#5 Air Instead of Cables – Patrick de Ledebur on Vacuum Elevators and Rethinking Vertical Mobility

00:00:00: So hi, welcome to Lifts and Leaders, the podcast that explores people's, people's ideas and innovations, shaping the future of the vertical mobility.

00:00:11: And today we talked with someone who is really interesting, who came right to us from the US, exactly from Miami.

00:00:20: And yeah, but of course we talk about elevators, we talk about his company, and he represents a company that uses air pressure.

00:00:30: instead of oil or cables.

00:00:32: and yeah we also talked several years ago about their cube lifts and this is very interesting.

00:00:40: so welcome back and I hope that I pronounce it right now correctly.

00:00:45: Patrick de lait de bourre

00:00:48: Great job.

00:00:48: Yeah, that was it.

00:00:49: Welcome.

00:00:50: Pneumatic Vacuum Elevators is the company you're presenting here.

00:00:55: Welcome.

00:00:55: That is correct.

00:00:56: Yes.

00:00:57: I'm the director of global marketing for pneumatic vacuum elevators.

00:01:00: We manufacture a state-of-the-art air-driven home elevator.

00:01:04: So we're in the residential elevator industry.

00:01:06: We've been in operation since two thousand two.

00:01:09: We were the original founders and pioneers of this technology and we're very excited to be here.

00:01:14: We always attend InterLift every other year since it happens.

00:01:17: by annually.

00:01:19: And it's a pleasure to be on this podcast.

00:01:20: Thank you.

00:01:21: Wow.

00:01:21: Thank you.

00:01:22: And how long have you been with the company?

00:01:25: Yeah.

00:01:25: So I mean, in my role, I've been with the company now for about eight years, kind of overseeing their marketing efforts.

00:01:33: But the truth of the matter is I think the very first trade show I ever did with pneumatic vacuum elevators was all the way back in twenty twelve.

00:01:42: So I've been doing trade shows with this product for thirteen years now.

00:01:48: And I've taken it all over the globe, everywhere from throughout the United States and North America.

00:01:54: to obviously Europe interlift.

00:01:57: I do shows even internationally.

00:01:59: So after this show, we go to Saudi Arabia.

00:02:03: I've been to Thailand.

00:02:05: And so I've taken this product over the world.

00:02:07: So during this decade or thirteen years you have been doing this now, was there a specific moment or project when you thought this is something completely different?

00:02:17: This is the future.

00:02:19: Pretty instantly from my very first show, I could tell that people were responding very positively to the product.

00:02:27: More specifically, it's such an innovative technology.

00:02:31: Again, we're using air pressure to lift passengers between floors, so there's no cables, no pulleys, no tractions.

00:02:37: And there's this element of this wow factor to our technology that is, I don't think, found in any other lift.

00:02:43: The only way I could constantly describe it, right, is that when somebody interacts with our... they don't just say, wow, I want that elevator.

00:02:52: And they walk away and say, hey, how can I buy that elevator?

00:02:55: They actually walk away and say, what's next?

00:02:59: Like what's possible?

00:03:01: Like, if we can transport people using air, what's the next sort of innovation?

00:03:06: And really, once I started to see that sort of spark in people's eyes, where it wasn't just a matter of, hey, this can help me solve a problem, but more like their eyes widen and they went like, wow, like, we can really do this?

00:03:20: What else is possible?

00:03:21: There is a sort of optimism.

00:03:24: that came with the technology.

00:03:26: that I then said, okay, you know, I can really maybe try to figure out how we can market that and tap into that.

00:03:32: And again, it really makes it different from sort of anything else sort of in the market.

00:03:36: So that was really it.

00:03:38: So what

00:03:39: is

00:03:39: the most fascinating part about explaining that elevators just work with air pressure to people who've never seen this before?

00:03:48: Or what is different to other elevator technologies?

00:03:51: Yeah, so I mean the big appeal of our product is the technology allows it to be very easy to install.

00:03:58: You know, there's very few modifications needed.

00:04:00: It simply rests on the existing floor.

00:04:02: You don't need a shaft.

00:04:03: You don't need a pit.

00:04:04: You don't need a dedicated machine room.

00:04:07: The elevators are, you know, generally just kind of require just two twenty volt electrical.

