A smooth ride – Jonathan Huang's ensuring quality all over the world People behind the story

Jonathan Huang, our ride quality expert and senior master trainer in New Zealand, hardly ever carries a coin. When he does, it's for a special reason: to perform the “coin test”.

Before an elevator is handed over to the customer, it’s common practice to perform this special test to check the quality of the installation work. You balance a coin on its edge on the floor of the elevator, or even on the edge of its rounded-smooth handrail, and you watch. The coin shouldn’t move when the elevator begins operating, as it continues its journey, or when it stops. This test doesn’t allow for even the smallest jolt.

The coin test, Jonathan is quick to note, is more anecdotal than anything else and we naturally have many other tools and methods to assess quality and comfort levels.

“Still,” he adds with a smile, “even if it’s more for amusement, it’s a somewhat nerve-racking feeling. The first ride is always a special experience.”

Childhood dreams

Jonathan grew up in a small rural village outside Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, in southern China. The country’s economy was booming at the time and new buildings were shooting up everywhere like mushrooms, even in his village. 

By the age of seven, Jonathan was helping out his elders build new houses in the village. His first task was to pull out used nails from wooden frames and straighten them to be reused.

“It was hard work but more fun than homework”, he says. “And it instilled in me a dream to work in construction at an early age.”

His father had other plans, however. At university, Jonathan studied business administration, as his father thought a career in accounting offered better prospects in China’s growing service-oriented economy.

Jonathan’s first job was at our office in Guangzhou, where he worked as an intern in the finance department. He had already come a long way from the countryside, but his first impression when he walked into the building brought back memories from his childhood dream – and would go on to shape his future career.

From trainee to master trainer

“I’ll never forget the first time I took the elevator in the Schindler office,” he says. “The speed! That was my first impression of Schindler – it was quite striking.” 

So, when given the opportunity to become a technical trainee and learn about elevator installation and standards, he didn’t hesitate. 

“During the interview they basically only had two questions: ‘Are you afraid of getting dirty?’ and ‘Do you like traveling?’ I said I’m not afraid of getting dirty and I'd love to travel!” It was a major turning point in Jonathan’s career. 

As a tech trainee, his first assignment was to work as a translator for two visiting European master trainers, one from Germany and one from Switzerland. The role of a master trainer is essentially to train employees on new technologies used by the company (like Schindler R.I.S.E).

The next step in his career was to put his learning into practice and work with installations as a field engineer, “doing the work from A to Z”, as he puts it. This work led him to projects and roles all across China and further afield in Asia. 

Today, with this wealth of experience under his belt, Jonathan is one of our top ride quality experts.

Working on a large scale

The biggest project Jonathan has ever worked on was at the Ping An Finance Center in Shenzhen, in southern China. It’s the city’s tallest skyscraper and the fifth tallest in the world. Jonathan was called in to conduct ongoing testing during the installation process, right up until the project was completed, which meant he was stationed there for two years. He still recalls his first day working at the site. 

“It was overwhelming. You feel so little in front of such a monster building,” he says, recalling that he stood at ground level trying to count the number of floors.  

“And still at the time it was still only halfway finished,” he adds. “It would be twice as tall when completed!”