New wind in our sails
1996 was a pivotal year for KONE. The company renewed both its leadership and its principal product range in dramatic fashion.
At a March 14, 1996 press conference in Brussels, KONE announced a technology breakthrough that would revolutionize the industry. Its design engineers had found a way to apply linear-motor technology to the elevator in way that would eliminate the machine room in most low-rise installations. The same technology would later turn out to be adaptable to mid- and high-rise elevators. Dubbing its new hoisting machine the EcoDisc® and its machine-room-less elevator the MonoSpace®, KONE rapidly went from straggler to head of the class.
The enthusiasm with which elevator markets welcomed KONE MonoSpace® made it possible for the company to streamline all the major parts of its business, from production to installation and spare parts supply. Costs would come down as order volume increased and productivity improved. KONE began winning market share and improving its profitability at the same time.
In the autumn of the same year, Antti Herlin was named deputy chairman of the board and CEO. His father was tired and increasingly unwell, but Antti soon proved himself capable of leading the company into the new millennium.
KONE opened a Greenfield factory in China in 1998, just in time to catch the crest of the wave that would make China the No. 1 elevator and escalator market in the world. One indication of how deeply the company was committed to globalization was the naming of a Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Chauvarie in 1998 and three years later a German, Manfred Eiden, as president.