00:04:11: So it's literally, you know, kind of essentially plugged in, though you can't necessarily describe it as a plug and play system.

00:04:18: And they're space saving.

00:04:19: They don't occupy a lot of space in the home.

00:04:21: So ultimately, there's a lot of flexibility, particularly for retrofit and new construction projects with where our elevator or essentially lift can be installed.

00:04:31: So that's one of the big appeals of it is that you're not limited to sort of stacked closets.

00:04:36: A more traditional kind of shaft type of elevator requires a pitch, requires stacked closets, you have to convert it into a shaft.

00:04:44: There's far more sort of an involved process whereas our lift kind of removes those necessities and so you just kind of need to cut a through floor hole and essentially ensure the electrical is in place.

00:04:55: There might be some other modifications required.

00:04:57: Again, if there's a balcony mount, you might need to build out a landing.

00:05:00: But essentially in two to three days, the elevator arrives in sections, gets stacked up, and then installed.

00:05:05: So it offers a very quick and efficient installation.

00:05:08: Yeah.

00:05:09: And yeah, you mentioned before that people also ask, what's next?

00:05:16: So what do you think are the biggest shifts or the next big things happening in the lift industry or in your company within the next years?

00:05:27: So yeah, so I mean one of the realities of our residential industry is that people are getting older.

00:05:33: They're not getting younger.

00:05:34: So advances in medicine is allowing people to live longer than ever before, than ever in history.

00:05:41: And particularly the baby boomer generation is the largest population of people on this planet.

00:05:46: I might be incorrect with that fact, but they're a very large population of people.

00:05:50: And they own houses.

00:05:51: They own multiple houses.

00:05:52: I mean, to be honest with you, at my age, I don't have multiple houses.

00:05:57: They do.

00:05:57: And they want to remain in the comforts of their home.

00:06:00: So there's definitely been overall this sort of gradual increase in demand for home elevators.

00:06:07: And actually the stigma of a home elevator being a luxury item has been slowly being pulled away.

00:06:14: As more and more people are installing them, more companies are offering them, more installations are happening, it's becoming more common.

00:06:23: which is an amazing thing because again somebody who's fifty five or sixty plus or even forty five or even eighty you know before may have thought hey I can't install an elevator in my home.

00:06:34: I need to move from my house and is now seeing it as sort of a viable solution.

00:06:38: so there's definitely been this gradual trend that I've seen over the course of my career where it's become far more common and again seeing it even across cultures to be honest with you and that you know this sort of age you know, this aging and population is happening everywhere in Asia, in Australia, in Africa, in Europe, in the United States.

00:07:00: So it's not just limited to one specific market.

00:07:05: Now, if you're wondering about trends in the industry, I wouldn't necessarily say that we are part of that trend.

00:07:11: We're kind of our own sort of, we've been our own sort of doing our own thing for a while now.

00:07:18: Again, we're one of the only vacuum elevators in the world and we're the inventors.

00:07:21: But there has been a rise in vertical platform lifts, constant pressure systems that many companies are now offering.

00:07:32: And you can even review and walk through interlift.

00:07:35: And you see a lot of these lifts, again, these constant pressure lifts.

00:07:40: And I would say that over the past four or five years, That sort of technology has become more common.

00:07:49: There's been more players in the industry, which also makes it a little bit more difficult for them to sort of stick out because they all kind of appear and have very many of the same features.

00:07:59: If you want to know something at this particular show, because I've done this show now for about four times or four times over the course since is we have active demonstrations.

00:08:11: And we're a fully operational elevator, single push operated.

00:08:14: You just press in, press the button once, and you travel to your floor.

00:08:17: Yesterday was the first day at InterLift.

00:08:19: And I can't tell you the majority of people.

00:08:23: And this show is primarily elevator people.

00:08:27: So this is people within our industry.

00:08:30: And this is an observation I saw.

00:08:31: And I was telling everybody, I was like, hey, I'm seeing this a lot.

00:08:34: And that these people are stepping inside of our demonstration.

00:08:38: holding the buttons because they are used to constant pressure elevators.

00:08:42: Okay.

00:08:44: No, but this wasn't last last interlift.

00:08:46: This wasn't two interlifts ago.

00:08:48: This wasn't three interlifts ago.

