Lift Report

Thus Terminal 3 covers an area equivalent to 170 soccer fields. The airport now boasts 137 taxiways and 314 aircraft park positions. The luggage conveyor belts total 68 kilometers in length. The terminal provides more than 300 check-in positions. Thousands of persons were involved in testing handling, signage andthe like before the terminal was opened.

A further outstanding structure being erected especially for the Olympic Games, the Beijing National Stadium, is also to be finished soon. It was designed and built by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, who had previously built the Allianz Arena in Munich and the St. Jakob Park multipurpose stadium in Basle. Working in collaboration with the China ArchitectureDesign & Research Group, Arupsport and contemporary artist Ai Weiwei, they went forward as the winners of an international architectural competition in 2002. The building is 330 meters long, 220 meters wide and 69.2 meters high. Construction costs total about 3.5 billion yuan (325 million euros). Given its shape, the stadium has already been nicknamed the “bird’s nest”. The stadium comprises two separate sections, a reinforced concrete “bowl” with seats for 91,000 spectators, and a gigantic steel network that surrounds and roofs the seating area. Some of the participants at the German joint pavilion took advantage of the opportunity and visited this imposing building. This is a further example of the construction activity taking place in China’s metropolitan areas.

    

According to an article by Ren Tianxiao, president of the Chinese Elevator Association, and published in Lift-Report 2/2008, total production of elevators and escalators in China came to 216,000 units in the year 2007. This represents 29 per cent growth when compared to the prior year. The elevator companies are having to embrace technical innovations and cost reductions in order to increase their market competitiveness. Pursuant to the introduction of energy conservation and environmental policies by the central Chinese government, modern technologies are attaining ever greater importance.

The Chinese government is demanding that technical standards for elevators be brought up to international levels.

That is why the exchange of information and cooperation between the Technical Commission onthe Standardization of Elevators in China (SAN/TC196) and the International Standards Organization (ISO/TC178) and the European Committee for Standards (EN/TC10) is being reinforced. Thus, for instance, a meeting of the ISO CEN committee took place in Langfang.

    

This event took place for the second time in Langfang, an administratively autonomous city in Hebei Province. The Langfang administrative district covers an area of 6,429 square kilometers and is home to about 3.91 million people (end of 2004). The Association of the Chinese Elevator industry is located in Langfang.

The three exhibition halls were booked up right to the last square meter and two additional pre-fab halls had to be used. The fair covered a total of about 35,000 m² in exhibit space, on which the some 450 exhibitors were able to present their products to a keenly interested audience.

Residing in Hall B – as was the case at the last event – were the industry’s international “giants” such as Hitachi, Toshiba, Otis Express, Mitsubishi, Kone, Fujitec etc. Regrettably, the joint pavilion organized by VFA interlift and the AFAG was also located there this year. The noise level was at times unbearably high and the situation made negotiations impossible. The exhibitors were authorized to include shows, live music etc. at their booths with acoustic output of up to 90 decibels.

Lectures were held simultaneous to the fair in the adjoining Convention Center. On the first evening of the fair a gala dinner was staged in one of the halls with more than 1,000 persons attending. Among those present were high-ranking representatives from government, business associations and the Chinese and foreign business communities. The logistical and catering efforts required to still the hunger of such a large group of people were amazing.

A joint pavilion for German exhibitors was organized once again this year by the VFA. To be seen here were the AFAG, Blain, Böhnke & Partner, Lift- Journal, Leistritz and Lift-Report. Some other German companies which had exhibited at the joint pavilion in the past appeared this year either alone or in conjunction with Chinese partners. The organization of the joint pavilion was – as always – perfect. There was a shuttle bus service from the hotel to the fairgrounds, making for trouble-free access. Many European companies responded to the great market potential represented by the Chinese elevator market . The share of international exhibitors was very high, as had been true in 2006.

Unfortunately the international orientation of the trade fair organization itself left something to be desired. During the opening event, for instance, the speeches delivered at the gala dinner were available solely in Chinese. Thus it is at present not possible to name the persons who took part there. By comparison, it has in the meantime become standard for Chinese companies that intend to address an international public to have English-speaking staff at the booths. Thus it would be most desirable for the organizers of such a large and significant international fair to provide the needed amenities for the foreign audience.

Certainly the CEA and in particular Mr. Zhang Lexiang, the organizer, will be increasing the international orientation of the next Elevator Expo.

Equally worth consideration is controlling access to the fair for non-industry visitors. There were, for instance, many collectors of old paper attempted to take newspapers or brochures in complete bundles. This is an unfortunate development and something that was dealt with better at the 2006 event. It was impossible to leave the booth unattended for more than a minute without returning to find that the amount of paper had been decimated. What was surely a very large number of visitors ought to be considered critically, taking this aspect into account.

All in all it was a superlative event and at this point I would like to congratulate the organizers most sincerely. Their courage and efforts have borne fruit. Even at this early date it makes sense to launch preparations for exhibiting at the Elevator Expo in the year 2010.