The right care at the right time

June 12, 2018.

Ranked among the top ten hospitals in China, Nanjing Children’s Hospital is the largest children’s medical facility in Jiangsu Province, situated in the Yangtze River Delta region in East China. The hospital’s sprawling new branch in the Hexi district of Nanjing treats up to 8,000 children per day. What might not be immediately obvious is that this adds up to millions of visitors moving in and around the facility in the course of a single year.

Known for its high standard of care and technical expertise, the hospital has gained recognition for the success of difficult procedures performed there, as well as for cutting-edge diagnostic and treatment techniques. For instance, the hospital’s in-house neonatal care center treats around 5,000 newborns with severe illnesses each year.

“Children are our future, and their health and safety are important for every family. Sometimes three or four family members accompany one child to see a doctor, and this is why the hospital handles up to 10 million visitors annually,” explains Jin Funian, secretary of the Nanjing Children’s Hospital Party Committee.

Thirty-nine KONE elevators and 15 KONE escalators help doctors, nurses, patients and visitors move around the expansive facility. Keeping the equipment in top-notch working condition is extremely important for the smooth operation of the hospital. And the lively nature of the young clientele can lead to additional challenges when it comes to equipment maintenance, according to Jin.

“I appreciate that KONE has minimized the pressure of people flow in the hospital with an extremely low fault rate and high-quality services,” says Jin, referring in particular to KONE 24/7 Connected Services.

The maintenance solution connects the hospital’s elevators and escalators to the IBM Watson Internet of Things (IoT) platform, and provides real-time data on the performance and condition of the equipment. This enables service technicians to fix faults before they occur, improving the performance, reliability and safety of the equipment.

At the hospital’s monitoring center for KONE 24/7 Connected Services, Guo Jianjun, KONE’s service field process development manager, demonstrates how the system is used to respond to an overheating fault.

“With KONE 24/7 Connected Services, up to 80% of repairs are done in advance,” says Guo, adding that the elevators and escalators have an annual availability of up to 99.95%.
"Only one entrapment has occurred during the past year, and the response time was seven minutes.”

The Nanjing Children’s Hospital and other KONE 24/7 Connected Services customers benefit from less equipment downtime, fewer faults and detailed information on maintenance operations. For patients and their families, other visitors and staff – including the specialized care professionals who work in the hospital – this means less waiting time, and a smoother journey to where they need to go.

“KONE uses the IoT to provide maintenance as needed so that we can improve the quality of service with a faster response and fewer faults,” says Cai Bin, Steven, vice president of the KONE Service Business in China. “This is also the direction the elevator industry will be taking in the future.”

Read more about Intelligent KONE 24/7 Connected Services for elevators and escalators here.