00:08:49: So I mean, it was something that I clearly observed and I was like, okay, you know, these constant pressure lifts that have kind of now become very normal in our industry are even changing the way how Elevator people in our industry are interacting with normal elevators.

00:09:09: They assume that it's a constant pressure system, which I don't know if it's good or bad, but it was an interesting sort of observation.

00:09:16: We've had to tell many people just release your thumb.

00:09:19: It's an elevator, it's a single push-operated system.

00:09:22: But these vertical platform lifts have become more and more prevalent.

00:09:26: Okay, wow, thank you.

00:09:29: Patrick, and if we talk about your company, Nomadic Vacuum Elev- What else do we have to know about it?

00:09:39: How big is it?

00:09:41: How many employees are there?

00:09:43: Is it working in many different countries?

00:09:47: Yeah.

00:09:47: Yeah.

00:09:47: So we are an international company.

00:09:49: We are headquartered in the United States.

00:09:51: I come from our global headquarters in Miami, Florida.

00:09:54: That's where the company was founded in two thousand two.

00:09:57: But as an international company, we do have offices and operations in pretty much every continent.

00:10:02: All right.

00:10:03: We have an operation in Europe.

00:10:05: We have an operation in Asia.

00:10:06: And we also have an operation as well in South America.

00:10:09: We sell and install our elevators worldwide through licensed and trained dealers.

00:10:14: Many manufacturers in the elevator industry follow the same sort of business model.

00:10:20: And so each one of those sort of locations oversees their respective market or their respective network.

00:10:27: So obviously in Miami, we oversee sort of all of North America.

00:10:32: And then, you know, in Europe, they oversee all of Europe, Asia, et cetera.

00:10:37: So, you know, what we've just been trying to do is to, you know, expand our presence, continue internationally.

00:10:43: Things such as InterLift allows us to not only interact with existing distributors in various markets, even as far as the Middle East and Africa, to Australia, to again, throughout Europe.

00:10:56: but also to try to locate new distributors, right?

00:11:00: People who may not be signed up with our product or not be licensed and trying to, you know, convince them and engage with them to begin offering our elevators.

00:11:11: Now, as it pertains to employees, I mean, again, we've been in the industry now for over twenty years and each sort of office has anywhere from, you know, fifty to a hundred plus employees in each respective sort of area.

00:11:25: you know, we manufacture our elevators and one of the things I would say that we take great pride in is that we pre-build and pre-test every elevator prior to shipping.

00:11:36: So I think we're one of the only elevator manufacturers in the world that can literally say that all twenty six thousand plus installations around the world of our product, we had built and tested in our facility before leaving our factory, right?

00:11:49: This is to ensure quality control, but also to allow a quick and easy installation.

00:11:55: because the elevator for the dealer arrives in sections, in modular sections that then get carried in and stacked one on top of each other.

00:12:02: And that's where we're able to offer that very quick and efficient installation.

00:12:06: Because again, it's not just arriving at the home and sort of being built for the first time there.

00:12:12: It's already been pre-built and pre-tested.

00:12:15: So it ensures, again, an ease of installation, not only for the dealers, making it more attractive, but also to the end user, meaning that there's less disruption to... sort of their everyday life.

00:12:27: If you had to convince or attract young people to the Lyft industry and yeah, you have to convince them that they have to start tomorrow working in the industry.

00:12:38: What would you tell them?

00:12:40: I would say don't be afraid.

00:12:41: The Lyft industry has its ups and downs.

00:12:44: No, I mean, you know.

00:12:49: Do you at any kind of career you want to start somewhere?

00:12:52: You know, so I would find a company that Maybe you have something there that you can be passionate about and that you can learn from.

00:13:00: I mean, there's always elements that that are similar between all sort of manufacturers.

00:13:04: again There is many manufacturers have certain distribution models many again.

00:13:08: I'm in marketing.

00:13:09: so many manufacturers have their own sort of lead distribution and order tracking and so You know the.

00:13:15: the big thing I would say is that if somebody is interested in getting in the industry It's to find a company and, you know, you gotta... kind of got to start from the ground up.

00:13:23: You know, my basis, even though I'm in marketing, was also in sales.

00:13:27: And so every person in our operation kind of starts on a regional level in sales and then gradually goes to a national level.

00:13:35: And then some even people go to a global level.

