Harvard Business School 9-186-304

Rev. July 15, 1990

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OTISLINE (A)

When elevators are running really well, people do not notice them. . . . Our objective
is to go unnoticed.

Bob Smith
Executive Vice President
Chief Operating Officer
Otis Elevator
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In late November 1985, John Miller, director of information systems for Otis Elevator North
American Operations, contemplated the future of OTISLINE,* a computer application developed to
improve Otis Elevator's responsiveness to its service customers. The nationwide implementation of
OTISLINE was under way, and the company was considering several other applications that could
use the system's infrastructure.

Company Overview
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Otis Elevator, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, was the world leader in
elevator sales and service (i.e., maintenance). Its 1984 revenue of $2 billion represented 13% of United
Technologies' total revenue.1 Otis Elevator was organized into four geographic divisions: North
American Operations, Latin American Operations, Pacific Area Operations, and European
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Transcontinental Operations.

Otis Elevator, named for the company's founder, Elisha Graves Otis, described its business as
the design, manufacture, installation, and service of elevators and related products, including
escalators and moving sidewalks. By the end of the nineteenth century, Otis's name was known
worldwide and had become synonymous with one of the most useful and dramatic inventions of the
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* “OtisLine” is a registered servicemark of Otis Elevator Company.
1 1984 Annual Report, United Technologies Corporation.

Research Assistant Donna Stoddard prepared this case under the supervision on Professor Warren McFarlan as the basis
for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. The names
of Otis Elevator employess have been disguised.
Copyright © 1986 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to
reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685 or write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163. No
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any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the
permission of Harvard Business School.

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186-304 OTISLINE(A)

century, the passenger elevator.2 Exhibit 1, an excerpt from the company history, Going Up, describes
the events leading up to the installation of the first passenger elevator.

The Otis name connoted technological leadership, reliability, and quality. Since Otis Elevator
was perceived to be the best, customers were willing to pay a premium for its products. The company
marketed three elevator lines: Otis Hydraulics for low-rise buildings (up to 6 stories), Otis Geared for
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mid-rise buildings (up to 24 stories), and Otis Gearless for high-rise buildings. Otis had been most
successful in selling elevators for projects that were large, that required customized elevators (atrium
elevators, for example), or that required state-of-the-art elevator technology. Otis Elevator's large,
highly regarded service organization often led customers to prefer an Otis elevator over another
manufacturer's product.

In the late 1970s, microprocessor technology transformed the design of elevators, replacing
the outdated mechanical elevator control systems. Otis Elevator's Elevonic 401, with three
microcomputer-based control units, was one of the most advanced elevator systems at this time.3
Exhibit 2 gives a description of the Elevonic 401. Microcomputer technology enabled Otis Elevator
North American Operations (NAO) to increase its market share significantly between 1980 and 1984.
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Management believed that microcomputer technology would also help shape the future of the service
business.

Elevator Industry Overview

By 1985, new equipment sales and service of elevators in North America represented
approximately $1 billion and $2 billion markets, respectively. The industry was very competitive,
with Otis, Westinghouse, Dover, Montgomery, Schindler, U.S. Elevator, and Fujitec the major
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manufacturers. Otis, however, was the leader in both sales and service. Because elevator sales were
directly correlated to the building cycle, they were cyclical, but the elevator service market was very
stable. Elevator manufacturers often accepted a low margin on the sale of an elevator in order to
obtain the service contract since service accounted for a significantly higher portion of profits.
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The service market attracted many participants because of its steady demand and high
profitability. Consequently, thousands of elevator service companies existed, including both elevator
manufacturers and many small companies devoted exclusively to elevator service. These companies
could service elevators from almost any manufacturer since all elevators made prior to the
introduction of microprocessor-based elevator control systems used similar electromechanical
technology.

For a small building project, the elevator manufacturer was selected by the contractor,
architect, or building owner. Larger projects often involved all three parties in the decision-making
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process. They selected a manufacturer on the basis of ability to satisfy the elevator performance
specifications and architectural requirements, price, and reputation.

