What are your plans, Mr President?

Wim Koster, the new President of the European Lift Association (ELA), travelled from his home country of the Netherlands to the LIFTjournal publishing house.

We asked Wim Koster there about his plans and priorities, but also about the average age and the proportion of women on the new ELA board.

You were officially elected as the new President of the European Lift Association (ELA) in May. What prompted you to stand as a candidate? 
Koster: After many years of experience at the helm of the European Elevator Association (EEA), one of the most representative Members in ELA, I felt it was time to bring my experience and contribution to the Association. In accordance with the ELA by-laws and rules, we had an election on 1 December 2023. The 17 members of the Board elected me and then we had the formal change during the General Assembly in May in Istanbul. First, we had the Annual Conference, still chaired by Roberto Zappa, and then we had the Board meeting where the leadership changed.

What distinguishes your presidency program from the one initially proposed by President Zappa (candidate for third term)?
Koster: I don't think to revolution ate everything. I said 1.5 years ago that I had the ambition to be the next president. I shared my ambitions with some other board members, and they said it would be a good idea and that they would support me. Roberto Zappa served two terms as our president, and although Roberto did an excellent job, I am a strong believer in evolving leadership. By changing leadership and people, organizations like ours grow and become more performant. New people bring new ideas, new practices and that is what we need. It is now time to focus on the wishes and interests of the ELA members. My themes for the three years as president are: unity and inclusion.

What new priorities do you want to set during your term of office? 
Koster: In my career, I have worked in many different roles. I have seen many different aspects. I like to bring people together and look for compromises. We represent the lift and escalator industry in Europe, but I think in our industry, let me also speak for my own company, sometimes we focus too much on ourselves. There is more in a building than just these lifts, so imagine if we, as the ELA association, join forces or at least investigate the links with i.e. the construction industry association, the HVAC association or the building automation industry association. At the end we all have a strong relation to buildings. Many themes like carbon reduction, artificial intelligence and digitalization are shared themes. We cannot stop the developments so let’s face them and see how we can deal with them in a constructive way.

I think there are more than 200 people, including the experts, within ELA. So, there is a huge potential of know-how and very important for the whole industry.

Photo: © ELA

At ELA we have various Committees and Working Groups all working on important themes to serve the needs of our members. First thing what we, as ELA board, will do is to have a helicopter view on where we are and what our goals are. We need a clear ELA strategy and execution plans. "Together" is a key word in my approach, I believe that it is not just about the one guy who is the president and shows the way, but it is more about how we sit together and define the ELA goals and the way ELA is going to do it.

I would also like to move a bit away from the administrative part of the board meetings, which is important, and create more time for discussion. Let's have a topic, let's have a keynote speaker, let's have a meeting, let's listen, let's discuss, let's disagree. Maybe next time we can agree. It is important to work on the content and not just on the way how we elect people to committees and working groups. We spend a bit too much time on that.

Kone now has a very significant influence at the European lift level - Esfandiar Gharibaan is Chairman of CEN/TC 10, you are now President of the ELA – what is the position of the other groups on this?
Koster: Balance is necessary to credibly represent the industry. I am for instance the representative of EEA in the ELA Board, and I was appointed in this function as ELA President. During the latest general assembly in Istanbul new representatives of companies and national associations joined and ELA will benefit from this. ELA should be the place where new ideas develop, and the interests of our members are represented. And we all know that people come, and people go.

In your first statement as ELA President, you emphasized that you also want to represent small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) - what form will this take, what are your plans?
Koster: SMEs are very important in our industry. Bigger and smaller companies need each other. That was always the case and will be so in the future. Let’s focus on what unites us. Standardization e.g. is a difficult issue for all, but standards benefit SMEs since they are a way to show compliance. Also, could artificial intelligence help? Let’s investigate. A lot of people are afraid of it, but I can see ELA starting a pilot project on how we can use this artificial intelligence to help and give it as a tool to SMEs to help them navigate the world of standards. So why don't we start an initiative with the right people in terms of content and AI and see if we can come up with something?

