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thyssenkrupp AG (former writing ThyssenKrupp AG) is a German multinational conglomerate which produce steels and industrial engineering related products and technologies. thyssenkrupp Elevator AG, formerly owned by thyssenkrupp AG, produces elevators, escalators and moving walkways, and is currently the fourth largest elevator manufacturer in the world behind Kone, Schindler and Otis. ThyssenKrupp is the result of a combination of two German companies; Thyssen AG and F. Krupp AG which merged together in 1999. thyssenkrupp's Elevator Technology division was acquired by a private equity consortium led by Advent, Cinven and RAG foundation on July 31, 2020. thyssenkrupp AG gave a short-term transitional permission to use its name as company's name. In February 2021, the company was converted from a joint-stock company into a limited company under German law, named TK Elevator GmbH, and adopted TK Elevator as its company name (branded as TKE; "TK" in TK Elevator stands for ThyssenKrupp, its previous owner).

History[]

ThyssenKrupp was established after the merger between Thyssen AG and F. Krupp AG in 1999. Brand transition continued until 2001, when it was ended with renaming of Thyssen Dover, a successor of elevator division of Dover Corporation. In 2003, ThyssenKrupp bought the Korean-based Dong Yang and the company was known as ThyssenKrupp Dongyang in South Korea for a few years before it changed name to ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea in 2008.

In November 19, 2015, ThyssenKrupp announced its new simplified logo dubbed as "#brandblue" and all letters in the brand name are no longer capitalized (it is now shown as "thyssenkrupp")[2][3], with the exception of ThyssenKrupp Access Solutions. It later also adopted new branding, when changed name to thyssenkrupp Home Solutions.

thyssenkrupp never achieved great popularity in elevator market in Finland, due to domination of its domestic market rival, Kone, which is also active globally (and also is one of the largest elevator manufacturers), and thyssenkrupp Hissit Oy, its Finnish subsidiary, was acquired by that company in March 2016.

A year later, ThyssenKrupp Access Solutions, a division which manufactures home and accessibility elevators was renamed to thyssenkrupp Home Solutions.

In September 2018, thyssenkrupp announced that it would separate itself into two independent, listed companies; thyssenkrupp Industrials AG and thyssenkrupp Materials AG. The elevator business will continue to operate under thyssenkrupp Industrials AG, along with the group's components technology and industrial solutions businesses[4][5]. These plans were cancelled in May 2019[6] and thyssenkrupp, instead, announced plans to spun off thyssenkrupp Elevator AG and made it a separate public-traded company.

On February 27, 2020, thyssenkrupp announced sold of its elevator business to a private equity consortium led by Advent, Cinven and RAG foundation[7], and still owns about 10% shares of thyssenkrupp Elevator AG. This makes IPO plans of thyssenkrupp Elevator abandoned, just like with thyssenkrupp's failed split off. Transaction was completed on July 31, 2020[8].

After the divestment, thyssenkrupp AG gave a short-term transitional permission to use its name as company's name. In February 2021, the usage of the name thyssenkrupp in elevator industry has ended - as announced on February 25, 2021, the company was converted from a joint-stock company into a limited company under German law, named TK Elevator GmbH, and adopted TK Elevator as its company name (branded as TKE)[9].

thyssenkrupp history in the United States[]

In the United States, Thyssen, which was already in merger with F. Krupp AG, made a bold entrance into the elevator market by buying out Dover's elevator division. The buyout was completed in 1999, and the name in the US was changed to Thyssen Dover. Thyssen Dover installed elevators and escalators under the Dover brand (and very rarely under the Thyssen Dover name) between 1999 and 2001. In 2001, ThyssenKrupp's brand transition ended and Thyssen Dover Elevator became ThyssenKrupp Elevator Americas. Even after that, very few ThyssenKrupp elevators made after 2001 were still bearing Dover logo on fixtures[10].

Thyssen was already active in elevator market in North America before acquisition of Dover's elevator division; in 1994, they acquired the elevator division of Cubic Corporation, which was known as U.S. Elevator Corp. Eventually, Thyssen failed to be more apparent in North American elevator market, but certain technologies acquired from U.S. Elevator Corp. were later reused in products with technologies acquired from Dover, such as Aurora and Signa4 fixtures, which are based on U.S. Elevator's Soft-Touch fixtures.

