In the bustling landscape of Indian technology, a silent revolution is taking place – a revolution propelled by ECE Elevators – Birla Group, redefining the concept of vertical mobility through innovation. Forget clunky buttons, contraptions of yesteryear, and archaic interfaces; ECE is ushering in an era of smart, seamless, and personalized elevator experiences.
In the world of vertical mobility, ECE Elevators ascends, redefining the very essence of elevators. According to Manish Sikka, the President, they aren’t just elevator manufacturers; they’re architects of smart, safe, and sustainable journeys that elevate passengers and entire living and working spaces.
Innovation at its Core
ECE doesn’t simply follow trends; it sets them. “From pioneering machine-room-less (MRL) technology to integrating cutting-edge AI and IoT features, we constantly push the boundaries of what elevators can be.” Imagine sleek, space-saving MRL elevators for modern architecture or intelligent elevators that learn your usage patterns and adapt accordingly – that’s the ECE experience.
Sharing their story from the beginning, Manish informs that ECE Elevators started its journey in India post-Independence and is credited as being the first Indian elevator manufacturer, with its first factory being set up in 1961.
ECE Industries Limited was founded in 1945 by the visionary industrialist Mr B. K. Birla, whose contributions to the development of our nation are well known. In the following years, ECE became a leader in electrical construction equipment, including lighting, transformers, meters and switchgear beside elevators.
“As part of the new India campaign, our resurgence in the elevator industry started in 2015 with a vision to be fully self-reliant, and our new Avatar reflects the legacy of trust built by Mr B. K. Birla,” says Manish.
Safety Beyond Compromise
Your peace of mind and safest customer experience is the team’s priority. ECE elevators are meticulously crafted with an unwavering focus on safety and reliability. Stringent quality control measures, adherence to international standards, and a robust service network ensure a smooth and hassle-free journey.
Emerging as one of India’s most promising elevator solutions providing companies, Manish shares the guiding philosophy that has propelled their organizational success. “Our newfound purpose is to be globally admired for providing sustainable, safe and smart building mobility solutions, recognised for our people and best in class customer experience.” This is the shared vision the entire organisation is working with to create a world-class Indian company.
Fostering Innovative Solutions
The elevator solutions landscape is continually evolving. Manish says the team provides innovative solutions to their clients to ensure that they remain adaptable and ahead of industry trends. “We understand that we compete with the best in this market who bring experience, knowledge and innovation. We have had the experience and knowledge and, as part of our self-reliant vision, have taken steps to further invest in our research and development focusing on innovation and value engineering.”
Manish adds that they have designed and released elevators up to speeds of 2.5mps and will be starting their high-speed lift development in India. They have transformed the industry with value-added frameless and framed glass door elevators for the villa segment. Their new-age technology provides best-in-class ride comfort for mid and high-rise buildings, driving their mid-rise market growth.
Elevating Experiences, Not Just Floors
According to Manish, it’s important that they not only work on technology but also be seen as innovative to deliver the market’s unmet needs, including world-class value-added products and services that provide value for money, transparency in operation, peace of mind, safety and convenience.
“Our SMART offering is providing us immense success in large cluster projects. Our biggest project in row housing is for 876 elevators, which is a mega project and is a testimony to our ability,” he states.
ECE elevators aren’t just functional necessities but design statements, seamlessly integrating with any architectural aesthetic. “From sleek minimalist finishes to customizable options, we create spaces that not just move people but inspire them,” says Manish, whose leadership style is often recognized as a driving force behind the company’s achievements.
A Transformational Leadership
Shedding light on his approach to leadership and team building within the organization, he says he does not have one style of leadership that can be pinpointed. He has treated ECE’s resurgence as a start-up, which requires a dynamic leadership style approach. At times, his style has been visionary, at other times strategic, and many times transformational.
Manish firmly believes that to be an empowering leader, everything begins with trust. He doesn’t believe leadership is about him but about empowering all others around him and ensuring that this impact continues in his absence, too. “My approach to leadership is to bring trust into everyday working relationships. I trust myself, give trust and get the same in return.”
Manish is creating the conditions for his people to realize their potential fully. His style entails walking the talk, being authentic, logical, empathetic, reliable and humble.
