| | ELEVATOR WORLD Europe's January-February 2026 Issue | Features: IEES 2025; GEE 2025; EW's 28th Annual Project of the Year... Focus on the Future of VT Safety: Designing Future-Proof Safety in VT... Columns: ISO/TC 178 Plenary Meeting | Visit our website to read the January-February 2026 Issue, latest news, events and magazine archives!
| | | EW EUROPE TO FOCUS ON MAINTENANCE AND MODERNIZATION | | | The March-April 2026 issue of ELEVATOR WORLD Europe will focus Maintenance and Modernization with bonus distribution at SEE Lift Network. Submissions will be accepted through February 27. The Advertising deadline is March 16. Contact Bülent Yılmaz for editorial submissions and editorial and advertising inquiries within Europe. Those outside of Europe may contact Angela C. Baldwin for editorial and T. Bruce MacKinnon for advertising. | | | OTIS APPOINTS KEY LEADERS TO ACCELERATE GLOBAL GROWTH | | | On January 20, Otis announced Enrique Minarro Viseras as chief operating officer (COO) and Claire Miller as chief growth officer, both reporting directly to Otis CEO and President Judy Marks. As COO, Viseras will oversee all of Otis' regional operations across Otis Americas; the Asia-Pacific (APAC); Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Greater China, as well as field excellence, engineering, product management, supply chain, manufacturing and spare parts. Read more here | | | KONE RANKED AS A TOP COMPANY FOR SUSTAINABILITY | | | KONE has been ranked as the 54th most sustainable company in the world by Corporate Knights, an independent media and research company. KONE is Finland's top-ranked company in the machinery manufacturing peer group and is the highest performing elevator and escalator company on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World list. Within the broader "Machinery" industry group, KONE placed second among 397 companies worldwide. KONE has set ambitious, science-based climate targets for 2030 and is on track to achieve them. Read more here | | | ALIMAK GROUP NAMES NEW EVP OF CONSTRUCTION DIVISION | | | Alimak Group announced it has named Karin Bååthe executive vice president (EVP) of the Construction division, which develops, manufactures, sells, services and provides rentals of a wide range of construction hoists and platforms for temporary use in projects globally, effective April 7. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Bååthe brings considerable global industrial experience, profit and loss leadership and strong operational knowledge that promises to strengthen the division, Alimak Group CEO Ole Kristian Jødahl said. Read more here | | | CIBES CEO ROLE TRANSITIONS FROM LIDSTRÖM TO LEWERTH | | | Martin Lewerth has been appointed the new CEO of Gävle, Sweden-headquartered Cibes Lift Group, succeeding Per Lidström, who is pursuing new career paths. Lidström, who will continue to serve on the Cibes board, will help ensure a smooth handover to Lewerth, who assumes his new role on March 1. Lewerth joins Cibes with extensive leadership experience in the industrial, telecommunications and energy transition sectors, most recently serving as group CEO at Aira, one of Europe's leading heat pump companies. Read more here | | | MP LIFTS CEO CHANGING OF THE GUARD | | | The Board of Directors of Seville, Spain-based MP Lifts approved the appointment of Rafael Ruiz Nieto as new CEO, effective January 27. Outgoing CEO Eugenio Barroso remains connected to the company in a non-executive role, focused on institutional support, knowledge transfer and corporate representation to facilitate a gradual transition aligned with the group's future. Nieto has been with MP Lifts since 1999, previously serving as deputy managing director. He now assumes full responsibility with the aim of driving a new phase of profitable growth. Read more here | | | TKE TO SHOWCASE DIGITAL SOLUTIONS AND MORE AT MIPIM 2026 | | | TK Elevator (TKE) invites those attending the MIPIM 2026 international real estate exhibition planned for March 10-13 in Cannes, France, to see and experience "a portfolio that increasingly connects mobility systems with the digital fabric of buildings." Highlights include expansion of the EOX eco-efficient and digitally native elevator platform; the multi-brand service offering Universal Service; and the digital ecosystem that includes MAX, which enables remote diagnostics and predictive maintenance. Read more here | | | IN MEMORIAM: MARIUS MAKOVSKY | Marius Makovsky, ELEVATOR WORLD's Hungary correspondent since the early 1980s, passed away in spring 2025 at the age of 92 after a rich and rewarding personal and professional life in the elevator industry, his daughter, Martina Makovsky, tells EW. Born in Budapest, Makovsky knew from the time he was 10 that he wanted to become an engineer. Despite financial troubles brought about in large part by the communist takeover of Hungary in the late 1940s, Makovsky eventually earned his engineering degree from the Budapest University of Technology, shortly thereafter joining the elevator industry through happenstance — befriending elevator workers when he was on a jobsite working with concrete. Makovsky met his wife in the late 1950s, and they had two children: Zsolt and Martina Zsusaanna. As a family man, Makovsky strived to pass on family stories and values to his children and later, his three grandchildren. He worked actively until the age of 85 up to 8 h a day — later less — but continuously until the age of 90. | | | OTIS GEN3 SOLUTIONS FOR LOW- TO MID-RISE BUILDINGS IN EMEA | | | Otis announced on January 21 it is offering eight connected vertical-transportation (VT) solutions across its Gen3TM platform for low- to mid-rise buildings in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The Gen3 platform includes eight premium connected products: Gen3 Core™, Gen3 Peak™, Gen3 Edge™, Gen3 Flex, Gen3 Switch, Gen3 Home, Gen3 Bedlift and Gen3 Robusta, with a range of