Notable products[]

Current[]

Elevators[]

  • synergy: thyssenkrupp's first MRL elevator system since 2001. It was introduced in late 2007 in the United States as a successor to the ThyssenKrupp ISIS.
    • synergy 100: For residential buildings, sold in Europe and certain Latin American countries (formerly known as synergy Element)
    • synergy 200: For residential and commercial buildings up to 20 floors with moderate traffic, sold in Europe and certain Latin American countries (formerly known as synergy Essence)
    • synergy 300: For commercial buildings, sold in Europe and certain Latin American countries (formerly known as synergy Excellence)
    • Modular SYNERGY: For existing buildings without an elevator. Manufactured by thyssenkrupp Elevadores Brazil.
    • synergy500 MR-G: Only sold in India.
    • synergy1000: Only sold in India.
  • evolution: thyssenkrupp's other and current lineup of machine room less sold globally.
    • evolution 100: For residential buildings, sold in Europe. This type of elevator released in North America in 2019/2020 when Thyssenkrupp changed to TK Elevator. In North America it uses belt cable.
    • evolution 200: For residential and commercial buildings up to 20 floors with moderate traffic, sold in Europe. This type of elevator released in North America in 2019/2020 when ThyssenKrupp changed to TK Elevator. In North America it uses belt cable.
    • evolution 300: For commercial buildings, sold in Europe.
    • evolution1: For mid rise buildings. Manufactured by ThyssenKrupp China and only sold in Asia Pacific.
  • enta:
    • enta100: Low rise elevators for residential buildings. Sold in Asia Pacific.
    • enta200: Machine room less elevators. Sold in Asia Pacific.
    • enta300: Machine room less elevators. Sold in Hong Kong.
  • meta:
    • meta100: Mid rise elevators for residential buildings. Sold in Asia Pacific.
    • meta200: Mid rise elevators for residential and commercial buildings. Sold in Asia Pacific.
    • meta300: Mid rise elevators for residential and commercial buildings. Sold in Hong Kong.
  • endura: ThyssenKrupp's official successor to the Oildraulic system for the U.S. market. The system is based off of the Oildraulic system but uses biodegradable oil.
  • momentum: High-rise elevator system for the U.S. market.
  • MOD Solutions: Elevator modernization solutions for North America.
    • H-Power (formerly HYPower): Hydraulic elevator modernization.
    • G2 Power: Geared to gearless traction elevator modernization.
    • G Power (formerly Numbers): Geared elevator modernization.
    • GL Power: Gearless elevator modernization. Not to be confused with thyssenkrupp GL.
    • AT Power: Modernization to destination dispatch.
  • GL and GL1: Passenger elevator manufactured by ThyssenKrupp China, only available in Asia Pacific. Succeeded by meta100 and meta200 in 2019 but still available in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam.
  • TE-Hospital: An elevator designed for hospitals and medical centers, manufactured by ThyssenKrupp China.
  • High Performance: A high-rise elevator system manufactured by ThyssenKrupp China. It is now known as HP61 and only sold in Asia Pacific.
  • zeta:
    • zeta200: High rise elevator system manufactured by thyssenkrupp Elevator Korea and only sold in South Korea. Successor of the local model Elejet.
    • zeta300: High rise elevator system. Successor of the thyssenkrupp China model HP61 and currently sold in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
  • Eflex: An elevator system only sold in Spain.
  • latitude: Machine room less elevator manufactured by ThyssenKrupp Spain, and only sold in Spain.
  • simplycity: An MR elevator for residential buildings, only sold in Russia and CIS countries. Introduced in 2014.
  • uniq: Passenger elevator with machine room. Only sold in selected European markets.
  • sonic: High-rise elevator system for the European market.
  • coupl: High-rise double deck elevator system for the European market.
  • expansion: Freight elevators for European market.
  • TWIN: An elevator comprising of two elevator cabins installed in a single shaft.
  • AGILE: A destination dispatching elevator product, similar to Schindler Miconic 10. In the United States, it was known as ThyssenKrupp Destination Dispatch while in other countries it was known as Destination Selection Control or DSC.
  • MULTI: The world's first rope-free elevator system where multiple elevator cabins are equipped with linear motors, which allows several cabins in the same shaft moving vertically and horizontally which permit buildings to adopt different heights, shapes, and purposes. It was introduced in 2014.

Escalators and moving walks[]

  • Velino: Escalator for commercial applications, originally introduced by Thyssen.
  • Tugela: Escalator for heavy-duty and high-rise applications.
  • Victoria: Heavy-duty escalators for public transit facilities, originally introduced by Thyssen.
  • Orinoco: Standard moving walkways
  • iWalk: Pitless moving walkways
  • ACCEL: A moving walkway which alleviates traffic congestion by improving access to metro stations and attracting up to 30% additional passengers.
  • I.MOD: Escalator modernization solution.
  • ES Power: Escalator modernization solution for North America which is part of MOD Solutions.