00:13:37: So even then, you know, I would say to find a company, if you're into sales, sort of understand that you're going to start at a much smaller sort of level, meaning regional.

00:13:50: selling sort of factory direct or location direct and then you know That'll give you the experience that when you're ready to move up to a more national or global management level, you can speak with dealers and installers from a more educated place.

00:14:09: The reason why we do it that way is because when somebody has been promoted to some other level, they can speak from their own experience of what it was to interact with site visits, what it was to interact with customers, what are common obstacles that they always find or they found that they can speak to directly with these dealers.

00:14:30: They have a more relatable approach with them.

00:14:34: With our company in particular, we operate from that standpoint.

00:14:40: Now, again, the other element is that the It depends on, again, I'm in the home lift industry.

00:14:46: So I sell to sort of homeowners and sort of end users and architects and builders and even real estate agents.

00:14:53: And so they're a very particular avatar, you could say, very particular.

00:14:59: Yeah, like an, like, you know, you say avatar in the words for like marketing, but a particular user.

00:15:05: And so.

00:15:07: you know, the more you can start getting practice and engaging with them, the more maybe you'll find that some, you know, modern, flashy sort of tactics may not work with somebody who's sort of sixty plus years old and looking for a solution in their home or needing a medical necessity.

00:15:27: or again, you know, we also interact with people who are younger but their family members are moving in and so it's always trying to understand that A home lift is providing a solution, right?

00:15:41: We are providing a solution for people to a problem.

00:15:44: And ultimately, the more you're able to interact with a variety of different homeowners and customers and architects and builders, you're able to sort of learn more about, well, what?

00:15:53: problem are they trying to solve?

00:15:56: And then how can I position my products to effectively show that, hey, I can help you solve that problem in the most efficient, economical, attractive way.

00:16:06: So the sooner that they can kind of get into that industry, the better.

00:16:10: And then having been in the elevator... industry and maybe this is the wrong sort of word but it's very kind of incestual like there's you know obviously there's big players and big companies and and you'll find that they they kind of cross paths with each other.

00:16:25: they have similar distributors that sell various products.

00:16:29: you see them at same trade shows and stuff.

00:16:31: so so even though it is a very niche market there is sort of a community or there's sort of a smaller network.

00:16:42: And so the sooner you're able to sort of familiarize yourself with that and start to interact with people in there, obviously the better long term.

00:16:52: So I just catch up the word, you are a problem solver for homeowners.

00:16:57: And going ahead, if you had to describe the industry in three words, what would it be?

00:17:05: the lift industry you're working in.

00:17:08: Okay.

00:17:09: Is it competition?

00:17:11: No, it's not competition.

00:17:13: It's

00:17:16: innovation.

00:17:18: We are an innovative company.

00:17:20: Again, there are innovations happening.

00:17:23: Innovation, understanding.

00:17:26: You know, three words.

00:17:29: I'm trying.

00:17:29: Sorry, you got me in a blank here.

00:17:31: I mean, we provide a service.

00:17:39: In the residential elevator industry specifically, we provide aid.

00:17:46: We're helping people.

00:17:48: For me and again, for everybody in our company who does do direct sales and then sort of moves up, we all have stories of where we worked with a customer.

00:17:59: We installed the lift, they had it installed, and we saw their first interaction with it where they now, for the first time in two years, were able to go up to their second floor bedroom.

00:18:10: And we've seen people sort of cry with joy, be so thankful.

00:18:15: And every one of our sales reps has had that experience.

00:18:18: It's amazing.

00:18:19: Yeah, it is.

00:18:20: I mean, we are in business.

00:18:21: So it's about money.

00:18:23: I mean, I don't say it's all about money, but it's business, right?

00:18:26: So it makes sense, profits, revenue.

00:18:28: But I mean, being in the residential elevator industry, in particular, we're also helping people.

00:18:34: And so that to me is something, you know, whenever we do trainings with new technicians and new dealers, I always try to communicate that and saying, like, look, like, again, we are providing aid to people and it can be very fulfilling, you know, not only we're doing business and business is growing, but also, you know, providing aid to people.

00:18:56: And then I also think another element is attractive.

00:18:59: I think the elevator industry has been trying to make lifts and elevators more visually appealing.

00:19:07: Again, there are these new platform lifts, but they're trying to add LED lights and new screens.

