Data and AI agents give a lift to TK Elevator service technicians

Torben Teichmann, a TK Elevator service technician, once relied on handwritten notes and manual searches to prepare for elevator maintenance, often needing multiple trips to retrieve tools or documents. Today, an AI agent on his phone or tablet briefs him before arrival, specifying the exact elevator, floor, issue and required tools, eliminating guesswork and reducing preparation time.

After completing work, another AI voice agent conducts a spoken debrief, recording Teichmann’s verbal responses and follow-up questions without typing. The exchange integrates past service records and his real-time input, creating a shared knowledge base for future technicians across TKE’s global network of 25,000 technicians.

TK Elevator has digitally connected its 1.4 million elevators and escalators to Microsoft Azure over the past decade, using sensors and controllers to collect operational data and centralize it in a secure cloud platform. Generative AI now extracts insights from unstructured sources like technical manuals and service notes, enabling technicians to diagnose issues faster by combining IoT data with contextual history.

The company operates nine digital operations centers where analysts and specialists monitor connected units in real time, using machine learning to calculate health scores and identify patterns. These centers prioritize maintenance tasks and send targeted recommendations to technicians, improving response times and reducing downtime for critical infrastructure.