Whether in office buildings or sports arenas, the smooth operation of doors and gates is crucial to the running of a building and to the safety of its users. To ensure this safety for our customers – and to increase in-house production – ISS Switzerland has launched a new service.
ISS Switzerland’s door and gate services were launched on January 1, 2023. One year later, Bruno Wolf, Head of Technical Services for the Eastern Region, is pleased: “The rollout went well, and the service has a lot of potential. There is high demand, so we can continue to expand our in-house production.”
It all began with the Swiss Life Arena, owned by ZSC Lions Immobilien AG - a new client for ISS Switzerland at the time. Bruno Wolf was able to recruit two proven experts for the new service: Stev Seeler, a door and gate technician specializing in complex large-scale systems who has been working in this field for 14 years, and Renée Hagen Zeutschler, a trained metalworker and experienced door and gate technician who also has 14 years of professional experience in the field. Bruno Wolf plans to build a team of five by the end of 2024.
Expert team (from left to right): Bruno Wolf, Head of Technical Services, with the two door and gate technicians Renée Hagen Zeutschler and Stev Seeler.
“Check, Inspect, and Repair”
ISS’s new service includes inspection, maintenance, and repair; the team works on a wide variety of models, such as emergency and fire-rated doors, roll-up and tilting gates, lift-and-lower gates, revolving doors, and more. Depending on the type, the intervals for inspection and maintenance vary.
During an inspection, the “Check, Look, and Test” principle is followed, as Bruno Wolf explains. This means examining the doors and gates professionally and using all the senses to check their functionality. Maintenance is significantly more involved: mechanical parts are unscrewed, individual components are inspected - for example, anti-pinch and fall protection features are tested on roll-up doors - and parts are greased and lubricated.
In the Swiss Life Arena alone, there are nearly 1,000 doors and gates, the maintenance and repair of which kept ISS experts busy in the second half of 2023. “In a sports arena, doors are subjected to heavy use, and it is absolutely crucial that escape routes and fire safety are 100 percent guaranteed at all times,” says Bruno Wolf.
Expertise and experience: Stev Seeler inspects a roll-up door for loose components and to ensure it operates smoothly.
“At the Swiss Life Arena, we need a service that operates 24/7. ISS makes a top-notch contribution here and ensures the operational safety of the doors and gates for game operations. And they do so consistently with the right level of quality.”
Jan Aeschlimann, Head of Facility Management at the ZSC Lions
A Strong, Collaborative Partnership
The approximately 1,000 doors and gates at the Swiss Life Arena were manufactured by six different door manufacturers. And it is precisely this product diversity that Bruno Wolf sees as one of the greatest challenges in the service he established: “The complexity places high demands on technical maintenance. For the buildings we manage, we assess how to best ensure operational safety and quality and seek the best solution for maintenance work.” For Bruno Wolf, collaboration with manufacturers is also a key aspect of this process. In this regard, he draws a positive conclusion. He notes that they work in a spirit of partnership with the manufacturers, which enables them to offer ISS customers a reliable and seamless service.
Jan Aeschlimann, Head of Facility Management at the ZSC Lions, can confirm this as well: “At the Swiss Life Arena, the doors and gates system is one of the most critical components and ensures a safe flow of people during events every day. We need a service that operates 24/7. ISS makes a top-notch contribution here and ensures the operational safety of the doors and gates for game operations. And they do so at all times with the right level of quality.”
In addition to the Swiss Life Arena, the two-person ISS expert team has already performed initial maintenance at several of ISS’s key accounts, with more scheduled for 2024 - all in Eastern Switzerland so far. The goal is to roll out the service step by step throughout Switzerland. In recent months, it has become clear that the service is in demand not only for periodic maintenance work; customers are also seeking support in troubleshooting malfunctions. “Our customers ask us: If you take over maintenance for us, will you also come when malfunctions occur? And I can say: Yes, we can. Because when we offer something, we guarantee the entire package,” explains Bruno Wolf.
Renée Hagen Zeutschler knows every step involved in maintaining a door-closing system.
At the Swiss Life Arena in Zurich alone, ISS is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of approximately 1,000 doors and gates. This includes 732 mechanical metal and wooden doors. In addition, there are doors with electrical components: 33 roll-up doors, 81 fire-rated doors, 60 ZUKO doors (equipped with badge readers), 21 sliding and swing doors, and 46 emergency exit doors.