An elevator service company was selected on the basis of responsiveness, quality, and price.
An elevator manufacturer was typically awarded 60% to 80% of the service contracts for its newly
installed elevators. As a building aged and competition for tenants increased, the cost of service often
became the major consideration, and the lowest bidder received the service contract. Since servicing
elevators with microprocessor-based control systems often required the use of proprietary
maintenance devices, the manufacturer was more likely to keep these service contracts. Many

2 Jean Gavois, Going Up (Hartford, Conn.: 1983), p. 74.

3 Elevonic is a registered trademark of Otis Elevator.

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OTISLINE(A) 186-304

elevator manufacturers offered discounts for long-term service contracts in an effort to attract and
maintain service customers.

North American Operations Overview

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North American Operations, with 8,000 employees at the end of 1985, was the second-largest
division of Otis Elevator. The scope of its business necessitated a large, geographically dispersed field
organization. Exhibit 3 shows the NAO organization chart.

Branch offices and smaller field offices reported to district offices, which bore profit and loss
responsibility. (Hereafter, district, branch, and smaller field offices will be referred to as “field”
offices.) Field offices handled both sales and service and ranged in size from one or two people in
outlying areas to as many as 100 people in large metropolitan areas. NAO's customer base was
equally diverse; Otis installed elevators in buildings ranging from 2 stories to the 110-story World
Trade Center in New York City.
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NAO Information Services

NAO installed its first computer, an IBM 1401, in 1965 to automate maintenance billing. From
1965 until 1978, the computer was used for production control and accounting. From 1978 to 1981, on-
line capabilities expanded its uses to include data entry and inquiry for inventory control and
accounting.

In 1981, Otis implemented a companywide cost-reduction drive to improve NAO's

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profitability. Bob Smith, then president of NAO, asked John Miller to suspend all efforts in new
systems development until a clear course of applications could be charted. Smith was concerned that
the company was spending its applications development resources to automate old manual
procedures rather than to establish new, helpful systems. Sixty percent of the programmers were laid
off, no hardware upgrades were allowed, and no new applications were implemented. The work load
was cut back as much as possible since the system in place (an IBM 370/158) was often running at
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100%.

The year 1982 was one of transition for NAO's information services area. With the cost-
reduction program completed, management began to assess the ability of information services to
improve the quality of its maintenance service.

In late 1981, NAO had begun to investigate the feasibility of using information technology to
establish a centralized customer service department (on either a regional or a divisionwide basis) to
accept customer requests for elevator maintenance during nonworking hours, that is, non-prime-time
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callbacks. (A callback is a customer request for elevator maintenance.) Otis and other elevator service
companies were then using commercial answering services for non-prime-time callbacks. Otis
supplied the answering service with a duty roster from which it selected a service mechanic to
dispatch to the customer. In small cities, the same answering service was commonly used by several
elevator service companies. During prime time (regular working hours), the customer called the local
NAO field office, where an Otis employee accepted the call and dispatched the appropriate service
mechanic.

Customers assess the quality of an elevator company's service offerings mainly by its
responsiveness to callbacks. The callback response time is the time it takes a service mechanic to
arrive on site after the customer reaches Otis Elevator (or its answering service). Although Otis
received assurances from the local answering services that it would be promptly notified of a

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186-304 OTISLINE(A)

customer callback, the quality of the answering services varied greatly. In a videotape that described
the need for the centralized customer service department, Bob Smith stated, “A commercial
answering service does not have the same interest that we have to get service to the customer as fast
as possible.”

By August 1982, a centralized customer service system had been successfully piloted in a
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major eastern market, and Otis management decided to create a North American customer service
center to dispatch service mechanics, in response to callbacks, 24 hours a day. A project team
composed of individuals from many functional areas, including information services, was selected to
implement this concept, which was called OTISLINE.

