There was an overwhelming response to the elevator problem.

 

The elevator problem can now be seen at the following link - 

https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/blog/biggest-mistakes-people-make-solving-problem/

 

Some lifts systems have already been made little intelligent wherein they dont stop if the button for the opposite direction has been pressed at any floor.

They can further be made intelligent by placing a sensor system which should sense the presence of people waiting for the lift in the direction of the pressed button on that floor within 3-4 feet of the lift door. If no one is waiting the lift should not stop, even if the button has been pressed.

This suggestion is based on one of the programmes seen on discovery channel. so why re-create the wheel, when it already exists.

The manufacturers can create a mechanism, where in the person entering the building will get a swipe card which will define the floor the person is required to get too. Once the person reaches the elevator, it has been numbered based on the floors it would stop. So the people needing to go to the respective floor can get in the numbered lift and reach their destination without any stops leading to maintenance of the lifts, efficiency in reaching the required destination faster.

I dont think u have posted the right answer as u have mentioned in the question "people pressing “UP” when they really want to go “DOWN” (or vice-versa)." this means that people really want to go down but they unintentionally press wrong button, this concludes that this human error not Hardware or software error.

My logic is that this is just because of design failure of lift makers. We can train people for how to use lift but we can control the misuse of practice. So to solve this, I have an idea as below.

Instead of placing UP & DOWN button near to each other, keep the UP BUTTON AT HEAD LEVEL & DOWN BUTTON SOMEWHERE BETWEEN WAIST TO KNEE LEVEL. PUT THE NOTE LIKE - "TO GO UP" & "TO GO DOWN" near to those buttons.

This will enforce people to take a pause before pressing any button and he/she will select only that button where one wants to go – either UP or DOWN.

Mitesh Solanki

Zydus Cadila

On 05/12/2012 at 11:33 AM, Vishwadeep Khatri said:

There was an overwhelming response to the lift problem posed recently. To be precise, there have been 650 + responses so far. Thank you for participating. All causes are valid but may not be considered as root causes. See the full question and responses here - http://forum.benchma...elevator-usage/

The question was - Outside a lift, people commonly press “UP” when they should be really pressing “DOWN” or vice versa. What is the root cause of this problem?

The question was about root cause but did not ask for best actionable cause. To me, the two are one and the same. I endorse the following definition of root cause -

Root Cause is the factor which when fixed, ensures that the problem goes away and doesn’t recur.

Going by this definition, I am convinced that the root cause is Lift manufacturing design failure (option 3 among 6 options). The problem if fixed in lift manufacturing design, can ensure a permanent fix for waste of time. People who agree with me on this and gave same answer are listed here - http://forum.benchma...e/page__st__640

Although some solutions have already been suggested, the question for solution is formally posted today.

What do you think is a good solution for this problem?

Hi,

 

One solution would be to do the following:

1. Provision to choose the floor to which the user wants to go (currently inside the lift) can be given outside
2. Intelligent architecture so that the lift can move up or down based on where it is currently positioned.
3. Arrange the route of stoppage based on point No. 2

Scenario 1: User is in 3rd floor and would like to go to the ground floor. He presses '0' on the lift buttons positioned outside. Lift is currently on the 5th floor, it senses that 3rd is down & comes down. In case any other user presses any numbers between 5 & 1, it will stop at the relevant floors. This will work in both cases of up & down.

 

Scenario 2: User A is in 3rd floor and would like to go to the Seventh floor. He presses '7' on the lift buttons positioned outside. User B is on the 4th floor and would like to go to the ground floor. He presses '0' on the lift buttons positioned outside. Lift is currently on the 5th floor. While 7th is 2 above & 0 is 4 down, the route should be decided as "UP" 1st & "Down" Next to optimize the wait time. This logic for wait time can be decided based on various factors like User wait time, routing, consumption of power etc.

 

Cheers,

Latha

I already posted the solution. Providing of numeric key pad out side the lift (instead of only two buttons) to press the number of floor where the person intend to go. And depending up on this information lift's logic should build whether to stop on that floor or not.

