ETA MELCO conducts MENA region sales seminar

Attendees at the seminar came from as far afield as the GCC, Egypt, Lebanon, India, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the CIS and Saudi Arabia, to hear Mitsubishi's executives give detailed explanations of new developments in elevator and escalator technology which will assist sales forces throughout the MENA region in bringing new products to the attention of customers.

Delegates heard sales activity presentations from different MENA-based joint ventures, including MELCO Saudi Arabia, (MELSA), MELCO Egypt (MEGPT) and the Lebanon-based Mitsulift, Jordan-based Levant Division, Melco Elevator South Africa, Mits Electric Co., Kenya, before moving on to presentations on the evolution of the Mitsubishi lifts and a series of technical lectures on new maintenance and call-out protocols and technology updates.

"Seminars used to take place in Japan but this has become too difficult. Dubai lies at the centre of a huge region, and Mitsubishi have decided that it would be more convenient to conduct these seminars from here. Our fellow sales teams in the Middle East are like brothers to us, so it makes sense for us to have them over here," said A.S.A. Basheer, ETA MELCO's Deputy General Manager.

Products such as Arrival Immediate Prediction Lantern Indicator (AILI), designed to alleviate passenger waiting times, and Nexway-S, which provides architects with speedier and more compact lift technology, have long lead-times, meaning that sales forces have to be appraised of developments well in advance of roll-out in existing, as well as new, markets.

"The market wants a range of equipment beyond existing products. Capacity limitations at the lower end put new technology at a premium. Lower capacity design has been improved. Machine control panel sizes have been drastically reduced, and speeds are a lot higher today," said Matheen Ahmed Sayeed, General Manager, Emirates Technical Associates, which liaises with ETA MELCO.

ETA MELCO is one of several autonomous joint ventures around the world sharing partnerships with Mitsubishi Electric Co. Mitsubishi's Japan offices supply elevator and escalator machinery, technological expertise and spare parts to joint ventures all around the world. Several of its developments, including "zig-zag" lifts and spiral escalators are pioneering global firsts.