ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea announced that its Cheonan plant has been designated as the first green company in the elevator industry.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea has been working on a project to designate the Cheonan plant as a green company since April last year, and was awarded the green company designation at the end of December after an audit by the Geumgang Basin Environment Agency. The designation period is for three years from December 2011.

Green companies designated by the Minister of Environment are selected through a rigorous screening process to select only those companies that are practicing proactive environmental management throughout the entire process of business activities and are making continuous efforts to improve the environment.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea's Cheonan plant was designated as a green company for its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions, minimize energy use, and recycle from product design to manufacturing and shipping. Daily practices such as saving electricity, reducing paper usage, and river cleanup activities were also well received.

In the R&D field, the company developed a power recovery inverter (model name: CPIK-R) to reduce the power consumption required for elevator operation, and replaced the previous method of using chemicals to etch elevator doors, which had a corrosive effect, with a laser method to reduce pollutant generation. In July last year, ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea was awarded Class A energy efficiency certification for elevators (VDI 4707) by TUV SUD, an international certification organization in Germany, for its three flagship elevator models, GL1, Evolution1, and Elejet.

In addition, the Group-wide Sustainable Efficiency policy is furthering the company's commitment to eco-friendly policies. In the future, ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea plans to pursue green technology certification and carbon labeling. "Eco-friendliness and sustainable development are goals we are constantly pursuing," said Mr. Jin-Young Bae, CEO of ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea. "We will continue to fulfill our mission as a global company by actively practicing green management for green growth."

ThyssenKrupp Elevator is an internationally active company in the field of passenger transportation systems. With 46,000 employees worldwide and customers in 150 countries, the company is one of the world's leading elevator companies with sales of EUR 5.3 billion last year.

The company offers products such as passenger and freight elevators, escalators and moving walkways, boarding bridges and lifts for the disabled, as well as service solutions to match. We are accessible to our customers through an extensive sales and service network of more than 900 locations worldwide.