Elevator makers think outside the box – and even sideways

Elevators, produced by ThyssenKrupp, are pictured at the headquarters of Germany's industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp AG in Essen, Germany January 16, 2013. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender/File Photo

DUESSELDORF/ZURICH: ThyssenKrupp's new US$43mil (RM192.53mil) elevator test tower soars 246 metres (808 ft) above the German town of Rottweil, but the company's lifts chief is not only thinking vertically. 

Andreas Schierenbeck's newest elevator, based on magnetic-levitation technology developed for high-speed trains, can move sideways as well as up and down inside the tower's 12 shafts.