Otis Service Supervisor Uses Digital Tools to Advance Safety and Efficiency in Tough Situations

Fei, a Service Supervisor at the Otis China Limited (OCL) Shanghai Branch, leads a team of more than 10 colleagues serving the Shanghai Metro’s Oriental Sports Center station. It’s a busy transfer hub for three train lines in the New Bund Area, the city’s new central business district.

Fei and his team have been critically important in keeping the hub operating efficiently – and safely during pandemic. Their work, and Fei’s commitment to customer service, are recognized and appreciated by colleagues and customers and praised by the Metro authority.

During last year’s lockdown, Fei and two colleagues were stationed at the Metro station jobsite for several months – committed to their duty even when it meant not being able to return home each night. Their professional dedication helped keep this vital public transport service open.

Journey with Shanghai Metro
At this station, multiple escalators transfer passengers from the large lower plaza up to ground level – a challenging location as the escalators are vulnerable to flooding during the rainy season.

One rainy day last year, four escalators suddenly stopped working. Thanks to Otis ONE™, our IoT solution, Fei and team were able to quickly diagnose the breakdown’s cause without risking their own safety. It was flooding in the lower plaza, where construction waste had blocked the water pump.

Imagine the danger to service mechanics and passengers in a flooded area with electrical equipment. How could people move through the busy hub?

Fortunately, Fei and his team are trained and equipped to work safely in these conditions and they were able to tackle the problem quickly with the help of digital technology.

Within just three hours, the team cleared the flooding. And after 24 hours of dismantling, drying and recommissioning the parts and equipment, they had all four escalators working again.

The team’s rapid response won customer trust, which translated into new maintenance contracts for these escalators.

Fei is proud to work at Otis and appreciates the ability to use the digital Otis ONE platform to address situations like the flooded hub escalators in a fast, safe way. It is just one of the many challenges he has tackled in his 13 years at Otis – serving not just the Shanghai Metro but also other major projects, including Shanghai World Expo.

In all these projects, the Otis Absolute of Safety has guided Fei in caring for colleagues and passengers. “Our safety is a top priority in the workplace,” he said. “From top management to front-line colleagues, we make efforts to help each other. Knowing that we are cared for helps me feel safe.”

Advancing Digitalization
Through his years at Otis, Fei has witnessed the rapid urbanization of Shanghai. The New Bund area, for example – the location of Otis China headquarters – has transformed from a reed pond to a bustling business district. At a similar pace, Otis is transforming its Service with a rapid embrace of digitalization.

But Fei finds that some customers are less receptive to digital technology, despite its growing importance in elevator service.

Aware of this resistance, Fei began closely looking into customers’ needs and pain points. For example, retail malls often make last-minute changes to scheduled maintenance work to accommodate mall activities. Previously, customers needed to call the service mechanic to cancel an appointment and reschedule the work. Fei showed customers the benefits of CX, our OCL customer experience app, where customers can find the maintenance schedule of the corresponding units and adjust maintenance timing with just one click.

The opportunity to save time and effort impressed customers who then promoted our app to their teams and even included it in their internal training. Fei managed to motivate his customers to embrace digitalization and achieved a breakthrough in the number of CX app downloads.

“All elevators and escalators in the Shanghai Metro system will eventually be equipped with IoT,” Fei said. “Otis ONE connects not only elevators but also customers, mechanics and regulators as part of the broader connected elevator ecosystem that supports smart cities.

“The future of maintenance service is a combination of digital and mechanical work and plays a key role in keeping passengers safe.”

Proud to be part of Otis
“Otis has offered me opportunities to learn and grow. I’m grateful and proud to work for Otis,” Fei said. He has earned a reputation for commitment to safety, service and efficiency. According to one customer, “If you need help, ask Fei!”