 |
|
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Genre | Corporate histories |
| Founded | Lucerne, Switzerland (1874) |
| Founder(s) | Robert Schindler and Eduard Villiger |
| Headquarters | Ebikon, Switzerland |
| Key people | Alfred N. Schindler (Chairman) |
| Industry | Vertical transportation |
| Products | Elevators, Escalators |
| Revenue | CHF14,027 million (2008), ▲ 1.2% from 2007 |
| Employees | 45,000 (2008) |
| Parent | Schindler Holding Ltd |
| Website | The Schindler Group |
Schindler was founded in Switzerland in 1874 and is the largest manufacturer of escalators and the second largest manufacturer of elevators world wide. Schindler installs, maintains and modernizes elevators and escalators in all kind of buildings (Residential, Commercial and High-Rise). The company is present in more than 140 countries and employs 45,000 persons worldwide. The production facilities are located in Austria, Brazil, China, France, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the USA.[1]
The second business division of the Schindler Holding is the ALSO Group. It is a wholesale and logistics company in the information and communications technology sector and the consumer electronics sector. The ALSO division business is mainly in Switzerland and Germany.
Contents |
Company history
The company was founded in Switzerland in 1874, by Robert Schindler and Eduard Villiger who establish the collective joint partnership Schindler & Villiger.[2] Shortly thereafter, a mechanical engineering workshop was built on an island in the River Reuss in Lucerne, Switzerland, for the production of lifting equipment and machines of all types.
Schindler founded the first foreign subsidiary in Berlin (Germany) in 1906. Thereafter, the company expanded continuously throughout Europe. In 1980 Schindler founded the first Western industrial joint venture in the Peoples Republic of China. With the take over of Atlas in Brazil in 1989 Schindler became a major market player in South America.
Schindler entered the North American elevator market with the purchase of Toledo, OH based Haughton Elevator Company in 1979—briefly branding their products as Schindler-Haughton. In 1989, the company dramatically increased their presence in the United States after acquiring the Elevator/Escalator division of Westinghouse Electric, one of the largest producers of elevators and escalators at the time. Currently, Schindler Elevator Corporation, the United States operations of Schindler Group, is based in Morristown, NJ.[3]
Destination control systems
Schindler's Miconic 10, the company's name for their proprietary control system, was the industry first of an innovative type of control systems now known as a destination-based dispatching. The system features keypads and LED screens instead of hall button stations whereby riders enter their desired floor before entering an elevator car. The system then directs the rider to a specific elevator car while grouping riders traveling to nearby floors together. Schindler claims this minimizes the number of stops, and decreases congestion and travel time—especially during peak traffic periods.[4] The system was continuously further developed and new functions were amended eventually evolving in systems which guarantee highly efficient and energy saving traffic management. Especially in high rise buildings traffic management systems like Miconic 10 and Schindler ID allow building designers to maximize rentable space and transport efficiency. Moreover, access control becomes feasible.
Schindler Award
Since 2003, Schindler has sponsored the "Schindler Award", a biannual prize for the design of inclusive and accessible urban areas. Students of architecture in European universities are eligible to receive five prizes ranging from € 5,000 to € 1,000, while schools may receive prizes from € 25,000 to € 10,000 for supporting their teams and for incorporating the issue of accessibility into lectures.[5] The Schindler Award 2008 attracted almost 1'000 participants and is therefore one of the most recognized and popular architectural competitions for students in Europe. The competition site of the current edition of the Schindler Award comprises parts of the Olympic parc in Berlin.
See also
- Kone
- OTIS
- ThyssenKrupp
- Stadler Rail, purchased Schindler Waggon Altenrhein
References
- ^ http://www.schindler.com/group_index/group_kg/group_kg_comp/group_kg_comp_cp.htm
- ^ http://www.schindler.com/group_index/group_kg/group_kg_comp/group_kg_comp_his.htm?showtab=30
- ^ http://www.theelevatormuseum.org/h/schindler.htm
- ^ http://www.us.schindler.com/sec_index/sec_tech/sec_tech_destination.htm
- ^ Leybold-Johnson, Isobel (November 19, 2008). "Elevating the minds of future architects". Swissinfo. http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/Elevating_the_minds_of_future_architects.html?siteSect=107&sid=9988844. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
