Lift Engineering
 |
|
| Industry | Lift firm |
|---|---|
| Fate | Bankrupt |
| Founded | 1965 Carson City, Nevada, United States |
| Defunct | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Carson City, Nevada, United States |
|
Key people
|
Jan K. Kunczynski Les Okreglak |
| Products | Ski lifts, Rails (Funicular, Monorail) |
Lift Engineering, more commonly known as Yan Lifts, was a major ski lift manufacturer in North America. Founded in 1965 and based in Carson City, Nevada, the firm came under scrutiny by state safety officials after a fatal accident in 1985, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 1996.
The company built at least 200 fixed-grip chairlifts, as well as 31 high-speed quads, while becoming one of the most successful yet controversial lift firms in the ski industry. The company's high speed quads have been involved in the deaths of five people and the injury of 70, the worst record of any ski-lift maker operating in North America. Yan fixed-grip chairlifts however, continue to have an excellent reputation.
After a series of accidents, Yan Lifts were outlawed in certain states including California and Colorado. The company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1996. Eventually, Yan Lifts manufactured new track and cables for the Angels Flight funicular, but the company, now called YanTrak, went out of business in 2001 after a major accident.
Lift Engineering was founded by Janek Kunczynski, a Polish immigrant and former ski racer who initially worked at Poma. He left Poma in 1965 and founded Lift Engineering to build his own ski lifts. One of his first customers was Squaw Valley. The name "Yan" is the English spelling of his first name, and the brand under which Mr. Kunczynski sold his lifts.
The company grew through the 1970s and 1980s. Mr. Kunczynski was known for dining with prospective clients (après-ski) instead of just simple negotiating, and would sketch plans out on paper napkins. Another attractive feature to buyers was the price. Mr. Kunczynski sold his lifts at prices well below those of larger manufacturers. Mr. Kunczynski is also credited with being the first manufacturer of ski lifts to incorporate aesthetics into the design of his equipment, creating sleek designs that were popular with ski resorts.
The company is most noted for its achievements in designing fixed-grip chairlifts. Mr. Kunczynski created a standard system that served the company well. The design was simple and easy to operate and maintain. For example, rather than put all the control panels in the operator's booth, and thus potentially confuse whoever is operating the lift, Yan operator booths contain only two switches: a switch that stops and starts the lift, and one that selects its speed. The main controls were placed in the standard shipping crate-reminiscent machine room. Lift Engineering was the first (and only) company to design and build a DC motor control tailored specifically to the ski lift industry (System 4200 and later Base 10). From the company's beginnings, it always designed and built its own low voltage controls. Finally, besides being easy to operate, Yan lifts are also easily maintained — the setup is allegedly foolproof - both mechanically and electrically. Yan's tower designs were also always overbuilt, meaning that it is possible to turn one of his triple chairs into a fixed quad, or double into a triple, merely by changing the chairs, something that was actually done at Killington, Vermont and Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia, respectively.
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