Greek lifts get less attention in Ukraine than Italian or Spanish ones. Yet Metron, based in the city of Serres, earns about two thirds of its turnover abroad and operates in more than 50 countries. What interests us most are its series for buildings with a shallow pit or little headroom above the shaft.
Where the factory comes from
The company started in 1995 as a local lift firm. Today it is a family business in its second generation: an 18,000 square metre factory in the Serres industrial zone, more than 240 employees, and its own cars, doors and some of its controllers. Its accounts follow international standards, and the auditor EY issued an unqualified opinion. The Czech companies Výtahy Opava and Výtahy Ostrava Servis have been buying complete lifts from Metron since 2019 and say so openly on their websites.
The factory's quality system is confirmed by a Module H1 certificate under Directive 2014/33/EU: No. 150413/2607, issued by QMSCERT, notified body number 1617, valid until 28 September 2027. We verified it via the QR code on the body's website.
Series for standard buildings
MRL-G UX and G Starter are gearless machine-room-less lifts. The factory redesigned the UX with the installer in mind: lighter components, more space in the pit and on the car roof, and a clearer installation sequence. It carries 300-1000 kg at 1 m/s with a travel of 30 m. G Starter covers a wider range: 300-1600 kg, 0.63-1.6 m/s, up to 45 m. Both need a pit of at least 1050 mm and headroom (top floor height) of at least 3400 mm.
When the pit is shallow or headroom is low
This is where Metron is most interesting. If the pit is shallow and headroom is low, we look at LPH. MRL G LPH, built to EN 81-21, works with a 550 mm pit and 2900 mm headroom for loads up to 630 kg; for 750-1000 kg it needs 600 and 3000 mm. Speed 1 m/s, travel up to 30 m. MRL L LPH is a cantilever design that needs only one load-bearing shaft wall: load from 450 kg, pit 550-600 mm, headroom 2900-3000 mm. The factory warns that you cannot have the minimum pit and the minimum headroom at the same time, so we give you a workable pair of figures after calculating for your shaft. The 500 mm figure from the catalogue header does not appear in the series tables, so do not count on it.
If the problem is only at the top, there is MRL UX SLH: headroom of 2600-2700 mm with doors 2000-2100 mm high. It handles 450-630 kg at 1 m/s and needs a 1050 mm pit. In a building with an attic or a flat above the shaft, that difference often decides whether a lift will fit at all.
But catalogue figures are not yet an answer. Old shafts rarely match their drawings, so we only name the series after a site survey.
Hydraulics, homes, goods
- Hydraulic lifts for buildings of up to 8 floors: Bucher or Blain valves, Elmo motor.
- Habitat home lift under the Machinery Directive: 300-400 kg, 0.15 m/s, up to 12 m, pit from 120 mm, single-phase power supply.
- Small goods platform lift for 500 or 1000 kg, 0.15 m/s, 150 mm pit.
- Car lifts and goods-passenger lifts for 2000-3500 kg, travel up to 12 m, pit 1200-1300 mm.
- A steel shaft for buildings that have no shaft of their own: up to 800 kg, up to 5 stops, travel up to 12 m, external dimensions up to 1800×2000 mm, at least one load-bearing wall required. The factory does not include glass in the kit. The shaft cannot be combined with MRL L LPH, MRL UX SLH or the car lift.
What it is built from
The catalogue does not hide the components, which is refreshing. The Metron-branded traction machine is made together with Permagsa or Montanari, with a Heidenhain encoder, Dynatech overspeed governor and safety gear, Gustav Wolf ropes, and ETN or P+S guide shoes, depending on the series. The controller stores the last 100 faults and is updated via USB, and remote monitoring can be connected on request.
For wheelchair users there is a version compliant with EN 81-70, a standard required for many public buildings.
What you need to know in Ukraine
Before being put into operation, every lift undergoes conformity assessment under the Technical Regulation on Lift Safety. The factory does not obtain a Ukrainian certificate for the series, so we handle this for each specific lift together with a conformity assessment body and build it into the contract timeline. Habitat and the small platform (0.15 m/s) fall under the Technical Regulation on Machinery Safety, so their documents are different.
Public-sector clients should pay attention to the country of origin. The factory can provide a certificate of origin (Greece), which is issued before loading. Goods from the EU are exempt from the localisation requirement if the origin document is available at the time of acceptance and handover. We check this separately for each procurement.
Production takes 7 weeks for MRL lifts, 8 for lifts with a machine room and 6 for hydraulic lifts, plus about a week for delivery. The clock starts once the drawings are approved and the advance payment is made. Factory holidays extend the lead time, so for lifts with a machine room we allow up to 10 weeks. The exact lead time is stated in the contract.
How to order
- Send us the address, the number of stops and the required rated load. If you have shaft drawings, attach them.
- Our engineer will measure the shaft free of charge and recommend a series.
- We price the lift including delivery and installation and prepare drawings for approval.
- Our crews install and commission the lift and then maintain it.