An IBM 3083 was installed in early 1983 to replace the IBM 370/158, and by 1985 extensive
peripheral equipment, including state-of-the-art direct access storage devices, tape drives, and
telecommunications equipment, had been installed. These additional resources were acquired to
support the OTISLINE customer service center. The 1985 NAO information services budget was more
than twice as large as the 1982 budget.

Most of the 2,300 service mechanics employed by NAO in 1985 had assigned routes and were
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responsible both for callbacks and for preventive maintenance for specific elevator customers. NAO
calculated that reducing callbacks for each installed elevator by one a year would save Otis $5 million
annually. Out-of-service elevators not only irritated customers and handicapped their businesses but
also affected their opinion of the quality of an Otis elevator.

OTISLINE Overview
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Brad Robertson, director of service operations, was the leader of the OTISLINE development
team and was responsible for the implementation and management of the OTISLINE customer
service center. During the development of OTISLINE, Robertson reported to the vice president of
finance; after an August 1985 reorganization, he reported to the vice president of marketing.

In describing OTISLINE, Robertson stated:

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OTISLINE improved the visibility of our service business and helps
management and local office personnel to provide quality service to our customers
more effectively. Our responsiveness to customer callback requests has been greatly
enhanced. OTISLINE's reporting functions provided district, regional, and NAO
headquarters management with a significant amount of information on the quality of
service rendered to our customers. Prior to OTISLINE, management became aware of
many service problems only if there was a customer complaint. OTISLINE has
allowed us to produce “excess” callback reports for various levels of management.
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For example, elevators receiving three or more callbacks in a month are reported to
the district manager; those receiving eight or more in 90 days are reported to the
regional vice president. Critical situations are reported to the president.

The excess callback reports highlight problem installations and have

enhanced our ability to quickly diagnose problems that may be due to a specific
component malfunction. With this information, local office management (or
engineering management if the problem is with a component malfunction) can focus
resources on key problem areas.

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OTISLINE(A) 186-304

The success of OTISLINE is attributable to the top management support of

the project, which fostered cooperation among functional areas and provided the
resources and motivation required to “make it happen.”

OTISLINE not only improved the quality of NAO's customer service; it also changed the way
NAO does business. The OTISLINE system affected almost all of NAO's business functions, including
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information services, customer service, service mechanic dispatching and control, and service
marketing and engineering. In addition, its infrastructure has been used to support applications that
enhance the productivity of elevator sales representatives and service mechanics. In the future,
OTISLINE may interface directly with installed elevators by means of remote diagnostic technology.

Following is a description of OTISLINE's impact on specific business activities.

Information Services

The OTISLINE application is a part of NAO's Service Management System (SMS), an

integrated data base management system (Exhibit 4). Prior to OTISLINE, the SMS data base
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contained the customer master file (customer name, building location, contract information) and other
information that was used to monitor and control the service business, such as route information and
service price estimating data. With OTISLINE, the SMS was expanded to include all maintenance
activity for elevators under a service contract. Some applications, such as service price estimating,
were improved, and new applications such as billing will be added. The SMS data base is accessed
and updated by an OTISLINE dispatcher through a display attached to the IBM 3083 host computer.
Designed in the late 1970s, the SMS data base significantly shortened the time required to develop
OTISLINE. According to Tim Clark, manager of systems development, the development of the
OTISLINE application would have taken four to five years if the SMS data base had not already been
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in place.

The OTISLINE application was designed to enable the OTISLINE dispatcher to respond to a
customer in less than a second by giving the dispatcher a local display and by engineering short data
base paths to the necessary information. Subsecond response time was an important design element
because experience had shown that when more than 2% of transactions had longer than a five-second
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response time, the time taken to handle customer service requests was unacceptable.