The essence of lift and elevator solutions lies in seamless operations and enhancing the end-user experience. According to Manish, the balancing act of operational efficiency and customer satisfaction is a paradox that is quite challenging and is shaping the industry’s future concerning its products and service standards. “We have a unique approach to this paradox and have a clear path put down in our purpose itself that makes it clear to all our stakeholders about our stand on this.”
Their purpose spells out that they shall be safe, sustainable, smart, and provide a best-in-class customer experience. This helps them manage this paradox well and strike a perfect balance between wanting to achieve operational efficiencies and customer satisfaction.
Data-Driven Decisions, Safety Enhanced
Manish adds that their digital transformation has put them ahead of the curve in empowering people and managing efficiencies. This transformation drives both efficiencies and enhances customer/user experience.
Manish says, “Our resurgent growth has been led by the digital transformation that we have been able to bring to the fore since 2015.” Smart elevators have led the way, as explained earlier.
He furthers that their entire process is integrated into ERP. They have front-end apps deployed in the field operations that enable real-time data and analytics to allow them to control and manage effectively and efficiently. “Our digital footprint not only covers the markets we serve but also our business functions and operations.”
Since they are focused on their customer experience, they have deployed SMART apps for their clients to enable them to remain connected with them in real-time, have all the data they need at their fingertips, manage their contracts online and, more importantly, provide them with the feedback to improve.
Further, according to Manish, data isn’t just numbers for ECE; it’s the key to continuous improvement and unwavering safety. “Our elevators collect real-time data on performance, usage patterns, and potential risks, enabling proactive maintenance and ensuring smooth, safe operation for everyone.”
He adds that all their stakeholders are working in partnership with them using the digital footprint they created. “For example, we have a unique scheme that’s working wonders for us: it’s called the Mera Sujhav Meri Company, which is an online tool where every stakeholder, including customers, partners, and employees, can provide suggestions to us online, track their status and implementation. Today, I can proudly say that this scheme drives our continuous improvement projects and progress.”
Sustainable Solutions for a Greener Tomorrow
Sustainability and environmental responsibility are crucial aspects of modern lift and elevator solutions. ECE understands the responsibility that comes with shaping vertical movement. Its elevators are engineered with sustainability at heart, incorporating energy-efficient technologies and eco-friendly materials to minimize their environmental footprint.
According to Manish, in their case, the integration is spelt out in the purpose itself, making it easier for them to focus on it and walk the talk. “We are continuously working on our knowledge capital around this subject and adding to our actions across all facets of our business: design, manufacturing, product, facilities and processes.”
They have done much work on the manufacturing and facility side to bring in sustainable elements concerning energy consumption and recyclable materials.
Manish states, “Our elevator machines and door motors are permanent magnet gearless machines that do not use oil, make it green and provide the best operating efficiencies. We use variable voltage variable frequency drives to reduce energy consumption footprint. We enable energy-saving elements and logic for the elevator car lights, fan, and interface devices that use LED. We provide the industry’s best life cycle for our product range.”
Smart IoT-enabled elevators with remote elevator management systems reduce human intervention and travel needs. Thus, every ride with ECE is a step towards a greener future.
Touchless Control, Effortless Journeys
Imagine stepping into an elevator and summoning your floor with a mere nod or swipe of your hand. ECE’s cutting-edge touchless control systems powered by facial recognition and gesture technology make this a reality. No more fumbling for buttons or hygiene concerns – just a smooth, effortless journey.
ECE is the first elevator company in India to offer SMART-connected elevators as a standard in its product and service offerings. Manish says they ensure that every user reaps the benefits of a SMART IoT-enabled elevator.
IoT, AI, and smart diagnostics enable real-time health monitoring of the elevators, improve elevator up times, make it safer, allow transparency and bring convenience to the facility managers and users.
AI-Powered Intelligence, Predictive Efficiency
Smart IoT-enabled connected elevators are a growing need. “Our offering is causing a paradigm shift in our customer expectations, and we see our standard SMART elevators making the biggest impact in our growth story by showcasing our commitment to excellence leading to best-in-class customer experience.”
ECE elevators are infused with the power of artificial intelligence. Manish says they learn your usage patterns, optimize traffic flow, and even predict potential equipment issues before they arise. This translates to reduced waiting times, increased energy efficiency, and enhanced elevator experience.