Photo: © LIFTjournal / Bernd Lorenz

I have spoken a few times with Massimo Bezzi, the President of the European Federation for Elevator Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EFESME), about the idea or the desire to work closer together to have one voice for the industry. I think that one issue that unites us is safety. Safety is something what unites us. That's also what I learnt when I was part of the initiative to share data on fatalities in the Global Elevator Safety Forum starting in 2018. We carefully respect the compliance rules, but when it comes to safety and learning from safety, at least we agree on one thing: we want to reduce the number of incidents and accidents. This is an example of what we can realize.

What changes are you planning for the ELA committees and working groups in the near future, or will you maintain the existing structures and people? 
Koster: I am in the process of having meetings and interviews with all the chairs of the various committees and working groups. I want to understand what they are doing, and I want to show my interest in what they are doing. My question to all the chairs is what the top three things they are are working on and are they happy with the composition of their group and how the ELA board can support them. One feedback I would like to share. We have various committees and working groups where different topics are discussed. A number of chairpersons told me that they also want to hear more from each other about what they are doing. In general, I prefer evolution to revolution.

How do you see the role of the World Elevator and Escalator Federation (WEEF) in the future?
Koster: I think the ideas and the theme is standardization. That is the ultimate goal that we all want to achieve. It's something where you have to take the right steps at the right time and not go too fast, but not too slow either. It is very delicate. The WEEF is important, and it was initiated by ELA. I think we have achieved a lot, and other associations are taking notice. I think that ELA should lead this initiative: listen to everyone, exchange opinions and ideas, and then step by step and move on.

Zhang Lexiang, Secretary General of the China Elevator Association said in the last issue of the LIFTjournal that EN ISO 8100 is too complex and too difficult to understand. Do you agree?
Koster: It is the result of long negotiations and long discussions. It can always be simplified. Now it works and let’s see how this could be used in China.I don't really understand why it should be too complicated for the Chinese market, but let's see how we can improve it.

Photo: © LIFTjournal / Bernd Lorenz

How do you intend to strengthen the presence of the ELA in the political bodies of the EU? 
Koster: We had the European Parliament elections in June and now we have to reach out and make contacts. Again: The world doesn't revolve around lifts. We might defend every now and then different interests, but let's make sure that we show what unites us, which is the issue of safety. Let's plan and take these steps carefully.

We need the help of the European Commission on several issues. Again, it is a question of contacts. Our Secretary General, Luca Pezzini, has a broad network, but let's organise ourselves. We have 17 board members; we have 200 people active in committees. They all have good ideas, so we need to involve them. So, let's break down the walls and get people together and start boiling the water. It may not come to anything, but at least we have tried. I don't like this "roundabout" management. Cautious, of course, and planned ideas, but just do it and kick the ball around and see what happens.

Why is there no woman on the ELA board? 
Koster: That's a fair question and I don't want to defend myself; we just have to get that done. The speed of these types of changes is not the same everywhere. I think our industry is lagging behind. I would like to have at least 30 percent of women in the ELA Board before 2030. We need it, it is good for networking, the atmosphere and everything else.

What is the average age of the ELA Board?
Koster: This is a good topic, and I am afraid I do not have the exact answer for you right now. I think I know where you are going. I am a good example at 58 with my grey hair. If you look at the age of the presidents of the national associations, it is usually the same. But perhaps even more important than age is that you have a very good knowledge of the industry. I would really like to talk about that and see how to improve.

The interview was conducted by Ulrike Lotze.

European Lift Association (ELA): The ELA represents the lifts, escalators and moving walks associations active in the European Economic Area or in any country member of the Council of Europe - whether they are national associations or sector specific associations. It also represents their components manufacturers.

It sees itself as the main communication vector of the lift, escalator and moving walks industry to the European Commission, the European Parliament and a range of other institutions and organizations. Its aim is also to help the national associations in their dialogue with their respective governments.

ELA has currently has 23 members: Austria, Belgium, Belgium EEA, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany (VFA), Germany (VDMA Lifts and Escalators), Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom.

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