Because of the strategic nature of the OTISLINE application, a large portion of the
information services budget was earmarked for its support. The data center operations budget was
also increased significantly to support OTISLINE's stringent response-time and performance
requirements. New methodologies of systems development are being introduced as a direct result of
OTISLINE. By the end of 1985, 37 local terminals had been installed at the OTISLINE Service Center;
future plans called for the installation of 150 personal computers in the field offices with OTISLINE
inquiry capability.
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Customer Service

The OTISLINE Service Center was staffed by highly skilled dispatchers. About half of them
had college degrees, and many spoke two languages. New hires received from four to six weeks of in-
house training, covering

• The OTISLINE software (the dispatching system)

• The IBM display

• Operation of the phone system

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186-304 OTISLINE(A)

• Appropriate telephone salutations and courtesies

• Listening and customer satisfaction skills

• Overview of Otis Elevator organization structure

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• Elevator terminology and possible system problems

The objective of the training was to ensure the dispatcher's ability to handle customer calls in an
efficient and effective manner. The company held periodic seminars to update the dispatchers on
system changes, to review sample dialogues for situations that were likely to be encountered (for
example, an irritated customer or a trapped-in-an-elevator scenario), and to discuss the criteria used
to assess dispatcher performance.

OTISLINE dispatchers were trained to be courteous, sensitive, and efficient and to speak
clearly. They were taught to update the data base with information obtained during a call, thus
allowing quicker identification of both the building and the elevator during subsequent calls from the
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same customer. Periodically, a supervisor or manager listened in as a dispatcher handled a call and
then completed a dispatcher evaluation form and reviewed it with the dispatcher.

Customers accessed OTISLINE by calling a toll-free number connecting them to the North
American customer service center. Incoming calls were distributed either to the next available
dispatcher or to a specific dispatcher (calls from a French-speaking province in Canada, for example,
would be routed to a French-speaking dispatcher). Calls coming in on designated lines were moved
automatically to the head of the queue.

The telephone system produced a variety of statistics. Reports showed the amount of time
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each dispatcher was available to accept calls during the shift, thus enabling Otis to measure
dispatcher performance against department standards and averages. The system also produced
statistics on how long customers had to wait for an available dispatcher. This information helped
management determine when to employ additional staff in order to maintain a high level of
responsiveness.
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The OTISLINE application display screens were designed to lead the dispatcher and the
customer quickly through a series of questions to identify the building and elevator needing service.
When a customer call was received, the OTISLINE dispatcher filled in the display screen shown in
Exhibit 5. OTISLINE could recognize a building and elevator in four different ways: (1) the building
identification number; (2) the telephone number; (3) the building name, city, and state; or (4) the
building address, city, and state. A “no hit” situation was encountered if the building and elevator
needing service could not be identified using one of these criteria. The dispatcher then was expected
to assure the customer that a service mechanic would be dispatched, end the call, and use alternate
procedures to find the information on the building and elevator. If a “hit,” or identification, was
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made, the dispatcher verified the building address and elevator identification number, ended the call,
and logged the service request. Another dispatcher then paged the appropriate mechanic.

The OTISLINE Service Center was organized to promote dispatcher efficiency. During a shift,
each dispatcher was usually assigned one function: to accept calls, to page service mechanics, or to
handle new equipment sales (described later). Thus one callback request often involved four
OTISLINE dispatchers: one to log the service request, one to page the service mechanic, one to receive
the call from the service mechanic, and one to log the situation resolution data from the service
mechanic's “closing” call.

By the end of 1985, 11 of the 47 NAO districts were using OTISLINE for 24-hour dispatch of
service mechanics. The service center received 4,300 calls on an average weekday. However, the

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OTISLINE(A) 186-304

center would be expected to handle 10,000 incoming calls per day as soon as the system was
implemented for all of the districts. Customer calls accounted for one-third of the total calls, 75% of
which were service requests. The majority of the calls were from service mechanics who had been
paged or had just closed a callback.

