KONE - dedicated to People Flow already for 100 years
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
KONE Corporation, press release, October 27, 2010
KONE celebrates today its journey of a century. As an industrial engineering
company, the company has been involved in many diverse businesses, but always
maintaining the elevator and escalator business as its main focus. It has become
an industry leading company with innovative, safe and eco-efficient solutions to
deliver the best People Flow experience
Global leading elevator and escalator company KONE has come a long way the last
100 years. From its start as a tiny machine shop in Helsinki, Finland, it has
become a company with annual net sales of close to five billion euros,
approximately 33,000 employees and operations worldwide. Today it is an
acknowledged technology leader and has established itself as a major player in
the world's fastest growing markets as well as solidified its position in its
traditional markets.
"Throughout its history, KONE has demonstrated an ability to adapt to a changing
world and to create new opportunities for growth. Urbanization, aging
population, and the increasing importance of safety are the challenges societies
face today and even more increasingly in the future," says Matti Alahuhta,
President and CEO of KONE Corporation. "KONE wants to contribute to sustainable
urban development with eco-efficient solutions that offer energy savings in
buildings and enable the best user experience," continues Alahuhta.
Short history of KONE
In 1908, a machine shop named Tarmo ("vigor") opened in Helsinki. Tarmo's owners
incorporated their business as KONE ("machine") Ltd. on October 27, 1910. The
tiny machine shop was sold to Strömberg, a producer of electric motors and
equipment as well as importer and installer of elevators. In the early 1920s,
KONE turned to producing consumer products such as carbide lamps, coffee mills
and blades for ice hockey skates. In 1924 KONE became an independent company as
Strömberg, amid its financial difficulties, sold its shares to the Herlin
family. In the following decades cranes and hoists were added to the product
line and equipment maintenance and repair central to business strategy.
The new Hyvinkää factory was opened in 1967 with a capacity of 2,000 units per
year, double the size of Finland's total elevator market and far more than
KONE's total annual output at that time. KONE was set ready to become the first
Finnish company to truly internationalize its operations. Its
internationalization breakthrough occurred in 1968 with the acquisition of
ASEA's elevator business. In 1974 KONE took another gigantic leap forward with
the acquisition of Westinghouse's European elevator business. Mid 1970's KONE
was an elevator, crane and conveyor company. In the following years KONE
expanded its operations into various businesses.
Mid-1990's KONE divested its crane, wood-handling, cargo access and instrument
businesses. In 1994, KONE purchased Montgomery Elevator Company, the fourth
largest elevator company in the United States. It would later proceed to buy the
remaining shareholding in its escalator partner, Germany's O&K Rolltreppen. KONE
also expanded its operations in the rapidly growing markets of China, India,
Russia and Middle-East. In 1996, KONE made a technology breakthrough that would
revolutionize the industry, by introducing the new hoisting machine of EcoDisc®
and its machine-room-less elevator the MonoSpace®. Since 2005, KONE has
outperformed the competition in terms of growth and profit margin improvement.
For further information, please contact:
Anne Korkiakoski, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Communications, KONE
Corporation, tel. +358 (0)204 75 4330 emailcorporate.communications(at)kone.com
More information on KONE's history:
http://www.kone.com/corporate/KONE_100_years/Pages/default.aspx
To download KONE images, visit KONE media library
About KONE
KONE is one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry. The
company has been committed to understanding the needs of its customers for the
past century, providing industry-leading elevators, escalators and automatic
building doors as well as innovative solutions for modernization and
maintenance. The company's objective is to offer the best people flow experience
by developing and delivering solutions that enable people to move smoothly,
safely, comfortably and without waiting in buildings in an increasingly
urbanizing environment. In 2009, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 4.7 billion
and approximately 34,000 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the NASDAQ
OMX Helsinki Ltd in Finland. Founded in 1910, KONE celebrates its centennial
anniversary in 2010.
www.kone.com
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Source: KONE Oyj via Thomson Reuters ONE
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 27.10.2010 - 08:35 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 46555
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