The problem remains because of the fact that the user is allowed to make the choice ONCE. A choice made can't be un-done.

A possible solution: Instruct the user to press the right button TWICE. The chances of making the same mistake twice is negligible.

Benefit: Simple to implement. No need to alter any structural design.

This is a classic case of confusion created by British vs. American system difference.

 

People are used to older British made lifts where you needed to press the UP button to "pull" the lift up, or vice versa, whereas the American made elevators work on a "call" system where when you are pressing the button, you're really telling the system where you want to go regardless of the present position of the elevator car.

Since the British influence on the Indian psyche is waning and giving way to all things American, we are currently in a phase wherein the older generation is still re-learning and coping with all changes created by this evolving cultural mess.

 

The solution is really simple - signs in English and the local vernacular near the lift buttons, stating the obvious in plain simple language - PRESS UP TO GO UP, PRESS DOWN TO GO DOWN.

Solution should be giving lettered panels like “UP” and “DOWN” than of arrow symbols.

Sir,

 

The simple solution to this problem is to install a key board of floor numbers outside the lift.

 

So for a multilevel building having five or six elevator lifts a person at fifth floor wants to reach at Ground floor will now press G insted of getting confused in up or down direction. Any of the elevator which is closer to fifth floor and having direction towards Ground floor will indicate on same panel and person will ride in the same.

that will be a simpler most solution for this situation

Dear Mr. Khatri,

Solution: Can be solved if the UP & DOWN buttons are diagonally separated with a distance and change in the display color and size of the push buttons.

Instead of placing UP & DOWN button near to each other, keep the BUTTONS SEPARATELY ON EITHER SIDE OF LIFT ie, left side of lift to Go down and right side of lift to Go up and also mention as - "TO GO UP" & "TO GO DOWN" near to those buttons.

This is being psychlogical. If people want to go up they will press up or want to go down then down button without keeping in notice where the lift.

This is being psychological. If people want to go up they will press up or want to go down then will press the down button without keeping in notice where the lift is.

Santosh Singh

Yes..according to my opinion you are correct.. This should be considered as a lift manufacturing design failure.

Provision of a sensor-based voice-guidance system which will direct which button to press for going up and which button for going down.

Devamalya De

Oberoi Realty Ltd.

After studying different elevators and analyzing the behavior of different people I am giving you an interesting story ...

• People want to go up from the ground floor and lift is at say 4th floor they will press down.
• People want to go down from 4th floor and lift is at ground floor they will press up.

So, people are not acting according to their need, they are trying to communicate with the medium of transport.

Therefore nearest reason can be " Lack of information regarding how lift buttons work."

Need only one sticky note saying " Press UP if you want to go up." and " Press down if you want to go down."

Thanks

Naveen Sharma

 

I think "lift manufacturing design failure."...is not a valid reason, it is like blaming the system for Human errors also in terms of today's economic conditions .....changing the design of lift is not easy...causing a great deal of discomfort to the manufacturer..we can not change the design for every human being.

 

Thanks

Naveen Sharma

On 05/12/2012 at 11:33 AM, Vishwadeep Khatri said:

There was an overwhelming response to the lift problem posed recently. To be precise, there have been 650 + responses so far. Thank you for participating. All causes are valid but may not be considered as root causes. See the full question and responses here - http://forum.benchma...elevator-usage/

The question was - Outside a lift, people commonly press “UP” when they should be really pressing “DOWN” or vice versa. What is the root cause of this problem?

The question was about root cause but did not ask for best actionable cause. To me, the two are one and the same. I endorse the following definition of root cause -

Root Cause is the factor which when fixed, ensures that the problem goes away and doesn’t recur.

Going by this definition, I am convinced that the root cause is Lift manufacturing design failure (option 3 among 6 options). The problem if fixed in lift manufacturing design, can ensure a permanent fix for waste of time. People who agree with me on this and gave same answer are listed here - http://forum.benchma...e/page__st__640

Although some solutions have already been suggested, the question for solution is formally posted today.

What do you think is a good solution for this problem?

