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‘Voices from the World’: Elevcon President, Marja-Liisa Siikonen

 In News

By Matteo Volpe

In issue 6/2022 of Elevatori Magazine, in the ‘Voices from the World’ column we host Marja-Liisa Siikonen, recently appointed President and Program Manager of Elevcon, the international congress on vertical transportation techologies.

The 23rd edition of Elevcon will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, June 20-22, 2023. After a long career with Kone, Dr. Siikonen is now Ceo of the company she founded, MLS Lift Consulting Ltd.

Firstly, Elevatori Magazine wish to congratulate with you for being the new Chairwoman of Elevcon.

Thank you! It has been an honor to become invited for the position. It feels good that Elevcon congress can finally be arranged face to face after postponing it since 2019!
Now, when the pandemic has weakened, people are eager to travel and meet face-to-face again. Therefore I see Elevcon as an important meeting for the industry after Covid.

marja-liisasiikonen

Marja-Liisa Siikonen, appointed President and Program Manager of Elevcon.

Elevcon 2023: can you tell us about the new organization (after the Covid, and most of all, after losses of the two founders, Joseph Stier and Ami Lustig)?

I was named as the Elevcon 2023 Chairwoman & Programme Manager of Elevcon conference. The Steering Committee consists of John Inglis (IAEE President Emeritus), Albert So (Scientific Advisor, IAEE), Robert Nicholson, John Antona, Sefa Targit, Gil Stiers (IAEE Administrative Board Chairman), and me. Also, a new Scientific Committee has been established to review the papers with the vision to guarantee a good quality of the papers. The Scientific Committee consists of 17 professionals from industry and academic field. Ms. Karen Krull takes care of the administrative matters. Please check from www.elevcon.com for more information.

Elevatori Magazine will give a prize to the most innovative presentation, ‘Hi Tech Award Elevatori-Elevcon’, also in this edition 2023, as in the past. What do you think about it?

From the beginning of Elevcon has selected the ‘Best paper award’ for every congress. I received this notification in 1993, and it inspired me to send quite many papers afterwards. The ‘Hi
Tech Award Elevatori-Elevcon’ is the current way to show appreciation to the best paper and presentation, thanks to Elevatori Magazine for their contribution in this!

What do you think about the new ISO Norms 8100? Do we really achieve to a world code? Could it be possible?

International Standards are vital in harmonizing the solutions and products of different manufacturers. This is important for instance for architects, for construction companies as well as for
the manufacturers. In designing vertical transportation as well as in modernization, solutions of different manufacturers can be compared, and products can be replaced by new ones when, for
example, the range of elevator dimensions are standardized. To be prepared for emergency situations, the firefighter’s elevator, evacuation, and seismic standards set requirements for the building construction. Also, the first ISO Standard for elevator planning, ISO 8100-32, was published two years ago. Its target was to standardize the terms, the inputs and the outputs of different planning methods which are needed in comparison of the performance of different solutions.

Now you are an independent consultant, and before you worked in Kone. How you can compare the two kind of job?

I worked 34 years in Kone with elevator control systems, and people flow planning in a big company. It offered me excellent surroundings to learn about the global vertical transportation business and to develop new solutions and methods. After my retirement, however, I am happy to be independent working in my own company.

Many elevator companies complain the difficulty to find skilled technicians. Do you agree on this view? What can we do to improve this situation?

I am not aware of the local employment situations. It is, however, important to take care of the safety of the employees and to keep their skills up to date by continuous training.

What do you know about Italian elevator companies and about Italy? May be Elevcon could be in Italy next time?

Kone has its subsidiary in Pero (near to Milan, in Italy), where I have visited several times. I know some Italian elevator companies as well. More than 20 years has now passed since Elevcon was arranged in Milan. The Steering Committee thanks Elevatori Magazine for the invitation and shall consider it seriously!

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