Others[]

Discontinued[]

Elevators[]

  • Univers: Machine room less elevators for France, United Kingdom and most European countries. Manufactured by ThyssenKrupp Elevator Manufacturing France from the early 2000s until 2012.
  • Spirit: Machine room less elevator introduced in 2004-2005 for low to mid-rise residential and commercial buildings with a moderate amount of traffic. Only sold in Europe.
  • Oildraulic: The original hydraulic elevator system, pioneered by Rotary, continued by Dover, and discontinued in 2012 in favor of endura. It was only available in the United States and Canada.
  • AMEE: Holeless hydraulic elevator launched in 2005-2006 for the U.S. market. AMEE stands for Advanced Material Elevator Solution. This elevator system features a three-stage hydraulic jack.
  • ISIS: Another MRL elevator introduced in 2004 for the U.S. market and early 2000s for the European market. It used kevlar belts as the traction ropes instead of steel ropes. In the U.S, it was discontinued in 2007 and replaced by the synergy in 2008. It is unknown when the European version was discontinued.
  • synergy BLUE: A version of Synergy for the European market, produced from 2012 until 2019-2020. Succeeded by synergy 100/200/300.
  • evolution BLUE: A version of Evolution for the European market. Discontinued and succeeded by evolution 100/200/300.
    • evolution 2.0: A Spanish version of evolution BLUE that was only sold in Spain.
  • EleXess: Passenger elevator model manufactured by thyssenkrupp Elevator Korea and only sold in South Korea. Discontinued and succeeded by the meta200 model.
  • Elejet: High speed elevator for high rise buildings manufactured by ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea (previously ThyssenKrupp Dongyang) and only sold in South Korea. Succeeded by zeta200.

Escalators and moving walkways[]

  • Norilang: Escalator for commercial applications, a very rare model.
  • Loire: Heavy duty moving walks for high traffic, originally a Thyssen product and was only available in certain countries
  • ThyssenKrupp TurboTrack: High speed moving walkway.

ThyssenKrupp elevator products in the United States[]

In October of 2012, ThyssenKrupp discontinued the original hydraulic system, Oildraulic, which was pioneered by Rotary and continued by Dover in favor of a new system named endura. The new endura system uses biodegradable oil and is based off of the Oildraulic system.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator Americas still makes traditional traction elevators along with MRL elevators. In the MRL segment, ThyssenKrupp initially sold ISIS which used kevlar belts instead of conventional steel ropes. However, it was discontinued in 2007 and replaced by synergy after an elevator free fall incident in the Seattle Children's Hospital which involved an ISIS elevator, and subsequently most, if not all remaining ISIS elevators had their kevlar belts replaced with steel ropes. Now, they makes synergy (traction) and endura MRL, the latter is a machine room less hydraulic elevator similar to the Otis HydroFit. ThyssenKrupp also makes the U.S. version of the evolution machine room less traction elevator, which is available as evolution 100 and evolution 200. The former is a successor of the synergy Self-Supported elevator.

Elevator fixtures[]

Notable acquisitions[]

Elevator companies[]

Year Company Country(s) Notes
1999 Dover Elevators United States Became Thyssen Dover until 2001.
1999 Elevadores Sûr Brazil Became Thyssen Sûr until 2002.
2002 SIAR S.r.l Italy
2002 Kone South America Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Venezuela
[11]
2003 Dong Yang Elevator Co. Ltd. South Korea Became ThyssenKrupp Dongyang until 2008.
2003 Tepper Aufzuge Germany
2003 Ascensori Causi Spain
2003 Herouth Israel Was a distributor of Thyssen elevators in Israel.
2003 Cie Generale d Applications Ascenseurs (CG2A) France
2003 Britannic Lift Company United Kingdom
2005 Atlantic Elevator Sales & Services Inc. United Kingdom
2005 Elevator Technologies (NZ) Limited New Zealand [12]
2005 Kockums AB Sweden
2005 Cenia Ascensores S.A. Spain
2005 Kare Elevator & Engineering Co. Pvt. Ltd. India
2005 Ascensores Silves Hidrolex S.L. Spain
2005 Trapo Kung AG Switzerland
2005 Ceteco S.r.l Italy
2005 Marco Bonfedi Ascensori Scale Mobili S.r.l. Italy
2007 Končar Former Yugoslavia Became ThyssenKrupp Končar until 2013.

