Elevator Industry Group Of Southern California

President Allan Lloyd called the meeting to order. First order of business was nomination of officers for next year. Allan indicated that the present slate of officers had agreed to serve again, if the members so desired, except for the office of vice president.

There were no nominations from the floor, so final nominations and elections will take place at the November 17 meeting. All the positions should be considered available. If you feel you’d like to do a particular job, or know someone who would, feel free to make arrangements to place that person’s name in nomination in November.

 Steve Grainer gave us detailed report about the recent meeting in San Francisco to cover the changes made in the elevator unit of DOSH. He indicated that he was impressed with the new chief, Debby Tudor. He feels she is a “progressive” person, who will work well with the industry.

 Prospects are that the state will adopt the Performance Based Code (ASME A17.7). It is up to the Standards Board, which is expected to act soon.

 Allan Lloyd gave us a report on INTERLIFT, the trade show held recently in Augsburg, Germany, supported by numerous color “slides”. We saw that many American companies, as well as International ones, were exhibiting.

 We concluded with our raffle, prizes provided by Brian GAA of CED, Bill Adrian of Republic Elevator, Marilyn Look of Look Stairchairs, John and Doris Brannon, Allan Lloyd of DRAKA, Mary Thomsic of ALPS Wire Rope, Steve Grainer of MITSUBISHI, Leslie Malloy of WESTCOAST Pads, Ray Miller of SEES and Mark Keelan of SCHUNK GRAPHITE.

 And the winners (including several multiples) were:

 Brian Gaa, Mark Keelan, Bill Adrian, Mary Thomsic, Andy Duzich, Steve Grainer, Leonard Patito, Marilyn Look, Allan Lloyd, Leslie Malloy and Gerry McKinnon.

This month’s attendance prize went to Steve Grainer.

We were happy to welcome Jack Stroup, new Western Sales Manager for Alps Wire Rope.

Due to the absence of our President and the late arrival of our Vice President, the meeting opened with a report from Golf Chairman Scott Dutton. Scott explained that due to the slim turnout (low sixties), we dispensed with prizes, trophies, etc. and simply played golf and had dinner.

After totaling all the receipts and disbursements, we found that the former exceeded the latter by about $4000. Accordingly, we are issuing a check to the Elevator and Escalator Safety Foundation for $3000. The “other” $1000 will be retained as “seed money” for next year’s tournament. Though we failed to meet our goal, which was a $5000 donation to EESF, disaster was avoided. Good job, Scott!

A presentation was made by Victor Palma, Sales Manager for VideoComm Technologies. VideoComm is a supplier of wireless video systems, based in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Focus of the presentation was their model EV-L2R5803 wireless elevator video system. This comes in a “kit” form, containing transmitter, receiver, power supplies, antennae, twenty-five feet of video cable, mounting brackets, remote control, corner mount video camera and necessary instructions. System is covered by a one year warranty and costs under $3000; no maintenance or inspection is required. Basically, the camera mounted in the car transmits signals wirelessly to a receiver which can be mounted top or bottom of the hoistway, eliminating the need for travelling cable. From there, the signal is hard wired to the desired location, typically a security office. The signal is fully encrypted, preventing “hacking”.

Interesting product, Victor. Nice presentation!

We concluded with our raffle for a nice group of prizes, provided by: Stan Schultz, Gerald McKinnon, Patricia Howard of Janus Elevator, Andrew Ryan of Innovation Industries, Scott Dutton of CED, Sam Farooqi of Par Paint, Mary Thomsic of Alps Wire Rope and Leslie Malloy of Westcoast Co.

And the winners were:

Gerry McKinnon, Dave Altman, Mary Thomsic, Bill Adrian, Andrew Ryan, Jack Parker, Jack Stroup and Leslie Malloy.

After a most pleasant hospitality time, President Allan Lloyd called the meeting to order with thirty two members and guests attending. There being no significant business to transact, we proceeded to a delicious lunch.

As dessert was served, Allan introduced our speaker of the day, Guy Gruppie of Murchison & Cumming. Our society has been called litigious. Guy presented statistics that did nothing to dispel that notion. The United States has more lawyers per capita than any other industrialized nation. The U.S. has 1 lawyer for every 265 citizens,  the comparable figure for China is 1 in 8000.

Accordingly, it is almost inevitable that anyone in business will be involved a lawsuit (or several of them) somewhere along the line.

Further contributing to the abundance of legal actions is the U.S. contingency fee system, with the attorney taking a percentage of any recovery as their fee. Typically, the percentage is one third to one half. Also, unlike many countries, the U.S. has no system where the loser pays the costs of suit, contractual provisions lacking.

