The year 2010 is a momentous one for KONE Corporation. KONE was founded in 1910 as a tiny machine shop; and has evolved into one of the world’s largest elevator and escalator companies.
As we celebrate our centennial, we look back on the rich and inspiring history of KONE and see how much of an impact our solutions have made in urban living over the past century.
KONE has been at the forefront of technological breakthroughs that have revolutionized the industry and are essential elements of today’s world. As urban areas continue to grow, the importance of improving the eco-efficiency of our products and solutions has been steadily increasing. This is one area in which we have made tremendous ground in the past decade and our solutions are among the most efficient in the industry.
This year, we are also proud to be an official national partner of Finland’s Kirnu pavilion at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo which begins in May. The World Expo’s theme, ‘Better City, Better Life’, corresponds with KONE’s vision of providing energy efficient and user friendly People Flow™ solutions in an increasingly urbanized world.
On behalf of KONE, I thank you all for being an integral part of our development these past 100 years.
Matti Alahuhta
President & CEO, KONE Corporation