Dispatching and Control of Service Mechanics

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Prior to OTISLINE, each field office handled the dispatching of service mechanics during
normal working hours and used answering services after hours and on weekends and holidays.
Service mechanics were required to complete a written report for each callback. These reports
provided the data for a callback and repair history log that the field office's service desk
representative maintained. This log was used by the local office to support daily operations and by
the engineering department to flag problems and establish preventive maintenance procedures. Since
these logs were maintained manually, the preparation of summary reports was very time consuming.
Thus callback data were reported to district, region, or NAO headquarters only upon request.

With OTISLINE, instead of filing a written report for each callback, the service mechanics
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called OTISLINE, described the situation when they arrived at the building, and reported the steps
taken to repair the elevator. The service mechanics carried a pocket notebook in which they recorded
information on each service call. The notebook also listed the questions they would need to answer
for the OTISLINE dispatcher when completing the callback report.

One measure of performance in field offices was the number of callbacks received. Prior to
OTISLINE, the accuracy and consistency of callback reports varied from office to office. Identifying
chronically malfunctioning components and other recurring problems was difficult because detailed
information was not yet stored in a central data base.
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With OTISLINE, the quality and timeliness of information available to district, region, and
NAO management increased significantly. All customers (including large installations with on-site
service mechanics) now called OTISLINE to request service. The OTISLINE dispatcher then paged the
service mechanic to request service on a particular elevator. All data about service calls were stored in
a central computer (see Exhibit 6), so the local offices no longer needed to keep manual elevator
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maintenance history logs.

Initially, some field office managers were skeptical of the OTISLINE concept. They felt that
the system would decrease their control over the dispatching of service mechanics for callbacks and
that therefore they would not know the location of their service mechanics throughout the day.
OTISLINE is being improved to address these concerns. Personal computers with OTISLINE inquiry
capability will be installed in field offices to enable local management to track callback activity in
their territories.
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Bob Smith noted that although centralizing service mechanic dispatching seemed contrary to
NAO's decentralized organization, the quality and reliability of Otis products provided Otis's edge
over its competitors. With OTISLINE, service and engineering managers had the information they
needed to continue to boost the quality and reliability of Otis products.

Marketing—New Equipment Sales

The company also used OTISLINE to support elevator sales. New equipment sales
representatives could access the New Equipment Sales (NES) application by calling OTISLINE. NES
was an integrated data base management system designed to automate the production of status
reports on elevator sales prospects. It had three primary components: negotiation, estimation, and
disposition.

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186-304 OTISLINE(A)

Negotiation allowed the new equipment sales representatives to organize data about new
equipment projects and to communicate the status of those projects to the appropriate managers.

Estimation provided cost estimates and configurations for certain new products that could be
used by the new equipment sales representative and local office to determine the elevator sales price.
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Disposition provided the mechanism to record the outcome of a negotiation as a customer
decision to purchase an elevator from Otis, as a competitive loss, or as an abandoned effort.

NES made data about competitive losses and performance of new equipment sales
representatives easily accessible to management. In the future, when a negotiation becomes a sale, the
NES information will be used to establish a record in SMS.

Marketing—Service

A brochure published in 1984 to describe OTISLINE to the NAO service mechanics listed six
components of Otis Elevator's philosophy of service: responsiveness, reliability, innovation,
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communication, teamwork, and customer satisfaction. OTISLINE addressed all of these elements.

Responsiveness. OTISLINE dramatically improved NAO's responsiveness to customer maintenance

requests. The system kept track of the status of the response to customers' calls. If the service
mechanic assigned to a route was unable to take a call, either an alternate service mechanic or the
service supervisor was paged. Response time was especially critical for certain customers such as
hospitals and buildings with only one elevator. Backed by OTISLINE, the company began to offer a
guaranteed response time to these customers. The system also produced reports of response-time
statistics that could be reviewed with customers.
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Reliability. OTISLINE dispatchers updated the SMS to maintain data on actions that had been
necessary to repair out-of-service elevators. This data could be used by management to allocate
resources to locations with recurring problems and by engineering to spot trends that indicated
elevator design problems.
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Innovation. As the leader in the industry, Otis was expected to deliver more than its competitors.
NAO was the first to offer a professionally staffed customer service center.

