
    • If the safety circuit is broken while the elevator is moving, there will be a voice guidance saying "Lift has stopped for safety purposes. Please wait a moment" followed by two beeps.
  • In the old times, Mitsubishi elevators and escalators were manufactured under technical partnership with Westinghouse U.S.A.[22], and because of this, some features used in these older Mitsubishi elevators were based on Westinghouse's features. For example, the standard door sills look nearly identical to Westinghouse's door sills, and Mitsubishi's 1970s-1980s white buttons were based on the Westinghouse AE buttons. Some 1960s-1970s Mitsubishi elevators also used Westinghouse's arrival bell chime[23][24].
  • Uniheis A/S, a norwegian distributor since 1985, was taken over by a risk-capitalist company known as Motum Group in 2023. They owned several generic elevator companies across Sweden and Norway (such as I.T.K AB, Hissgruppen AB, Nordisk Hiss AB, HissCentralen AB, Motum Skåne and Motum Heis AS). Motum group was in turn taken over by Mitsubishi Electric back in 2022. The companies owned by Motum group still delivers generic elevators using a controller developed by Motum back in 2020. [25]

Gallery

Logos

Landing door sills

Capacity badges

Others

Notes and references

  1. Mitsubishi Electric to Install World's Fastest Elevators in Shanghai Tower
  2. Mitsubishi Electric to Install World's Fastest Elevators in Shanghai Tower (PDF version)
  3. Guinness World Record - Fastest lift (elevator) (archived version in 2018)
  4. However, the longest elevator testing shaft is located in the Kone High-rise Laboratory in Tytyri, Finland.
  5. Kilasan Ekonomi: Mitsubishi Bikin Lift di Indonesia (Indonesian) - Kompasdata (account registration or login may be required to access the article)
  6. Mitsubishi Elevator Completes Construction at 2nd Indonesian Plant - The Jakarta Globe
  7. 三菱エレベーター行先予報システム「ELE-NAVI(エレ・ナビ)」新製品発売
  8. hkelev - Destination Dispatch system
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Supply Records (1988-1931) (archived)
  10. Elevator Express ele vol.08 DECEMBER 2012 (Japanese only), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.
  11. 迅達剛發佈的「Schindler Ahead」,利用設置在升降機各部份的感應器,將運行訊息傳送至迅達維修中心,分析數據並安排針對性保養工作。此前,三菱已發佈名為「ELE-First」的保養系統並於香港使用;而通力也伙拍IBM,利用雲端技術研發類似保養系統。 (Facebook page: hkelev.com)
  12. Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Electric Building Techno-Service Jointly to Launch M’s BRIDGE Global Remote-maintenance Service for Elevators (Japanese version), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.
  13. Price fixing cartel incident
  14. 14.0 14.1 Y.H. Kwong (鄺榮輝, 1908-1992) – chairman of China Engineers from 1961 to 1975 (Archived) - The Industrial History of Hong Kong Group
  15. - Mitsubishi and China Engineers in joint venture - The Straits Times, 4 October 1972, Page 15 - NewspaperSG
  16. Ennis Lifts Ltd to Integrate with KONE Ireland Ltd - Kone Ireland
  17. News Update (archived)
  18. PT. JAYA TEKNIK - ELEVATOR AND ESCALATOR DIVISION - Yellow Pages Indonesia (1997), via Wayback Machine (accessed on January 25, 2019)
  19. "Bea Masuk Menjadi Kendala" (PDF in Indonesian) - KONSTRUKSI Magazine, April 1994
  20. Mitsubishi Electric to train elevator technicians in Thailand
  21. Mitsubishi Electric Elevator Features Vocabulary
  22. Page 16 Advertisements Column 3 - The Straits Times, 5 June 1965, Page 16 - NewspaperSG (scroll to bottom page)
  23. 尖沙咀星光行三菱高速升降機
  24. Riding the Last Lovely Westinghouse Selectomatic Mark IV - Civic Opera Building in Chicago, IL
  25. MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC News Releases Mitsubishi Electric's Swedish Subsidiary Signs Share Transfer Agreement to Wholly Acquire Norwegian Elevator Distributor UNIHEIS

See also

External links

Major elevator and escalator companies
Full list of companies List of elevator and escalator companies
Operating FujitecHitachiHyundaiKoneMitsubishi Electric (Shanghai Mitsubishi) • Otis (Otis ElectricSigma) • SchindlerTK ElevatorToshiba
Defunct Dover ElevatorsExpress LiftOrenstein & KoppelThyssenthyssenkruppWestinghouse
Other companies Third-party elevator maintenance companies
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