TL Shield and Associates Gains HDC Approval – Los Angeles, CA. Modular Elevator Manufacturing has now gained official approval for models of their MEM Elevator System in the state of California. The MEM Elevator System is a complete commercial quality elevator. It is a hoistway or shaft produced in a factory out of tough 4X4 inch steel, wrapped in drywall. Inside it contains all the elevator components pre-installed in the manufacturing facility. This includes the doors, wiring, the elevator cab, and all the buttons or hall calls. It arrives on a truck and put in place in a matter of a couple hours. When given power it is started up in less than a week.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development gave its approval for the MEM Elevator System HW2 – 3500 product earlier this month and it will be a game changer for the elevator and construction industry. The California HCD is the state agency responsible for overseeing the planning, development, and preservation of affordable housing, as well as managing various housing-related programs and policies in California. The HCD works on initiatives to provide safe, affordable housing for residents, promote sustainable community development, and address homelessness. They also support local governments with housing policy, zoning regulations, and funding for housing projects.
This is a game changer for TL Shield and Modular Elevator Manufacturing (MEM) to be approved by the HCD. It ensures that the elevators meet strict safety, building, and accessibility codes required by the state. This approval ensures that the elevators are compliant with California’s standards, particularly for modular homes and structures that often need specialized installations. Also, this speeds up the approval process by weeks if not months, significantly closing the time from concept to installation.
Here are a few key reasons why approval from HCD is so important:
This breakthrough in approval means that the MEM Elevator System structure no longer has to go through the local jurisdictional inspection process. In short, the approval by HCD is necessary for ensuring that MEM elevators are safe, compliant, and ready for use in California’s modular construction projects.
Although this is great news for TL Shield there are some restrictions that need to be explained. The designation is not on all MEM products. It is for only the HW2 – 3500. This is the best selling commercial modular elevator in California. But depending on your project it may have to go through the normal approval process.
The designation is also only for modular housing projects in California. Although, MEM distributes nationwide to a wide variety of vertical markets including, apartment complexes, commercial structures, school, colleges and universities, stadiums, hotels, medical facilities, and other types of industries, the HCD designation does not apply.
The building tie-ins are not a part of the HCD approval and must still undergo approval by the proper authorities.
It is however to good to know that the HCD has recognized the MEM Elevator System.
Finally, the construction industry will have an approved alternative to traditional elevators that slow the construction process. There is no more waiting on the elevator for projects that can use the HCD designation. As a result on these projects the elevator company will no longer get in the way and control the jobsite.
On a side note, the HCD designation is important for other reasons. It shows that the Modular Elevator Manufacturing process and approved products are of the highest quality. Also, they can meet stringent approval processes in most any jurisdiction. Even some that were thought to have been off limits in the past.
So, whether you are in California or any other state in the union you can be confident that the modular elevator you are purchasing is high-quality. They are even a high enough quality for approval in earthquake prone California.
If you would like more information regarding the MEM Elevator System for use in one of your projects please click the button below to request a Fast Track Quote. Also, you can request a factory tour to get a better perspective on the revolutionary MEM Elevator System. a pitch and make it clear. Give the reader a reason to click. Also leave anything below this alone. It is code and stays the same.
TL Shield is know in the Southern California area as the best provider of home elevators, wheelchair lifts and stair lifts. But many people do not know that TL Shield installs Modular Elevators as well. As vertical transportation experts with over 25 years of experience they have teams of quality technicians that are ready to install nearly any option that moves you up and down.
This was seen in their latest quality modular elevator installation at Newhart Middle School/Mission Viejo, CA. TL Shield installed an innovative modular elevator to perfection. As you can see, the project looks great. It went in faster for the school with no disruption to classes and embracing their movement towards innovation in what they teach and how they teach it.
If you would like to see more about this project or others like it, just let us know. We will meet with you regardless of what type of vertical transportation you need. We are experts that are willing to help. You can also schedule an in person visit by completing the form below.
For more great photos of the project, visit our good friends at Miller Construction. Their team did a great job as well!
I have been writing blogs forever. Not literally of course but, for a long, long time. And I have never gotten such an overwhelming response as I did writing the blog post Dirty Little Elevator Secrets. People that commented were upset with the old elevator industry and had their eyes open to the hidden agenda for the first time. They felt duped and manipulated in some cases. The result was I was asked to expand on the differences between a true manufactured elevator and what big elevator companies pass off as manufacturing.
So, that got me thinking, maybe I should expose more truths about a business that hides as best they can what they do and how they do it. And, if the audience demands it you roll out the sequel. I hope this will not be a Jaws 5 or Titanic 2 kind of effort. The goal is to be more of a Godfather-esque redux. Godfather 2 of course. Godfather 3 was a train wreck.
So, get your popcorn and super-sized drink. Here we go. Let me start by asking a simple question. When is an elevator manufacturer, not an elevator manufacturer? I know it sounds like the start of a children’s riddle, but the question is sincere.
The answer begins with telling you about what we do and who we are at Modular Elevator Manufacturing (MEM). We are a true elevator manufacturing company.
The process starts in our factory by building an elevator hoistway out of rugged steel tubing. It is engineered to be self-supporting and can meet any earthquake or hurricane standards. We then finish the shaft with mold resistant drywall inside and out. This gives it the fire protection required by the building code of the location it is going to. It also ensures the elevator can sit through the building process onsite.