00:19:15: Our product has a very unique.

00:19:17: aesthetic, it's panoramic.

00:19:19: You can see three sixty, you know, it's very attention grabbing.

00:19:23: It almost kind of becomes an architecture piece or a focal point in the home.

00:19:27: So I do think that the elevator industry as a whole has been trying to say, OK, if we've been doing elevators and closets with just sort of a cabin and walls for so long, how can we make this more attractive, more appealing?

00:19:41: So yeah, I think aid, innovation and attraction.

00:19:46: I like that.

00:19:47: I like that very, very much.

00:19:51: Is there any message else or key thought you'd like to share with anyone listening here about?

00:20:00: So, yeah.

00:20:01: So, what else?

00:20:03: I mean, I can speak to them about our sort of our products and stuff because, I mean, a little bit about us is that, you know, we've been manufacturing pneumatic elevators now for over twenty years since two thousand two and our products have primarily been circular round by design.

00:20:18: The reason for that is if you think of sort of, you know, a vacuum, a seal that's round is easier to ensure it's airtight and In the year, we launched the only square powered by air, which we call the cube.

00:20:31: It's a square shaped version of our product.

00:20:34: And ultimately, you know, that was a very big innovation, not only for our technology, vacuum technology, but also a big innovation for the market.

00:20:44: Because again, now there's a square shaped version of pneumatic elevators that can be easy to install.

00:20:51: It's having straight lines and a square can means that cutting a hole sometimes is easier for contractors.

00:20:58: You know, some people just psychologically have felt sometimes a little more comfortable with sort of straight lines.

00:21:04: We still have our primary round models, but you know, the cube in particular, we have an operational unit here at InterLift and it's available now for worldwide.

00:21:13: We've initially launched it in North America to essentially growing sort of reception.

00:21:20: It's exceeded sort of our wildest sort of expectations.

00:21:24: And so, you know, from us at PVE, we are an innovative technology driven company.

00:21:29: And so for us, this sort of new product, theCUBE, has been a very big innovation for.

00:21:35: for again, not only the lift industry, but again, our technology as a whole.

00:21:40: Again, we are always trying to push the boundaries of what home elevators are possible, you know, even though we are at home elevators, you know, we do put our elevators in yachts, you know, they are put in vessels and stuff, and they're installed in as quickly as two to three days there.

00:21:55: So, you know, we do also sort of target and attract sort of the marine industry.

00:22:00: Obviously that's a particular kind of buyer, you know, a person who can buy those sort of.

00:22:05: And again, it's probably easier for us since we're in Miami.

00:22:08: There's a lot of ships around in Miami.

00:22:12: But I mean, yeah, like the big thing for us is how we can, because with our elevators, there's always this element of education, right?

00:22:26: So when somebody says, hey, this is an air-driven elevator, they go like, wait, what do you mean by... What do you mean by air driven?

00:22:32: So there's always this element where we have to educate the users.

00:22:36: And one of the things over the past twenty years is the technology has become more common practice.

00:22:43: And people are familiarizing themselves more with, oh, pneumatic elevator, oh, a vacuum elevator and even seeking it out.

00:22:51: You know, we've seen our product featured in various television programs, home remodeling shows, you know, you know, even social media.

00:23:00: channels, you know, the TikTok, they're randomly appear, you know, and so what's exciting for us is removing sort of the stigma that... air technology or pneumatic technology, is anything really different than sort of more traditional lifts?

00:23:17: It actually has a lot of eco-friendly benefits because we don't use oils, gases or lubricants.

00:23:22: I mean, it's powered by the most abundant resource in the world, air for descent.

00:23:26: We're pretty much primarily only using gravity for descent.

00:23:30: So there's a lot of positive things that our technology has that maybe some other lifts don't.

00:23:36: And as a society, as particularly even in Europe here, I see where Eco-friendly technologies are becoming more of a priority or something that people are actively seeking.

00:23:48: I think it's important that we continue to innovate and provide the solutions that can allow us to have a more sustainable world.

00:23:57: That's great.

00:23:58: So thank you very much for joining this podcast, Patrick, and for being part here of the show.

00:24:03: Thank you so much.

00:24:04: Absolutely.

00:24:05: It was a pleasure.

00:24:05: Thank you.

00:24:06: Thank

00:24:06: you.