Case Study: Champion Elevators achieves 45 lb per-car weight savings and preserves safety margins with ANSYS DesignSpace

ANSYS DesignSpace Helps Texas-Based Elevator Manufacturer Reach for New and Higher Standards

Champion Elevator, a Texas-based maker of rack-and-pinion elevators for high-rise construction, offshore and industrial sites, needed to redesign its elevator cars to be more cost-effective and lighter while still meeting stringent building, electrical and safety codes. To do this, the company turned to ANSYS and used ANSYS DesignSpace for finite element modeling and analysis to verify safety margins and code conformance during redesign.

Using ANSYS DesignSpace, Champion refined car geometry, buffer arrangements, landing gates and forklift feet with detailed 3-D meshing and microanalysis, allowing targeted stiffening instead of extra steel. ANSYS’ solution preserved safety margins while enabling lighter materials and simpler manufacturing—saving 45 pounds of steel per elevator car—and verified components such as doors (0.3 in deformation vs. 0.75 in allowable). ANSYS also produced standardized reports for due diligence, reducing fabrication and shipping costs.

Champion Elevator

Bob Meiresonne

Engineering Manager