1. Change the design of the buttons to rectangular bar shape and could be displaying floor numbers
2. Down button should be placed horizontally
3. Up button should be vertical
4. Buttons should be separated by a larger distance, maybe a minimum of 2 feet
5. Have a standard for sound when button is pressed, different sound for up and down
6. Provide a call cancel/reset switch
7. Display floor numbers applicable next to the buttons
8. A study should be done to find out which error is more in occurrence. Error 1: wrong pressing of up button, Error 2 wrong pressing of down button. My guess is Error 1 is most common. Maybe a solution on the lines of providing a deterrent can be thought of for Error 1, like making people to press up button twice or even having multiple separate floor number buttons only for Up direction

Thanks,

Santosh Kulkarni

The main cause of the problem is to fix the direction of lift travel. UP or Down. At all lift door point, there should be a mandated set of two buttons UP or DOWN arrow. The user will respond as UP for example. Then the lift understands the demand and has the option to pass thru whenever is in a downward motion. However, if multi user demand is for both UP/DOWN simultaneously, the down traveler will use the lift if it is traversing down.

 

This way, we can isolate and stop confusing the Lift.

On 06/12/2012 at 2:03 PM, CR Parashuraman said:

The main cause of the problem is to fix the direction of lift travel. UP or Down. At all lift door point, there should be a mandated set of two buttons UP or DOWN arrow. The user will respond as UP for example. Then the lift understand the demand and has the option to pass thru whenever is in downward motion. However , if multi user demand is for both UP/DOWN simulteneously, the down traveller will use the lift if it is traversing down.

This way , we can isolate and stop confusing the Lift.

Sir,

 

In our common scenario in lift mechanism is to press one time either up or down button,the operation starts to execute immediately. Here we can add an change in press operation on up/down button. Operation is described below for a person wants to go up.

 

Step 1. Press up button and it will start to blink to catch your attention whether u selected the actual need or not instead of execution.

Step 2. Blink means it needs your 2nd press on the same button to execute finally, so press 2nd time and u select the up floor no.

Step 3. In case wrong down button pressed means the down button and starts to blink, immediately u can change the option and u can avoid 2nd press on same wrong down button and can press the up button to continue the step-2 procedure.

 

Ultimately, in this whole procedure, it will take hardly 2-3 seconds more against our normal day to day lift operation by us and can avoid such mistake/mechanism fault/design failure etc.

 

Sambit

 

On 05/12/2012 at 11:33 AM, Vishwadeep Khatri said:

There was an overwhelming response to the lift problem posed recently. To be precise, there have been 650 + responses so far. Thank you for participating. All causes are valid but may not be considered as root causes. See the full question and responses here - http://forum.benchma...elevator-usage/

The question was - Outside a lift, people commonly press “UP” when they should be really pressing “DOWN” or vice versa. What is the root cause of this problem?

The question was about root cause but did not ask for best actionable cause. To me, the two are one and the same. I endorse the following definition of root cause -

Root Cause is the factor which when fixed, ensures that the problem goes away and doesn’t recur.

Going by this definition, I am convinced that the root cause is Lift manufacturing design failure (option 3 among 6 options). The problem if fixed in lift manufacturing design, can ensure a permanent fix for waste of time. People who agree with me on this and gave same answer are listed here - http://forum.benchma...e/page__st__640

Although some solutions have already been suggested, the question for solution is formally posted today.

What do you think is a good solution for this problem?

On 05/12/2012 at 2:05 PM, Surendra Patil said:

I already posted the solution. Providing of numeric key pad out side the lift (instead of only two buttons) to press the number of floor where the person intend to go. And depending up on this information lift's logic should build whether to stop on that floor or not.

problem is in the person who presses button and not in the lift manufacturers design. if person cannot decide before pressing the button where he is going and which button to press he gets confused and presses the wrong button.

The floor number buttons should be outside the lift also. So that the up / down option is chosen based on logic ( software).

A root cause is - No 3 Design failure.

 

Solution:

Remove the 2 buttons and simply make it into 1button.

Irrespective of whatever floor the lift stands, it will come to the floor where the call button is pressed. No other go.