Schindler Lifts

What to know about Schindler lifts

Schindler was founded in Switzerland in 1874. Since the 1980s the company has ranked first in the world for escalators and second for lifts, behind only Otis. The Swiss approach shows in the details: how the doors sit, the tolerances on the door portal frames, consistent assembly from one project to the next. Installers notice it immediately - less on-site fitting, fewer surprises during commissioning.

Schindler's best-known feature is destination control. Passengers enter their floor in the lobby, before they reach the car, and the panel shows which lift will pick them up. The system groups people heading the same way into one car, the number of stops falls, and the building may need fewer shafts. There are simply no floor buttons inside the car.

Schindler ID grew out of the same logic: the lift recognizes the passenger by a card or PIN code and allows access only to authorized floors. In a mixed-use building with offices, apartments and parking under one roof, this is usually simpler and cheaper than installing separate lift groups for each function, and it takes some of the load off security at the lobby entrances.

Brochures don't mention it, but destination control takes some getting used to. In a hotel or hospital, where half the passengers are in the building for the first time, it causes more confusion than benefit and needs clear wayfinding in the lobby; otherwise, at peak times people will simply get stuck at the panel. For a nine-storey residential block it is entirely unnecessary: conventional collective control works fine there.