Elevator distributors and other affiliated companies[]

Year Company Country(s) Notes
2004 Mbf Norinco Sdn. Bhd. Malaysia A distributor of Dong Yang and Hyundai elevators at that time. [13][14]
2004 Bongear Engineering Hong Kong, China Was a distributor of Thyssen elevators in Hong Kong from the 1980s to 2004.
2005 PT. Pura Kencana Indonesia Was a distributor of Dong Yang elevators in Indonesia from 1988 to 2004.[15]
2005 Sun Rhine Enterprises Ltd. Taiwan

Notable distributors, subsidiaries and joint ventures[]

Distributors[]

Current distributors[]

Company Country(s) Notes
Abel Building Solutions Ltd. Trinidad and Tobago
ALEX EA Bulgaria
Androgroup Elevator Ltd. Caymand Islands
ARG1 Africa Ltd. Benin
Ghana
Togo
Bermuda Elevator Systems Ltd. Bermuda
Central Lifts Co. Ltd. Malta
Compagnie des Ascenseurs et Elevateurs S.A.M.
(CASEL SAM)
Monaco
East Africa Elevator Company Limited Kenya
Tanzania
ELP Suriname N.V. Suriname
Guyana
Ets. Jemmali et Cie Tunisia
German Tech Elevators Ltd. Macau, China [16]
Global Business Bridge Ltd. Pakistan
Grupo Thelevador C.A. Venezuela [17]
Hayes Elevator Ltd. Turks and Caicos Islands
Hyatt Elevators & Escalators Corp. Philippines Since 2003.
[18]
J.C.Q. Ingenieria en Ascensores S.R.L. Dominican Republic
Jamaica Elevators Limited Jamaica
JMG Limited Ivory Coast
Nigeria
LUNA Engineering Services and Trade Ltd. Uganda
P.Y. Elevator Ltd. Cyprus This company was also a distributor of Cenia elevators.
Regional Elevators Ltd. St. Lucia
SARL SLK Ascenseurs Algeria
SARL Xeletec Algeria
TH Lift d.o.o. Serbia
Trust For Elevators and General Trading s.a.r.l. Iraq
Lebanon
Unit-L
(now Kraft Aufzüge)
Ukraine Distributor for Ukrainian thyssenkrupp.
Universal Construction Pvt. Ltd. Co. Ethiopia
Verti KAZLIFT Kazakhstan
Verti MMC Azerbaijan
Georgia
Turkmenistan

Former distributors[]

Company Country(s) Notes
PT. Marico Gria Indonesia Originally a distributor of Thyssen products from 1984 until 2001. Then, they continued to distribute ThyssenKrupp products until 2005 when ThyssenKrupp established its presence in Indonesia.

Subsidiaries and divisions[]

  • SDV Escalators Ltd. (Skipton, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom)
  • Vertical Express (United States)

Joint ventures[]

Notable installations[]

Main article: List of notable thyssenkrupp elevator installations

Incidents and accidents[]

ISIS Elevator incident[]

On October 9, 2007, one of the ThyssenKrupp ISIS elevators in the Seattle Children's Hospital had its suspension ropes break and the car slipped between the 6th and 4th floors after the emergency brake was engaged. The four passengers were not injured and were rescued by firefighters.

Police suspected that the kevlar ropes breaks due to overheating and the ropes were later replaced with a different material, presumably steel. All four ISIS elevators were shutdown after the incident.[20]

Health club elevator accident in the United Kingdom[]

On March 12, 2003, a banker was crushed to death by a ThyssenKrupp elevator which was not properly maintained in a health club in London, England. The health club owner and ThyssenKrupp was fined £466,000 after the accident.[21]

Price fixing cartel incident[]

In November 2006,  ThyssenKrupp was fined 479 million Euros by the European Union after found out that ThyssenKrupp was doing price fixing over 9 years. Other manufacturers that were fined including OTIS, Schindler, KONE and Mitsubishi Electric Elevator Europe.[22]

Elevator downfall incidents[]

There have been very few cases related to elevator downfall incident caused by broken traction ropes or a broken core of the pulley, either occurred on a ThyssenKrupp or other elevator brands that were maintained by ThyssenKrupp in the past few years. Some notable incident happened like in Shin Nga House, Fu Shin Estate, Hong Kong, when an elevator downfall incident happened in a Kone Marryat Scott elevator which was maintained by ThyssenKrupp in 2008.[23][24]

Escalator incident in Hong Kong[]

