5 mins with… Lionel Hutt - Digital Advanced Control.
Tell us about your company and your business, when it was formed and what you do?
DAC is a UK leading manufacturer of lift control systems and associated peripheral products. We were established in 2010 and have achieved enviable success on a yearly basis. Our focus is on retaining and growing our existing customer base, but also penetrating additional markets within the UK Lift Industry with our latest products and services.
Our core values are providing ‘best value’, ‘delivering excellence’ & always being ‘dependable’ and ‘proactive’.
My role as Director is to extend our scope of supply with ‘DAC Prestige’, our new flagship range of controllers designed for high-rise, multi-group systems, in combination with our latest IOT-based Remote Monitoring Systems called ‘AURA’, with which we’ve had immense success.
How many times have you attended the Lift & Escalator Symposium?
As real advocates of the Symposium, aside from the first year, we’ve attended every year. We see real benefit in attending and moving forward, we intend to do so every year.
Why is it an important event for you to attend ?
Our attendance is so vitally important to us because the networking opportunities are huge. The ability to discuss changes in legislation, technological market trends whilst also showcasing our latest products are just some of the benefits of attending this Symposium.
What would you say are the key themes you’re seeing with customers this year ?
Enhances in control system technology to include IoT connectivity for our controllers and third-party units is a key driver. Additionally, the ability to provide simplified, serial plug-and-play control systems on vastly reduced lead times has never been stronger. Ease of control system installation factors highly on the scale, as the steady transition from conventional hard-wired control to plug-and-play systems continues. Fortunately, we have both items & many more covered!
What delegates do you expect to see on your stand ?
We always look forward to inviting a full cross-section from the industry, be it End Users, Consultants, Lift Contractors, Sub-Contactors, not forgetting newcomers to the industry. As Digital Advanced Control we are actively engaged with the complete supply chain, and this is having a very positive impact for our business!
What would you say to anyone who hasn’t attended before? Why should they attend?
The Lift Symposium provides an excellent platform for networking with old and new customers. Alongside the ability to showcase new products, it is also the ideal opportunity to remain updated on the latest lift legislation, technologies and market trends.
Which sessions are you looking forward to the most?
I’m most looking forward to listening to the paper given by Matthew Appleby regarding “AI in lift systems”. This is a core focus of ours moving forward, additionally John Koshak’s paper entitled “Improving maintenance with technology”.
The paper being presented by Daan Smans of CEDES AG entitled “Enabling innovation through an IoT platform alongside the lift controller without modifying the certified safety chain” will no doubt be of interest to many at the Symposium, including ourselves.
Finally, Dr Rory Smith’s paper related to “EMC best practice” is always an interesting subject from the perspective of a control system manufacturer, as the many EMC-related short cuts seen on numerous installations in the field contribute to many issues that could so easily be avoided!