For 35 years, he’s helped build city skylines

Otis’ Ken McDonald, Regional Field Operations Manager in Canada, answers the question ‘Why elevators?’

For Ken McDonald, the elevator industry is part of the family – literally.

Ken is a Regional Field Operations Manager for our New Equipment and Modernization business in Canada. His father was president of the International Union of Elevator Constructors for many years and became the business agent for Local 50 Toronto. On top of that, two of his brothers also work in the field: one as director for vertical transportation for a construction business and one at Otis. “My dad pushed me forward into this direction, and I’m so glad he did,” Ken said. “With my younger brother here at Otis, it’s a unique gift to be able to mentor one another in our careers.” Ken was recently featured in Elevator World’s People issue, showcasing influential and remarkable people from across the vertical transportation industry. Here, Ken shares more about our industry and some of the projects he’s worked on to provide secure and dependable passenger experiences.

Q: Do you have a favorite project? Ken: I have worked on a lot of great projects including the Place Ville Marie in Montreal and Eglinton Light Rail Transit in the Greater Toronto area.. Many of our projects are challenging due to the ever-increasing scale, size and deadlines. But as a superintendent, St. Regis Toronto (formerly Trump Tower) was my favorite. It was one of the first high-rise towers that I worked on. The 60-story project included numerous elevators, a lot of stops, plus high speed/high challenge elements. I had to find teams that could go in and install something new. We had to really pause and together think about the installation. That job finished well, and we were able to hit all of our targeted dates and schedules. Q: What keeps you coming back to work each day? Ken: I have great pride in seeing a finished building that I worked on. But I find greater pride in working with a new hire right out of school and taking him or her out on the site to show them what I know. That’s where I’m confident I can create impact and influence others’ trajectories. At the end of the day, I feel like I can go home and look in the mirror and be proud of the community that I’m helping to build. People also always ask, ‘Why elevators?’ Besides the inspiration from my dad, it really is nice to be part of building a physical skyline that you can see in your everyday routine. You can have pride in your work. It’s a great topic to talk about in your everyday conversations. Everyone has ridden in an elevator before, but not many people appreciate all of the fun facts and insider knowledge of how it works. It never gets old to share the fun facts of our industry, like how fast elevators can travel per second.

Q: So what’s the answer to how fast Otis elevators can travel in a second? Ken: Our fastest goes 32 feet per second – that’s about three stories!

Q: Last question: Why would you encourage others to pursue a career at Otis? Ken: This is my 35th year with Otis and my 15th year of management. I have learned a ton in those years and I've met so many smart people along the way, from both university and the trades. These people – my colleagues and customers – have opened my eyes to new perspectives. And I can say Otis is truly one of the greatest companies that you could ever work for. There are so many opportunities for young people coming into the industry, for both college graduates and tradesmen and women. I've personally seen the growth of our engineers in the field as Otis leverages new technologies. There is tremendous opportunity. I've seen colleagues start as sales reps and now they're running sales for the country. You can do everything you want to at Otis. You just have to be good at what you do and stay focused. Vertical transportation is a great industry!

Our field professional saves time with Otis ONE™ app

When field professional Jason R. first started working for Otis, knowing if each elevator on his route was running and operational meant having to drive or walk to job sites to inspect each unit.

Jason, who works out of our Sydney, Australia branch, has a route that covers a lot of territory. Due to the size of the route, this site-to-site travel could take up most of the day by itself, said Jason. If he found any units needed service, the rest of his route would be delayed for the day.

That’s the old way of doing things. Jason, a self-confessed early bird gets up at 4:45 a.m. and takes a 90-minute drive to work. Once he arrives, he checks his elevators via the Otis ONE ™ App. Now with Otis ONE™ app, I am able to monitor all of my elevators from my mobile phone in a matter of seconds. It is a great time saver, he said.

If there is an issue with any of the units at the buildings that I maintain, I will attend to them straight away, often getting there before an issue has been reported, he said. Once that has been done, I go about my scheduled maintenance shared with me via my Retriever App. I also try to make time to help my fellow mechanics where needed.

Having this smart elevator technology at his fingertips allows Jason more time in his day to listen to customer queries and feel less pressure due to time constraints.

The notification system within the Otis ONE app also keeps our customers informed of the elevator’s status, too. Smart elevators equipped with Otis ONE app notify the customer of equipment issues in real-time and automatically alerts our field professional to the elevator unit. This is extremely helpful, in places like hospitals, airports, hotels, or city buildings, where there are a lot of people on the move. Having all elevators safe and operational is crucial to these businesses running efficiently and people getting to where they need to go, he said.

Otis ONE app is not just for service calls. The customer can also access information, such as eService and equipment status, to see how efficient and effective their elevators are, explained Jason. All of this can be achieved from the convenience of either a mobile phone or laptop.

Not only does Jason use the Otis ONE app daily on the job, but he has also worked with his field service manager to install Otis ONE units in the Otis Australia head office and on-site in some office buildings.

I love my job – I get to learn something new every day, he said.

Smart technology ideas made possible by our smart colleagues

Otis engineer Giovanna D. loves challenges.

Even as a young child, she was fascinated by science technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects and chose her classes in school to match her interests. Though one of very few girls enrolled in these courses, her goal was to become a electrical engineer.

Initially, she specialized in mechatronics – using her skill set to create simpler, smarter systems for the advanced automated manufacturing industry, and later applied her talents to the automotive sector. When she saw an opportunity at Otis she decided to move from her beloved south Italy, to Milan, in northern Italy. Otis has a slogan, Made to Move You^TM, and in my case, that was true, she said, laughing. That was a hard choice, but I never regretted the move - I love my job.