Communication. OTISLINE improved communication between Otis customers and the service and
sales departments. It also provided a more effective way for service and sales departments to submit
reports to management.

Teamwork. The OTISLINE dispatcher was one of many members of the team concerned with
providing a high level of service to Otis customers.
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Customer Satisfaction. Customer satisfaction, as measured by a reduction in both the volume of
complaints and service calls, improved as a result of the implementation of OTISLINE.

The United Technologies 1985 Annual Report noted that Otis strengthened its number one
share of the service market in North America. OTISLINE contributed to NAO's ability to improve
service quality and to compete successfully with lower-priced independent service companies.

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OTISLINE(A) 186-304

Future Applications

Bob Smith felt sure that information technology could be used in many ways to further
enhance Otis Elevator's marketing of service.

Remote Elevator Monitoring (REM). Otis Elevator had been testing REM, an application by which a
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microprocessor-based elevator could monitor its control system and log performance statistics
directly onto a distant computer. In the pilot installations, elevators communicated problems to a
personal computer at NAO headquarters. The personal computer then analyzed the problems and
produced trouble reports used to dispatch service mechanics before the elevator went out of service.

Further development of REM would enable an elevator to communicate with a central

computer that would determine the cause of the problems, transmit a message to the OTISLINE
system, and dispatch a service mechanic.

The great advantage of REM is its ability to identify problems before an elevator is out of
service. The service mechanics could adjust running elevators to keep them operating at maximum
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performance levels, and NAO could handle specific problems before customers were even aware of
them.

In-Car Phones. The most sensitive kind of callback occurred when passengers were trapped in an
elevator. Many Otis elevators were equipped with a telephone with which the passenger could
automatically reach the OTISLINE dispatcher to notify the service department of the situation. The
OTISLINE phone system recognized calls coming in on these lines and moved such calls to the head
of the queue. The OTISLINE dispatcher was then alerted via a message on the telephone display or an
audible beep that an emergency call had been received. The dispatcher could then work with the
passenger to identify the location of the elevator and dispatch a service mechanic immediately.
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Replacement of Service Mechanic Pagers with Hand-Held Terminals. Field service mechanics
were contacted using pagers. Eventually these pagers could be replaced with hand-held terminals
through which the OTISLINE dispatcher could send a message directly to the service mechanic, thus
eliminating the need for service mechanics to call in for messages. The service mechanic could also
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use the hand-held terminal to complete callback reports and to order parts for out-of-service
elevators.

New Equipment Ordering. NES could be expanded to include files for new equipment orders. When
the new equipment sales representative called in to report that a project had resulted in a sale, he or
she could also place the order for the elevator. This information could be transmitted directly to the
plant, thereby shortening the lead time for manufacturing the elevator. Moreover, by reducing the
amount of time taken to notify the plant of an order, NES could improve management of the plant's
raw material inventory.
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Contract Management. After Otis made a sale, its ability to monitor and abide by the customer's
installation schedule was extremely important. Slippages in the installation schedule could be caused
by building contractor delays, by technical problems encountered by the Otis superintendent at the
construction site, or by elevator manufacturing delays. Both Otis and building management had to be
aware of these problems. A personal computer could be installed at the construction site so the
construction superintendent could document slippages in the schedule. This information could be
communicated to the factory and to others involved in the installation and could be used to keep both
Otis management and the building owner aware of the reasons for changes in the installation
schedule.

Telemarketing of Service. The SMS data base contains information on all installed Otis elevators in
North America. The OTISLINE facility could be used to contact those customers whose service

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contract was not with Otis. The OTISLINE dispatcher could find out when the current elevator
maintenance contracts would expire and could produce a prospect list to be distributed monthly to
the service sales representatives.

