美國聯(lián)合技術(shù)公司旗下的奧的斯電梯公司日本部在48小時內(nèi)共接待了48名客戶的電話，7天內(nèi)共維修電梯16400部。
3月11日奧迪斯公司接到日本地震通知后，公司主席丹尼爾還正在家中，他不知道其公司在日本的8萬臺電梯和2400名員工的情況如何。丹尼爾立刻通知日本的公司聯(lián)系人Esaki，要求隨時和他保持聯(lián)系。第二天晚上，Esaki告訴他所有員工都安全，然而奧的斯還不知道電梯的情況如何。
奧的斯公司想知道震后是否有人被困在他們生產(chǎn)的電梯當中，在48小時內(nèi)，他們接到客戶打來的1300通電話告知他們電梯的情況。公司安排專門人員每天21小時提供客服服務，及時派出技術(shù)人員前往重災區(qū)提供電梯服務。
主席丹尼爾對奧的斯電梯充滿信心，公司在日本安裝的電梯，特別是高層建筑和地震頻發(fā)地區(qū)的電梯中，都裝有地震儀。一旦預測到地震來臨，電梯將自動下降到底層，方便乘客離開，然后電梯會自動停止運行，知道有技術(shù)人員確認安全之后。
地震儀起了作用。地震區(qū)域中，奧的斯16700臺電梯通過應急系統(tǒng)自動關(guān)閉。奧的斯公司2010年收益達到1100多萬美元，生產(chǎn)的8萬臺電梯中4萬臺在日本，這些電梯地震中沒有造成乘客被困、受傷事故。丹尼爾說：“我們公司的電梯在地震中出色的完成了任務?！?BR>公司下一步?jīng)Q定恢復地震影響區(qū)域的電梯運行。在7天內(nèi)，奧的斯技術(shù)人員使16400臺電梯恢復運行，他們還在繼續(xù)檢查受損城市中的電梯設備，他們還不能到受到核輻射的福島縣周圍。丹尼爾說：“核輻射地區(qū)現(xiàn)在還沒有辦法進入?！?BR>奧的斯位于芝山縣的工廠離東京53英里，工廠擁有世界最先進的電梯檢測塔。工廠震后曾短暫停工一天，丹尼爾為震后公司運作制定了詳細計劃，時刻關(guān)注日本的動態(tài)，“當遇到危機時，你必須要做好一切準備。”

Japan Quake: How Otis Rose to the Challenge

The United Technologies elevator unit took 13,000 calls from Japanese customers in 48 hours and restored service to 16,400 lifts within seven days
When news of the Japanese earthquake reached Didier Michaud-Daniel on the evening of Mar. 11, the president of United Technologies' (UTX) Otis Elevator unit was at his Connecticut home. He suddenly had 80,000 elevators and 2,400 Japanese employees to worry about. So Michaud-Daniel instructed his head of Japanese operations, Eiji "Eddie" Esaki, to "keep me informed, second by second." The next evening, Esaki told him that all the employees were safe. Otis, the world's largest elevator maker, didn't yet know about all of those elevators.
Otis executives weren't sure whether people had been trapped inside their lifts during the earthquake or tsunami. In the 48 hours following the quake, the company received 13,000 calls from customers asking about their elevators. Otis funneled staff to its 21 call centers in Japan and moved technicians from southern Japan into the stricken region.
Michaud-Daniel knew Otis had technology on its side, since about half the elevators it maintains in Japan—including most in high-rise buildings and regions with severe earthquake risk—are equipped with seismic detectors. At the first vibration signaling the onset of a quake, these devices return the elevators to the ground floor so passengers can exit, then block them until Otis can check their safety.
The detectors worked. Some 16,700 elevators in the areas affected by the quake were shut down by the emergency systems. Otis, which had worldwide revenues of $11.58 billion in 2010 and manufactured about 40,000 of the 80,000 elevators it services in Japan, didn't receive any report of trapped or injured passengers. "All the elevators operated as they were supposed to," says Michaud-Daniel.
The next step was to restore service. In seven days, Otis technicians worked around the clock in shifts to restart 16,400 of the 16,700 stopped units. They continue to check equipment in cities and towns struck by the quake, though they haven't gone within 50 kilometers (30 miles) of the stricken Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, well beyond the Japanese government's 30 kilometer ban. Because of the radiation threat, Michaud-Daniel says, "we don't know yet what's going to be the next step."
Otis's factory in Shibayama, 53 miles east of Tokyo, which boasts the highest elevator test tower in the world, temporarily suspended operations, but only on the day of the quake. Michaud-Daniel credits careful planning with helping the company maintain smooth operations during the disaster. He still gets twice-daily updates from Japan. "When you have to manage a crisis situation," he says, "you need to have your nose on the window."