When Giovanna started at Otis, digitalization was already a buzzword, and soon to become an identified strategic imperative for the company. She was attracted by the idea of being part of our transformation, not only in terms of digital products and processes, but also how we apply digital tools and technology to our service business.

I contributed by developing an app, that interacts with Otis ONE™, to support the mechanics’ daily activities. In the beginning, it was just a tool to reduce paper and manage simple workflows at the branch level but, year after year, we have expanded its functionality, she said.

Today, within the app, mechanics can plan maintenance visits and revise their schedules to accommodate critical customer needs. Additionally, the app gives supervisors a dashboard view of the activities in progress. All of this data is shared with Otis ONE to provide real time updates to the customers about their units.

I love science and technology, but I also feel the need to see that what I do is useful to people in real life scenarios. The idea that this app makes the job easier and faster for my colleagues and contributes to improving the level of our service makes me feel proud, she said. I put customers at the center, not only external customers, also my internal customers: my colleagues.

Digitalization and IoT are reinventing the future of the elevator industry. Thanks to developers like Giovanna, we are enhancing our service, by better connecting our people to our portfolio and more effectively monitoring, reducing disruption and improving uptime for our customers and their passengers.

Otis ONE™ enables this mechanic to respond to customers remotely 

Damon L. never expected to be a pioneer. He joined Otis five years ago from the construction industry because he was impressed with the opportunities and where Otis could take his career. I was fortunate to join Otis in time to be part of the launch of the Service Transformation with Signature Service, he said.

Fast forward to today: Damon is now a Service Field Supervisor. And he and his team are responsible for the ongoing service maintenance within the 19-story Kwai Ying residential building – the first building in Hong Kong with equipment powered by Otis ONE.

I’m really proud to be a part of the Otis team working on the first building in Hong Kong with elevators connected via Otis ONE, Damon said I hope many more buildings become equipped with Otis ONE in the future.

Why does this building stand out? Otis ONE is our Internet of Things (IoT) solution that connects elevators to the cloud to not only deliver a seamless passenger experience, but also provide real-time data insights for remote elevator monitoring and an overall enhanced building performance.

Receiving real-time notifications – even before a customer reaches out to identify an issue – helps streamline our work, he said. Otis ONE helps my team to identify the location of the breakdown quickly and accurately.

I also like the ability to check the call-back status of our entire portfolio from the previous night right from my iPhone, so I can plan an efficient call-back schedule for the day, he said. It’s a huge advantage to providing the best customer service.

At Otis, we are reimagining what elevators can be, and Otis ONE is just one example of how we’re accelerating digitalization and finding new ways to use IoT and AI technology to better serve our customers. Overall, about 800,000 units in our global service portfolio are connected through various product offerings, allowing our field professionals to minimize service disruptions through 24/7 remote monitoring and providing proactive and transparent support to our loyal customers.

Modern technology helps to provide a personalized touch

All of his customers know Otis mechanic Damon P. on a first-name basis. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

They have my phone number, and I talk with each one frequently, Damon says. There doesn’t have to be a service-related reason to have a conversation. I just really like the people I work with.

Having strong customer relationships helps Damon feel connected to his customers, so he can more quickly assess their needs. Couple that with the power of Otis ONE IoT technology that connects elevators to the cloud and provides cutting-edge insights your equipment. This puts Damon ahead of the curve when he is needed most.

A customer called me to say two of their elevators were down, Damon explains. I pulled up the Otis ONE app and saw that one car would be easier to fix because of the type of repair. So when I arrived, I focused on getting that unit running first because I knew that would minimize downtime.

Otis ONE was designed to meet the evolving needs of our customers by connecting elevators to the cloud. Putting modern, digital technologies in the hands of our expert technicians provides an unmatched level of customer service that also helps demystify what elevators are capable of in today’s world.

Elevators are becoming more digital every day, and I take pride in talking about the value of adding Otis ONE to my customers’ buildings. 

How Otis ONE™ keeps one university campus moving forward 

Nestled in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia, an Otis customer brings together thousands of students and administrative staff members each semester to create the next generation of world leaders. With that mission in mind, keeping everyone moving on campus is essential.  

The university relies on over 200 elevators, each one playing a key role in keeping students, faculty and administrators on the move. When an elevator is down, it disrupts operations and risks taking time away from the students' education. 

Otis field professional Dwight P., responsible for elevator maintenance on campus, appreciates this. So he uses a different kind of learning — machine learning — with his Otis ONE™ app to save time on the job and keep his team working efficiently. The Otis ONE digital IoT platform uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud technology to provide our customers with real-time information and our mechanics with predictive maintenance insights that help enhance elevator uptime.

On every call, I used to have to go to the machine room and sign into the controller to look at the fault log before I could even get started, said Dwight. But with Otis ONE, it's all right in front of me on my smart phone, and it saves me valuable time on the job.

Otis ONE also helps Dwight prioritize which elevators need attention first, especially when multiple units across campus are reported to need service at once. Sometimes when an elevator is reported as not functioning, it's a false report, according to Dwight, so the Otis ONE solution helps the team on the ground assess the situation quickly. 

Users sometimes report an elevator as not functioning by mistake or simply walking away while waiting, not realizing the elevator is running a diagnostic check, said Dwight. With Otis ONE, I can see how recently an elevator door cycled — meaning how frequently it opened and closed — which allows me to see if a unit is actually out of service or not. This information helps me prioritize calls more effectively and keeps my team from ping-ponging all over campus, saving lots of time.

Learn more about Otis ONE and how it can save your site time and money.