Picture : Gil Menétrey, Managing Director of Ascenseurs Menétrey SA.

“Although we have been in this business for nearly 100 years, we learned so much from the objective input from our university partners. It was a really beneficial experience… and we have the results to prove it!” Gil Menétrey, Managing Director of Ascenseurs Menétrey SA, is thrilled about the collaboration between his company and academia. With support from the cantonal government, they created the CelticLift, the latest jewel in the firm’s crown.

The specifications were extremely high. The SME wanted to create a technologically innovative elevator that had a lighter and more spacious cab, completely re-engineered ergonomics, was easier to maintain, and met all relevant safety norms. As Gil Menétrey explains, “It started with an informal discussion with Vincent Bourquin, a mechanical engineering professor at the Fribourg School of Engineering and Architecture (HEIA-FR). He assigned a group of students to study the elevator industry. Their work identified a number of potentially interesting opportunities. The detailed analysis of the market and our position in it convinced us to take the plunge. It was pretty clear that demand was there.”

Three university partners

At the end of the promising exploratory phase, a network was created in 2017, as part of an Innosuisse project, between Ascenseurs Menétrey, the HEIA-FR, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Applied Sciences in Neuchâtel (HE-ARC). “The mission of the EPFL’s mechanical engineers was to condense all of the mechanical components so as to free up more usable space. The use of composites – made from recycled PET, fiberglass and polymerized resin – considerably reduced the weight of the cab. This provided even more space because the counterweight was correspondingly smaller”, explains Benoît Schmutz, Deputy Director at the firm founded in 1924.

HE-ARC concentrated on the user experience side and analyzed the impact of new technologies on the assembly and manufacturing processes. As for the HEIA-FR, it conducted a series of comparative studies regarding the acoustics and vibrations. Thanks to a consistent and system-wide approach, their findings were incorporated into the project and the resulting innovations.

For Benoît Schmutz, one thing is sure: “Product development at Ascenseurs Menétrey will never be the same again. The success of this collaborative project is a great source of motivation for the company going forward.”