In a 1985 NAO management newsletter, Bob Smith stated:

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The real significance of OTISLINE is its ability to collapse both distance and
time, resulting in faster responses to customer problems, better maintenance
procedures, and, ultimately more reliable elevators. . . . This can translate into real
competitive advantage. We're confident that it will, and we are investing accordingly.
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OTISLINE(A) 186-304

Exhibit 1
DO The First Elevators

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Exhibit 2 Description of Elevonic 401
SYSTEM
HARDWARE
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The advent of microprocessor technology
has enabled Otis to reassign elevator control
strategies from hardware to microcomputer
software.
Elevonic 401 control hardware is an integrated
network of three microcomputer-based
control units; a
Group Controller (in the machine room)
to make dispatching decisions and call
assignments; a
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Car Controller (one per car in the machine
room) to govern the operation and motion of
the car; and a
Cab Controller (mounted behind the car
operating panel) to interface with control
hardware on the car, communicate cab data
(e.g. passenger load, car calls) with the car
controller, and control car-operating panel
speech synthesis, visual display functions
and coded secure entr y.
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Transducers, the sensors of the system,
together with the car controller, form the
closed loop structure that provides feedback
that enables corrections to be made within
milliseconds.
The group and car controllers employ the
latest microprocessor technology. They differ
in the number of cards in their card files and
in the resident software. Although control
hardware is standard for all Otis high-rise
duties, and designed to suit practically all
building specifications, custom software is
added to personalize the controllers for each
building's specific requirements.
The cab controller serves as a bi-directional
information link between the cab mounted
devices (car call buttons, load weighing
Reprinted with permission of Otis Elevator
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OTISLINE(A)
transducers, speech synthesizer, secure
entry modules) and the car controller.
Multiplexing (transmitting hundreds of signals
back and forth over a single pair of wires)
between controllers significantly reduces the
number of wires required for communication
between controllers and peripheral devices.
For example, while previous systems required
an average of three traveling cables, the new
Elevonic 401 system utilizes just one.
System hardware determines the quantity
and quality of input received by the
control system permitting control decisions
and corrective actions to be made
and implemented within milliseconds. Digital
measurement yields such benefits as the
precise control knowledge of car velocity,
acceleration and position.
Transducer feedback, obtained as digital
numbers, is compared by the controller with
the prescribed specifications. The difference,
or error, is driven toward zero to enforce
the specified flight patter n programmed in
the computer.
The hardware components of the new
Elevonic 401 system permit placing total
operating authority under software control.
Minimum physical or mechanical adjustments
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are required to maintain control. Changes in
strategy and performance requirements are
implemented in the software. The result is
more precise, more efficient control, with the
capacity to control a greater number of
functions with much greater flexibility –
making instantaneous decisions based on
real time conditions.
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OTISLINE(A) 186-304

Exhibit 3 NAO Organization Chart

NAO
President
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Regional
Offices

Zone
Directors
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District
Offices

Branch/
Field
Offices
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Regional offices are geographically dispersed throughout Nor th America.

Zone directors have three to five district managers reporting to them.

District managers have two to six branch/field offices reporting to them.

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Exhibit 4
DO NAO Service Management System

Sales Call
Management

Building Route
Information Management

Price
Estimator Otisline
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Service
Performance
Measurement
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Reprinted with permission of Otis Elevator
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OTISLINE(A) 186-304

Exhibit 5 Customer Call Recording

Type: Call MSG

Phone:
Name of Caller:
Building ID:
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Request
Building Name:
Address:
City:
State:
If Message, Phone Number Customer Called: Next Function:

Reprinted with permission of Otis Elevator

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Exhibit 6 Callback Data Stored Online

Elevator identification
Date/time service required
Requestor of service
Time service mechanic notified
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Time service mechanic arrived on site
Condition of elevator on arrival
Time elevator back in service
Repair action taken
Service mechanic responding to request
Maintenance supervisor
Cause of malfunction or problem

Reprinted with permission of Otis Elevator

NO
T
CO
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16