Invest KOREA

When most of us think ‘elevator,’ we think of a box that takes us from one floor to another. When Wayne Park, CEO of ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea (TKEK), thinks ‘elevators,’ he ponders a mode of transportation with infinite potential for innovation, speed and style. In fact, he thinks of BMWs.

The CEO of about a year has introduced a project called “BMW in Elevators” at his Mok-dong office. He wants to develop the equivalent of BMWs for the elevator world, to cultivate an instantly recognizable brand and to have not just an industrial product, but one that is “fancy like the BMW.” At a time when TKEK is coming up with strategies for growth, Park realizes that differentiation for the thoroughly commoditized elevator is difficult to achieve.

“But without differentiation, there is no future in TKEK’s point of view,” he said.

Having entered the Korean market in 2003, TKEK supplies passenger and freight elevators, escalators, moving walks and more. Its main businesses involve production, domestic sales, maintenance of the 60,000 elevator units installed in Korea and the export of products to more than 60 countries. In addition to its headquarters in Mok-dong, TKEK has a factory in Cheonan, 12 branches nationwide and 1,300 subcontractors for service and installation.

Korean landmarks equipped with TKEK’s elevators, escalators and moving walks include Shinsegae Centum City in Busan, the CJ E&M Center in Seoul and Haeundae I’Park in Busan. The Federation of Korean Industries building in Yeouido will soon have high-speed ThyssenKrupp elevators that travel about seven meters per second.

Following a period of negative profit due to turbulence in the elevator industry related to price fixing scandals — a period that has completely changed the market and its strategies, according to Park — TKEK last year sold 4,500 elevator units domestically, achieving a 3 percent return on sales. In terms of sales to customers in the Asia-Pacific region, Korea ranked third for the 2011/2012 fiscal year.

TKEK entered the Korean market at a time when elevator demand was high, when developers were dealing with limited land by building up. The Germany-based Thyssen¬ Krupp acquired Dongyang Elevator in 2003, establishing ThyssenKrupp Dongyang Elevator. ThyssenKrupp wholly acquired the Korean company in 2008.

“[Korea’s] elevator industry was relatively mature and [more advanced] than other Asian countries,” said Park, who was the president of Sigma Elevator in China, a subsidiary of Otis Elevator Korea, before joining TKEK.

One illustration of ThyssenKrupp’s innovation is the twin elevator, which has been installed in seven office buildings in Korea. While elevator systems typically have one car per shaft, this system has two cars and requires high technologies to keep the cars at a safe distance from each other at all times. The lower and upper cabs can travel at different speeds, making the system time-and-space efficient.

Another innovative ThyssenKrupp technology found in Korea is the Destination Selection Control system, which outfits elevators with controls outside the car, not inside. This sort of elevator is found mostly in corporate buildings with regular passengers. You can see which car is going to which floors and choose your ride accordingly.

“Passengers have high expectations,” said Park, who has some freshly designed elevators coming out this month. ”Living standards are high, so [Thyssen Krupp] is trying to change with this product. We say it’s a synergy brand, one that no one in Korea or other countries has ever experienced in terms of value, aesthetics and function.”

As for the CEO’s expectations of TKEK, he aims to increase exports from 25-30 percent of the company’s production volume to about 50 percent in the next few years. When it comes to mindset, Park strives for TKEK to think like a leader, not a follower.

“I like innovation, thinking differently, this kind of concept,” he said. “I don’t want the same approach.”