On Monday 8 July 2019, EFESME participated in the 1st International Lifts Technical Meeting event organised in Sofia by its Bulgarian member, the Bulgarian Association of Lift Manufacturers – BALM.

This event was a perfect first opportunity for EFESME to get to know the Bulgarian lift industry in person and on the ground, thanks to the efforts and commitment of Mr Damyan Petrov, co-founder of BALM and Vice-President of EFESME.

The day started with the welcoming speeches by Mr Evgeni Kasabov and by Mr Damyan Petrov, who briefly introduced the two associations to the public, explaining the importance of the day as the creation of a first bridge to link the European and Bulgarian realities, to allow the creation of a positive collaboration for the benefit of Bulgarian SMEs.

Mr Massimo Bezzi, President of EFESME, took then the floor, and he spoke at length about what EFESME is and what it does thanks to its members, its experts, and its staff. Both the technical and the political activities were explained into details, to give the best possible overview of the Federation to the participants of the event. EFESME’s participation to the activities of CEN and ETSI, at the European level, and of ISO, at the international level, have been highlighted to illustrate how the activities of the Federation and its experts with regard to standardization are numerous and pervasive, so as to be able to better protect and support the SMEs it represents.

EFESME’s collaboration with SBS – Small Business Standards and with SMEunited were an important part of this speech, too. Explaining EFESME’s activities within these two European associations showed how the Federation is active and present from both a technical and a more political point of view.

Download – President Bezzi’s speech

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Regarding SBS, Ms Elettra Bilibio, the EFESME Advisor, explained the importance of the collaboration between this association and EFESME. Actually, many of the technical activities followed by EFESME are possible thanks to the support and the resources made available by SBS, which in turn is supported by the European Commission in its work to protect SMEs in the field of standardisation. These activities, such as the participation to the relevant technical groups, the organization of forums and seminars, and the writing of articles and position papers, among other things, allows EFESME to make the voice of SMEs heard in Europe, and to support them, their instances, and their work at best.

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The third speech was by Mr Luciano Faletto, Secretary General of EFESME. This was the most technical part of the event, and Mr Faletto, thanks to his years-long experience in both the lift industry and in the standardisation environment, focused mainly on the concept of lift modernisation. Mr Faletto referred to the EN 81-80 standard (Lift upgrades for existing lifts) and gave a detailed background explanation to enable participants to understand what this standard was based on. The modernisation of existing lift systems and their safety are two topics that the Bulgarian lift industry is very keen on, and Mr Faletto’s speech aroused a lot of interest and curiosity, despite the complexity of the topic.

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The public, which included not only many SME owners, but also representatives of the government, the university sector, and the Bulgarian Standardization Institute, among other things, was reactive and interested in what was being said, paying particular attention to the presentation of SG Faletto on the modernisation of lifts, asking for practical examples to be provided. Then SG Faletto explained how the Italian Standards Organisation, UNI, developed with the support of the local SMEs, a very important series of Technical Specifications (UNI 10411-XX) which give guidance on how to implement modifications to existing lifts in order to make them better suit their customers’ expectations, while improving also their existing level of safety. SG Faletto proposed to favour a contact of the Bulgarian SO with UNI to facilitate the preparation of a similar series of TS focused on the needs of the Bulgarian market of existing lifts.