Closer to home, there are certain areas designated as “legal hellholes” due to the proliferation of lawsuits. Los Angeles County is number one on that list and Clark County Nevada is number 4. Some others are Cook County, Illinois and Southern Florida.

Guy meticulously outlined the steps to protect against suits and what to expect from your lawyer in preventing, preparing for and defending them.

Thanks, Guy for your work in preparing such an excellent program just for our group. Thanks also to your able staff, associate Marianne Zakarian and IT expert Bob Leon. Great job!

Lastly, we had our raffle for a terrific group of prizes provided by Brian Gaa of CED, Steve Grainer of Mitsubishi, Tim Hawkins, Ed Trudeau and Gordon Simpkins of GMS. Mary Thomsic, John and Doris Brannon, Allan Lloyd of Draka, Jack Lawson, Patricia Howard of Janus and Leslie Malloy of Westcoast Pads.  SEE’s provided some very nice fabric tote bags for all attendants.

The raffle prize winners included:

Harvey Ledesma, Jack Lawson, Mike Barnum, Gordon Simpkins, Andy Duzich, Leonard Patito, Jo Wheeler, Ray Miller, Elizabeth Courtney and Woody Wright. This month’s attendance prize, a Fifty dollar gift card for Bev-Mo, provided by the group, went to Ray Miller

NEXT MONTH – OUR GOLF TOURNMENT – FRIDAY, JUNE 19 – DETAILS ON OUR WEB SITE

After a pleasant period of conversation and libations, President Allan Lloyd called the meeting to order with thirty-two members and guests attending. Scott Dutton of CED announced that they will host a “one day” training seminar on May 7^th and 8^th covering installation, adjusting, troubleshooting, etc. for SMARTRISE control systems which are distributed by CED. One may attend either day and there is no charge, free Continental breakfast and lunch. The seminars will be held at the Holiday Inn, 2640 N. Lakewood Blvd. in Long Beach. Limited space is available each day, so contact Scott Dutton at (800) 266-0908 to reserve your seat.

 After self introductions, we enjoyed a very nice lunch, choosing from entrees of baked half chicken or Dover sole. As we began the dessert course, our program for this month commenced. Jeff Yeager, Regional Sales Manager for Motion Control Engineering (MCE) began by giving us a bit of background on MCE. The subject for this meeting was (so called) Machine Room Less (MRL) elevators. He explained that MRL’s are not a new thing to MCE, as they have furnished equipment for numerous installations. What is new is the availability of a complete MRL package, produced in concert with sister company Imperial Electric, long time producer of elevator machines. So, we have MCE controls, Imperial machines and other required components from a variety of sources making up a complete “package”. Jeff stated that the intent is to perpetuate and extend the basic MCE philosophy of systems available to and serviceable by all.

 Jeff then yielded to Emery Thran, Elevator Programs Manager for MCE, for some more technical details. Emery explained that their version of the MRL is highly conventional. The machine, located at the top of the hoistway, is supported by machine beams which in turn are supported by the building structure. All versions use conventional wire rope suspension and sheaves are cast steel. The machine proper is a permanent magnet gearless type, 2:1 underslung.  A remote set/reset governor is incorporated. A visual indicator which tells the position of the car in the hoistway is provided. This enables “drifting” of the car to a safe and convenient location for cycling the doors to remove passengers if technical problems prohibit normal operation.

The controller is installed in a “closet”, which preferably is located adjacent to the hoistway at the top floor, although there is considerable flexibility in that area.

A spirited discussion of “proprietary” equipment ensued as part of the question and answer period. Of course, that long standing dispute was not settled in our forum, but the discussion was interesting and informative.

Thanks to Jeff and Emery, and all who participated for a stimulating program.

We concluded with our raffle for a great group of prizes provided by:

Stan Schultz, Allan Lloyd of DRAKA, Jeff Yeager and Emery Thran of MCE, Mary Thomsic, Bernie Tillipman, Bill Adrian of REPUBLIC ELEVATOR, Jo Wheeler of WEST COAST PADS, Jack Lawson, Mark Keelan of SCHUNK GRAPHITE, Roy Miller of SEEs/DRAKA, Gerry Mckinnon, Tim Hawkins and Scott Dutton of CED.

And the winners were:

Dave Altman, Marilyn Look, Stan Schultz, Joe Gonzalez, Mark Keelan, Sam Farooqi, John Brannon, Nick Escamilla, Mike Corbo, Mary Thomsic, Bill Adrian and Bernie Tillipman. The “grand prize” (a $75 gift certificate), provided by the group, was won by Bill Adrian.

Next month should be an outstanding program, covering a subject we all know well (perhaps all too well): “How to avoid getting sued and how to defend yourself if it happens anyway”. The date is May 19. Mark it down now.