Building A Distinctive Workforce
The workforce is the cornerstone of any successful organization. To foster a culture of growth, skill development, and empowerment among its employees, Manish says Birla’s have always embodied the spirit of learning and knowledge development of the nation. “We realize that our workforce will differentiate us truly, and we are committed to developing skills and creating the best-in-class workforce of our industry. We have launched this year our skill development program christened the ‘ECE University.” This university will not only provide learning to all their fresh talent but also impart skills to the third-party lift installers who do mechanical installation of the lifts.
They are tying up with AI-based micro-learning portals to provide a high-quality teaching experience by delivering content to learners in bite-sized bursts at the point of need, with a focused and specific learning outcome.
Manish adds that they are empowering their workforce in the frontline to make decisions, which is the agility and flexibility we bring to the fore for the customers. “We are against the silo approach to work, and this enables insightful learnings for our workforce.”
Step into an elevator and be greeted by your personalized news feed or office calendar. ECE’s seamless integration with existing building management systems and smart home technologies creates a connected elevator experience, blurring the lines between your vertical journey and digital ecosystem.
Surmounting Adversities
However, ECE has faced its share of challenges as a leader in India’s lift and elevator solutions niche. Manish says they have been growing at the rate of 30% year on year for some years now; this brings many big challenges they are happy to take on as a winning team. The recent pandemic, the Ukraine war, the Ladakh standoff and the subsequent geopolitical situation gave them quite a few challenges. “I will only describe two instances from these situations where our team’s resilience and ingenuity triumphed over adversity.”
Firstly, during the pandemic year of 2020-21, they were all struggling to stay afloat, and since they were heavily invested in their growth, it was a very tough time for them. “The entire workforce stood as one, went out to provide emergency callbacks in all cities and took temporary voluntary haircuts to keep us live and kicking till we recovered, and we gave back all and any profit we made that year to cover up for some of this haircut. We did not trim our workforce by a single number that year and our winning team’s confidence since then has given us the wings to fly now.”
Post the Ladakh standoff and the Ukraine war, the supply chain was disrupted abnormally, and its impact continues, forcing them to act and work closely with their partners to keep the supply line going. ECE had been focusing on being self-reliant and truly Made in India with at least a 20-year life cycle product offering. “That was challenging us to look away from imports anyway, and this situation fuelled our efforts, which our team rose to splendidly. We did so well that we gained market share by providing the industry’s best manufacturing lead times that are consistent with growth. Our import content is just around 15%; by 2025, we will reduce it to around 5%.”
Beyond Tech, Building a Future
There are always new breed of aspiring entrepreneurs wishing to enter innovative industries. According to Manish, “Today’s entrepreneurs bring to the fore many aspects that awe us with their risk appetite, self-belief and a crystal clear thought process. My advice to them will be to keep exploring, challenging the status quo, continuing to use technology to bridge the pain points across industry segments and creating new opportunities through innovation.”
At most times, if changed, the simplest of aspects that seem to be a way of life can revolutionize the market – this is an area in which entrepreneurial explorers can aim.
Looking to the future, Manish says that ECE’s impact extends beyond technological advancements. “We’re committed to creating accessible and inclusive elevator experiences for all, incorporating features like voice control and braille buttons for visually impaired users.”
Further, their vision is to be globally admired, being a company that exemplifies Indian values while working on the five elements of their purpose, as stated earlier.
“While we strive to provide a great product, we are focused on our approach to providing the best experience at all times to our customers and users, being transparent, listening to all stakeholders, continuously working on their feedback and being their life partners in buildings where we cohabitate with them through our service.”
Smart elevators, IoT, AI, digital footprint, innovation, Mera Sujhav Meri Company, all of these are just the means they are employing today to walk the talk on their purpose.
A legacy of trust, a promise of growth: With over 75 years of experience, ECE has earned the trust of millions. “Our commitment to innovation, safety, and customer satisfaction remains our guiding principle, ensuring a legacy of excellence for generations to come. We are unfolding Mr. B. K. Birla’s vision in the true sense as we set the pace for the industry’s growth. We are here to elevate with smart.”
ECE Elevators isn’t just a company; it’s a promise. A promise of safe, smooth, and sustainable journeys that enhance every space they touch. “We’re not just lifting people; we’re lifting expectations and redefining the future of vertical mobility,” concludes Manish.
