We talked to Mik-el Sales Manager Emrah Terzan and EN81-20 compliant U-STO integrated elevator control unit that does not require motor contactor.

Mr. Emrah, could you please tell us about Mik-el?

Mik-el Elektronik was founded in 1988 and started its activities in the field of electronic elevator control systems production. In those years, relay systems (panels) called “electromechanics” were used in elevators. Electronic control systems were just beginning to be used. Mike-hand, it took its place in the industry as the first company starting mass production of electronic lift control system in Turkey and have worked extremely hard for the spread of these systems on the market.

Mik-el continued its work on elevator control systems until 2000. It has developed itself with various elevator control systems to meet the different expectations of its customers. With the spread of speed-controlled systems, our cooperation with the Japanese Yaskawa company started in 2000 and continued successfully for many years. However, with the increase of products from the far east at that time, we decided to produce our own driver. In 2012, we released our own driver under the name MD-2012. And before 2015, which again blazes the way in Turkey with STO (Safe-Torque-Off) feature, we presented our driver to the market eliminating the need of motor contactors As of 2019, we started selling our EN81-20 compliant U-STO integrated elevator control unit, which does not require motor contactors.

I can list the main product groups we produce and sell as follows: Integrated Elevator Control Units, Elevator Control Systems, Elevator-Specific Speed Control Devices, Elevator Control Panels, Serial Communication Floor and Cabin Buttons, Ready Installed Systems (panel, pushbuttons, door contacts and other electrical installations).

What do you wish to say about the U-STO?

We first exhibited our new contactor-free U-STO integrated unit at the 2019 Elevator Istanbul fair in March. We also had the opportunity to exhibit at Interlift held in Germany in October. This product, which enables the panel to operate without contactors and therefore without sound, has attracted a lot of attention in both fairs. Being a compact product in terms of its dimensions makes U-STO an excellent option especially for elevators without machine room.

U-STO, which is fully compliant with EN 81-20 without the need for any additional cards, simplifies the panel production on a quite convenient basis. The fact that their dimensions are the same for motors from 5.5 kW to 15 kW and the need for contactors of different sizes depending on the motor power also provides flexibility and ease of stocking in production.

Could you give information about your export activities and targets?

We are preparing to close this year by exporting to 23 countries. The situation at the end of October shows that we will close 40 percent of our total turnover from exports. However, as in previous years, we will continue our search for new markets in 2020. In 2019, we attended the first GLE Expo held in Johannesburg and introduced our U-STO integrated unit without contactors there. In 2020, we plan to continue our marketing activities without slowing down.

What are the main goals of your company for the next 5 years?

The control panel is one of the elevator's complex and demanding components in order to learn. In addition, users in different countries have different wishes and habits. In this sense, considering the duration of describing the product, convinging the customer to try the product, along with the period of time during which the customer tries the product, the average time to start working for a permanent customer is 1 year. We try to facilitate the customer's experience with the product with each new product and to enable it to be easily commissioned. We take the record of feedbacks we obtain from our customers for the products we plan to release for 3-5 years in advance, and we constantly evaluate how we will apply them to the products we plan to prepare in the future. On the other hand, we complete our preparations for the investments we need to make in order to increase our production capacity.