Johnson Lifts Private Ltd., a manufacturer of elevators and escalators, has forayed into public service heavy duty escalator segment.
The company has set up a project at Oragadam, near here, at a cost of ₹100 crore to manufacture heavy duty escalators.
“With this, we are able to roll out our first heavy duty escalator,” said V.M. Thomas, joint managing director. Addressing the media here on Wednesday, John K. John, chairman and managing director, said the Oragadam facility was equipped to test every escalator in-house before shipping. “This enables customers to inspect their product before it leaves the factory,’’ he said. Johnson Lifts had bought the technology from SJEC, a Chinese firm, for the venture. The entire funding was done through internal accruals.
According to Mr. Thomas, the indigenous content in these heavy duty escalators would be close to 80% component-wise and 65% value-wise. There was a surge in demand for such escalators following the announcement of several metro rail projects across the country.
There was also a huge requirement for outdoor escalators following construction of foot over-bridges, Mr. Thomas said.