On February 24, 2011, some of the escalator landing steps on one of the two ThyssenKrupp escalators at Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) that gives access from level 1 to 7 are falling down on the steps which returning to the seventh floor. The escalator safety device was activated when the steps are falling down. No one was injuried in this accident.[25]

Elevator accident in Chile[]

On June 8, 2014, a ThyssenKrupp elevator in Tower B of Bustamante Community Park in Providencia, Chile, suddenly malfunctioned, then rises 30 floors in 15 seconds with the doors still open before crashed into the shaft's roof. A man was seriously injured, and was reportedly that he suffered head and leg injuries.[26] [27] It was suspected that the brake was picked (opened up) and there was a loss of motor control which cause the elevator into free rolling into the opposite direction. In addition, the elevator didn't have rope grippers or a counterweight safety system, which means that the elevator "fell" upward since the the counterweight weighs more than the elevator cab.

Trivia[]

  • When ThyssenKrupp bought out the South Korean-based Dong Yang in 2003, their elevators in South Korea and other parts of Asia (for Korean-imported units only) are branded as ThyssenKrupp Dongyang until 2008.
  • ThyssenKrupp elevators in Canada are also known as ThyssenKrupp Northern Elevator.
  • ThyssenKrupp’s UK buttons look like Dewhurst’s Switching Components Series 42

buttons.

Gallery[]

Logos and nameplates[]

Maintenance/service barriers[]

Others[]

Video[]

Retake_ThyssenKrupp_Signa4_Hydraulic_Elevator_@_St._Therese_of_Carmel_Catholic_Church,_San_Diego,_CA

Retake ThyssenKrupp Signa4 Hydraulic Elevator @ St. Therese of Carmel Catholic Church, San Diego, CA

ThyssenKrupp hydraulic elevator (with Signa4 fixtures) in St. Therese of Carmel Catholic Church, San Diego, CA, United States

See also[]

Notes and references[]

  1. Press Release - Rebranding
  2. The Skyscraper Simulator Forum topic: ThyssenKrupp Unveils New Brand, Logo
  3. https://www.thyssenkrupp.com/brand/en/
  4. thyssenkrupp plans to split the group into two independent, listed companies
  5. #bestforboth - thyssenkrupp
  6. Thyssenkrupp Abandons Planned Split, Pursues Elevator-Unit IPO
  7. thyssenkrupp sells Elevator Technology business for €17.2 billion to consortium of bidders led by Advent, Cinven and RAG foundation - thyssenkrupp (Press release)
  8. thyssenkrupp successfully completes sale of elevator business
  9. New company name, new brand: thyssenkrupp Elevator now called TK Elevator with new global brand TKE
  10. VERY LATE 2002 ThyssenDover Hydraulic Elevator at The Anderson Building, UofKY, Lexington, KY
  11. ThyssenKrupp in Motion - Volume 2, Issue 2, August 2002 - ThyssenKrupp Elevator Australia (archived)
  12. ThyssenKrupp in Motion - Volume 4, Issue 2, August 2004 - ThyssenKrupp Elevator Australia (archived)
  13. ThyssenKrupp Elevator reinforces market position in Malaysia (archived)
  14. ThyssenKrupp Elevator (Asia/Pacific) eNews - December 2004 (archived) (Refer to Page 8)
  15. ThyssenKrupp Elevator (Asia/Pacific) eNews - December 2005 (archived) (Refer to Page 9)
  16. ThyssenKrupp Traction Elevators in Macau - YouTube
  17. QUIÉNES SOMOS (Spanish)
  18. Formerly a distributor of GoldStar (later LG and Dong Yang elevators.
  19. ThyssenKrupp Elevator raises its stakes in Chinese joint-venture - thyssenkrupp AG
  20. ISIS elevator incident
  21. Health club elevator accident
  22. Price fixing cartel incident
  23. Electrical and Mechanical Services Department: Technical Report on the Lift Incident on 25 October 2008 at Shin Nga House, Fu Shin Estate, Tai Po (Chinese version), 5 December 2008.
  24. Later on, all the elevators in residential buildings in this housing estate are been replaced by Otis.
  25. Electrical and Mechanical Services Department: Technical Investigation Report on Escalator Incident at the Hong Kong Design Institute, Tseung Kwan O (Chinese version), 9 June 2011.
  26. Man injured when out of control elevator rises 30 floors in 15 seconds, crashes into roof - FOX8 News
  27. [FULL VIDEO] Malfunction Elevator Goes Up Crashing Through The Roof In Chile

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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