The rails on which the elevator car will ride are then put placed inside. Always plumb and always level. The heavy lifting is relegated to machinery making the task easier and safer for employees. This entire time the hoistway is horizontally, whether for a low or mid-rise project. It remains that way throughout the process to assure perfect alignment and ease of inspection.
While the hoistway is being manufactured, the elevator cab is likewise being constructed. We use tough Galvanneal (stainless) steel and not flimsy wood core products that can easily mold, warp or crumble. It is built on a metal platform, with the sling. The cab is perfect in alignment, fit and finish as jigs and templates are used to assure all the manufacturing is within the strictest allowances.
The roof of the cab is completed with all the wiring and safety devises required by code. Then the interior of the cab is finished to meet the most demanding of specifications. Keep in mind that the cab is constructed on a factory floor with plenty of space to work around with easy access to every nook and cranny. The area is well lit and inspections can take place at anytime with easy access.
At the end of the two separate assembly processes, the hoistway and elevator cab are married together. The cab, platform and sling are simply inserted into the hoistway. The wiring to the hall calls is then completed. Keep in mind through the whole process inspections are done.
This is what a true manufactured elevator looks like. A hoistway with a completely finished commercial quality elevator installed inside. All that is needed is for the elevator to be set in place (a process that takes about four hours). And for it to be started up (a process that takes less than a week). The modular elevator usually goes in first in the building process and then completed when electricity is provided.
Now for what the old-fashioned, supposed elevator manufacturers do. They pull together boxes of components, parts and pieces from any number of companies and ship them to a job site. There they sit taking up space and getting in the way. Not only that, the construction team has to make space for the components as well as the mechanic’s tools and keep everything under lock and key by contract. If anything goes missing, it is not the elevator company’s fault but yours.
Finally, when the technician wants to get to your project they arrive. But don’t make the mistake in thinking they are going to start right in.
If it is a cold morning (under 55 degree in the shaft) they have to wait until it warms up. Because cold temperature can void the warranty they won’t lift a finger. The way they install the elevator requires that it is working in some fashion. Especially, in northern climates it is said that the elevator mechanic doesn’t watch the time clock, he watches the thermometer.
Then one piece at a time the maintenance person wanders back and forth from crate to shaft bringing in all the pieces, panels and paraphernalia. They then screw, cobble, coerce, bend and bolt all the parts together in the tight, cramped and poorly lit shaft. And you wonder why the elevator rattles like a teenagers jalopy when finished.
Elevator companies have little regard for the safety of workers because the technicians are required to do the lifting. Back-breaking labor is needed requiring the lugging around of heavy rails. No wonder that,
“The major causes of lost-time injuries to elevator installers and repairers were being struck by an object, overexertion (especially in lifting), falls, and being caught in/between, in that order.”
eLCOSH – Deaths and Injuries Involving Elevators
That being hit by an object is either by a piece being raised with a hoist in the tight confines of the shaft or someone dropping a part or tool.
All this is crazy. If they were truly manufactured in a factory setting it could all be avoided and the finished product would be much better.
Keep in mind that this installation and all of the pitfalls takes place last in the building process. So one misplaced bolt, one fried circuit board, one miscalculation or one injury can potentially delay the building for weeks to months. The rest of the project may be ready for occupancy, but the elevator brings everything to a halt. Also, if you raise any concerns or comments, you are viewed as the problem.
As they already have you over a barrel, more often than not you complain to co-workers or peers, but not to the elevator company. Fear of reprisals or slow-walking work looms in the back of your mind. But voicing your concerns wouldn’t matter anyway. You are stuck.
In the above scenario one company is a manufacturer…the other is not. I could be a little more forgiving if they actually manufactured all their own pieces and parts, but guess what??? Not so. They just bundle parts from a myriad of companies and ship them. They often use the very same companies we do for components. There is no real difference in the components used or the quality.
So if they in real terms are not elevator manufacturers, what exactly is their business model? How do they make money if they don’t really make the product they claim to? As a matter of fact, often times they sell their bundles of elevator components for little or no profit at all. At first blush you would say that’s crazy…until of course you look at what they do sell and how they sell it.
Otis in a recent SEC filing said, “New Equipment and Service, which, for the year ended December 31, 2019, contributed 43 percent and 57 percent of our net sales, and 20 percent and 80 percent of our total segment operating profit, respectively.” Most the money they are making regarding operating profit is in the maintenance agreement.
That is why they will sell new units for practically nothing, with proprietary parts and tools required in the product. That locks the builder, building owner or any future owner into a never ending contract. Often times the deal has clauses that guarantee annual increases and only short windows of opportunities to get out of the deal. When the jig is finally up you are locked in. And get this, even if you get out of one contract with the elevator company, you still have to have a maintenance company affiliated with the same brand. Only they have the proprietary tools for that unit.
You may be switching service providers but you will never leave the grasp of the elevator company once you ink the deal. It reminds me of the quote, “Just when I though I was out, they keep pulling me back in.” Michael Corleone – The Godfather: Part 3.
The character of Michael Corleone was in too deep and his choices were limited by his circumstances and very early choices made by his role. Ultimately, he is a truly tragic cinematic figure. Don’t be him. Don’t get in bed with a manufacturer who is not really a manufacturer and then realize it is too late regarding quality, building delays and unfair maintenance contracts.
They may have an offer you feel you can’t refuse, but look for better alternatives with the best elevator manufacturer in the business. MEM – quality elevators taking you to higher level.
To find out about alternatives click Fast Track button.
