Otis Elevator
OTIS and the Central Role of Information and IT 5/17/11
Otis Elevator had been known as an “old-line” industrial company which manufactured goods but had not been renowned for delivering services to their customers.
Otis was a global company with 90% of its employees (approx. 54,000) working outside of the United States[1]. In the elevator industry at the time (circa 2004), most profits were being realized through the maintenance and repair of existing units and not by the sales of new units.
The market share in the United States and Western Europe has been relatively stable; while in emerging and developing economies, such as China, there has been a surge in demand for the installation of new units.
Otis wanted to embrace a culture of service and to develop the needed processes to deliver world class service to all of its customers. Otisline, a 24 hour customer service center which aimed to address customer issues as they became evident, was a step in the right direction.
Otisline also processed information from REM elevator monitoring, which aided in identifying elevator problems before they became major issues that affected a customer’s business. Otisline changed the expectation of customers and aided in stabilizing the contract cancellation rate of customers. However, in order to fully adopt a culture of service a redefinition of more than just maintenance was necessary, to include:
• New equipment design • Supply chain • New equipment delivery • Field installation
The new equipment cycle time could take anywhere from eight to eighteen months to complete, and was desired to be reduced while ensuring consistent delivery of quality products and services to customers.
With the acquisition of smaller elevator firms, there were many different elevator designs; thus, the SIMBA program was implemented to reduce redundancy and minimize complexity, with the goal of a standard interface, modules, and subsystems from which all
Otis Elevator had been known as an “old-line” industrial company which manufactured goods but had not been renowned for delivering services to their customers.
Otis was a global company with 90% of its employees (approx. 54,000) working outside of the United States[1]. In the elevator industry at the time (circa 2004), most profits were being realized through the maintenance and repair of existing units and not by the sales of new units.
The market share in the United States and Western Europe has been relatively stable; while in emerging and developing economies, such as China, there has been a surge in demand for the installation of new units.
Otis wanted to embrace a culture of service and to develop the needed processes to deliver world class service to all of its customers. Otisline, a 24 hour customer service center which aimed to address customer issues as they became evident, was a step in the right direction.
Otisline also processed information from REM elevator monitoring, which aided in identifying elevator problems before they became major issues that affected a customer’s business. Otisline changed the expectation of customers and aided in stabilizing the contract cancellation rate of customers. However, in order to fully adopt a culture of service a redefinition of more than just maintenance was necessary, to include:
• New equipment design • Supply chain • New equipment delivery • Field installation
The new equipment cycle time could take anywhere from eight to eighteen months to complete, and was desired to be reduced while ensuring consistent delivery of quality products and services to customers.
With the acquisition of smaller elevator firms, there were many different elevator designs; thus, the SIMBA program was implemented to reduce redundancy and minimize complexity, with the goal of a standard interface, modules, and subsystems from which all