Mitsubishi Elevator Europe
Combining high code and low code to further develop the Remote Monitoring System (RMS) adding innovative technologies such as IoT sensors and data-driven maintenance.
About Mitsubishi Elevator Europe
Mitsubishi Elevator Europe (MEE) is the international market leader providing high-quality and reliable elevator and escalator installations, elevator maintenance, and elevator renovations. Their elevators and escalators enable people & goods to reach their destinations every day. For example, in factories, hospitals, schools, and office buildings all over the world.
Founded in Veenendaal, The Netherlands, in 1951 as part of the Mitsubishi Electric Group, MEE always puts their clients first. Driven by its expertise and sense of responsibility, MEE is aware that its products are a long-term investment. Therefore, MEE uses the best technology and equipment available to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction. Furthermore, MEE greatly values development and innovation as their focus is on challenging themselves to do better every day.
High-code & Low-code: best of both worlds
Low-code application development is a software development method with a focus on using less programming code to create enterprise applications that are safe, performing, and scalable. The Orange Force specializes in the Mendix Low Code Application Development Platform and mainly develops using low-code. Some needs are more specific or complex in a way that can better be solved using high-code, which involves programming. In the case of MEE, the amount of data that needed to be collected and consolidated was so big that an IoT platform built by CodeInk based on high-code was the best solution. However, when displaying this data to users and making it actionable, Mendix is the way to go.
Business Needs
As an international market leader, MEE strives to further solidify its position by innovating and providing new services against a competitive price that further sets it apart from its competitors. This could result in higher cost savings, less time spent on off-hours service calls, and an increase in customer & employee satisfaction. To achieve this, MEE wanted to add additional value on top of its high-quality products, providing services based on innovative technologies such as IoT sensors and data-driven maintenance. This is where MEE joined forces with The Orange Force (TOF) and its sister company CodeInk to deploy both high-code and low-code to reach its goals.
“Working with The Orange Force has enabled us to take the next step in our innovation journey. Through the new RMS system, we can now efficiently remotely monitor our elevator data and schedule maintenance more effectively. This means more cost savings and higher satisfaction for both our customers and employees which are very important for our position as market leader.”
Hendrik van ‘t Hul
CFO & Director of Sales Organization at Mitsubishi Elevator Europe
Solution
MEE had developed a Remote Monitoring System (RMS) that collected and displayed all data from its own elevator’s IoT sensors in real-time. This application was further developed with TOF deploying a low-code user-facing front-end and CodeInk creating a high-code IoT platform as the back end.
The high-code IoT platform was vital, as this platform is able to collect and consolidate data from different types of elevator sensors in a safe, well-performing, and scalable way. This data was collected by the low-code RMS system enabling MEE engineers to view the elevator data remotely and in real time creating a clear unified view. Before implementing RMS, it was hard to collect and view data from different types of sensors through one IoT platform and one application, making the RMS system one-of-a-kind and putting MEE further ahead of the competition.
Using the RMS system, MEE headquarters can also track their engineers and emergency service requests making it easier and less time-consuming to send the right engineer to an emergency job. The data in the RMS system also allows for data-driven maintenance and data-driven decision making. Based on data, for example, after how many rides a specific elevator part needs replacement, maintenance is scheduled, which means issues can be tackled before an elevator breaks down, saving time, money, and minimizing downtime. Furthermore, decisions can be made as to whether an entire machine needs to be replaced or if just one part needs replacing. All of these developments make work faster, more reliable, and more cost-efficient.
Data-driven maintenance & Decision making
In order to implement data-driven maintenance, data from a machine needs to be collected and consolidated for a long period of time. For instance, MEE needs to collect data for every ride an elevator makes, every part that breaks down, and after how many rides it breaks down. If this is done for a long period of time the data can be consolidated and MEE can see patterns and implement them in a model which can then be trained based on these patterns. For example, the average amount of rides an elevator can make before a certain elevator part breaks down. Based on this data, MEE can schedule maintenance before an error occurs and they can also decide which specific part would need maintenance.
Results
Since working with The Orange Force and CodeInk, the new RMS system has successfully been developed and launched. MEE can now efficiently monitor their elevator data from a distance and schedule maintenance before errors occur, making their product more reliable. This means fewer emergency calls and off-hours deployment of engineers. Additionally, it also allows MEE engineers to provide better service in less time and at lower costs, for example by replacing elevator parts before the elevator breaks down. Overall, this leads to both higher customer and employee satisfaction, more cost savings, and solidification of MEE’s position as an innovative market leader.
Finally, the RMS system is also future-proof. It currently already has the ability to consolidate data from other new elevator IoT sensors. And as it is a ‘living’ system, it can continuously be updated and further developed to fit new needs as they arise in the future.