travel heights, lifting capacities and travel speeds. Read more here | | | KONE MAKES CDP'S "A" LIST FOR SUSTAINABILITY | KONE announced on February 3 it secured a place on CDP's "A" list, recognizing the Finnish OEM for its leadership in corporate transparency, climate change performance and sustainability. Out of more than 22,000 companies assessed, KONE is among a small group to earn the "A" rating, and has now achieved a score of "A" or "A-" for the 13th consecutive year. KONE observed it is "the first to set ambitious, science-based climate targets for 2030," which it is on track to achieve. Read more here | | | SAFELINE APPOINTS GARCIA TO GROUP MANAGEMENT TEAM | SafeLine Group has appointed Stuart Garcia, CEO of SafeLine Group UK, to its Group Management Team. The appointment strengthens the Group's leadership capacity as SafeLine expands internationally and develops its offerings in lift safety and emergency communication. Garcia joined SafeLine in 2018 to establish the company's U.K. operation. Since then, he has led business development, building local capability across commercial, operational and customer-facing functions. Read more here | | | FERMATOR SIGNS EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT IN IRAQ | Fermator, a leading manufacturer of automatic lift doors headquartered in Spain, recently announced it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Dar Al-Dhaman Engineering Co. for Elevator and Escalator Services and Trading, headquartered in Baghdad, Iraq. Al-Dhaman brings more than 20 years' experience in the Iraqi market and specializes in the supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance of elevators and escalators. Read more here | | | GERMANY'S ZIEHL-ABEGG REALIZES REVENUE AND TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES | | | Ziehl-Abegg, a leading global provider of technology including electric elevator motors, recently announced major revenue and technology milestones for 2025: exceeding EUR1 billion (US$1.9 billion) in revenue for the first time in the company's 116-year history and becoming the first company worldwide to develop an electric synchronous elevator machine without magnets made from rare earths. CEO Joachim Ley observed achieving record revenue came under tremendous pressure from exchange rates, tariffs and geopolitical uncertainties, "representing the performance, commitment and cohesion of our teams around the world." Read more here | | | FUJITEC ACHIEVES CDP CLIMATE CHANGE 2025 B SCORE | Japan's Fujitec Co., Ltd. obtained a B score in the climate change category from CDP, a U.K.-based non-profit organization that operates a global environmental information disclosure system, Fujitec President and CEO Masayoshi Harada announced on January 22. CDP gives evaluations from D- to A based on answers participants provide to an annual questionnaire. The B score indicates CDP's assessment that Fujitec is positioned at the "Management Level," meaning the company is recognized for being aware of and acting on its environmental risks and impacts concerning climate change. Fujitec identifies "efforts to reduce environmental impacts" as one of its sustainability goals. Read more here | | | APh ePOWER RECEIVES AWARD FOR ELEVATOR ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM | APh ePower, a global leader in commercialized aluminum battery technology, has received the 2025 R&D 100 Award for its Elevator Regenerative Power System (ERPS), which reimagines elevator units as a high-performance distributed energy-recovery engine. Elevators generate recoverable energy during two phases. The ERPS captures that energy using high-efficiency DC-to-DC converters, achieving more than 90% conversion efficiency, and stores it in an ultra-safe aluminum battery capable of rapid charge and discharge. Read more here | | | BARCELONA REPLACING 37 PUBLIC VT UNITS | Jaume Collboni, mayor of Barcelona, Spain, announced on January 28 the city will replace 37 public vertical-transportation (VT) units — 24 escalators and 13 lifts — to enhance accessibility in 28 neighborhoods, part of a EUR200-million (US$239.3-million) plan that represents the city's biggest annual expenditure in public space improvement. VT equipment will be replaced in the mountain neighborhoods of Sarrià -Sant Gervasi, Horta-Guinardó and Nou Barris. Read more here | | | KONE AND AWS EXPAND AI AND DIGITALIZATION COLLABORATION | KONE and Amazon Web Services (AWS) on January 28 announced a seven-year extension of a collaboration agreement to accelerate AI-powered digital innovation and smart building solutions. The expanded collaboration promises to accelerate the Finnish OEM's Rise strategy and advance its position as an industry-leading, digitally enabled solutions provider. The aim is to deliver advanced safety, efficiency and user experiences in buildings and communities worldwide. Read more here | OTIS EXPANDS LITTLE ENGINEERS PROGRAM GLOBALLY | Otis announced it is making its successful Little Engineers program available everywhere the company does business. Little Engineers is a hands-on, elevator-focused STEM education initiative designed to teach young students about the technology, safety and history of the elevator and escalator industry. Through interactive lessons, hands-on projects and virtual adventures, primary school students can explore the science behind elevators and escalators, learn about vertical mobility technologies and build mini elevators and pulley systems. Read more here | | | Editorial submissions, reprint permission requests, subscription/removal requests should be sent to the EWEU News editorial staff: Angela C. Baldwin, Kaija Wilkinson, Lindsay Fletcher and Kathleen Farrell. The ELEVATOR WORLD Media Kit can be downloaded here. EWEU News is a registered trademark, and all rights are reserved. Copyright 2025 © Elevator World, Inc. | | | |
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