KONE is one of the world leaders in elevators, escalators and doors, employing 40,000 people worldwide and working on key projects in the UK such as The Shard, London Underground and Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.
In October KONE held its annual ‘PeopleFlow Day’ which saw employees visit key sites around the world to pay special attention to the accessibility of different groups, such as wheelchair users, visually impaired people, senior citizens and families with young children. The invaluable research and development data will be used to develop solutions that meet the needs of users and building owners alike.
“KONE regularly conducts end-user studies to test the usability of solutions in different building environments to further improve the solutions that we deliver to our customers,” said Michael Williams, managing director of KONE.
“Our vision is to be an expert in transporting people through buildings smoothly, efficiently and in a safe manner without waiting. We need to conduct regular research such as the People Flow Day to ensure that we remain aware of what our vision means in practice.”
More than 900 KONE employees in over 30 countries around the world visited 150 sites to meet with customers and building users as well as observe the buildings during a typical weekday.
This year over half of the world's population will be living in cities and other urban areas. This concentration of people in cities increases the importance of moving them efficiently from one point to another.
This is one of the main reasons why KONE’s focus is on innovative solutions to make it easier for people to move around in buildings. By positioning elevators, escalators and other transport devices such as autowalks and automatic doors, in a manner that minimises queuing and blocking of passenger traffic, building owners can ensure that their buildings are as efficient as possible.
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For further information contact: Jennifer Chatham at Chatham Communications (t) 0121 374 2534 or (m) 07775 912818
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 2010, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 5 billion and approximately 33,800 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd in Finland.
www.kone.co.uk
KONE’s vision is to be an expert in transporting people through buildings smoothly, efficiently and in a safe manner without waiting. To gain deeper insight into what this vision means in practice, KONE holds an annual People Flow Day around the world.
KONE’s People Flow Day is designed to bring us closer to users and our customer. Teams of our employees act as researchers, talking to customers, interviewing the public, making on-site observations and filling in questionnaires. By studying exactly how, where and why people move in buildings during a typical weekday, our employees gather first-hand information on both the user and customer experience.
The People Flow Day activities are focused on either visiting an existing building to observe users or meeting a customer in six different types of buildings: hotels, offices, medical facilities, transport hubs, residential buildings and retail premises.
2011 marks the second year we will organize this event - with 2010 being the first year.
Accessibility for everyone highlighted in 2011
In October 2011 the People Flow Day will be organized in over 30 countries. This year our employees will pay special attention to the accessibility challenges of different user groups, such as wheelchair users, visually impaired persons, senior citizens, busy people and families with young children.
“The day is a great opportunity for our employees to see in action what our vision means for KONE. The focus on accessibility will provide insight into the daily challenges of the different user groups, and as a customer driven company, this event further shows our dedication as we strive to build our understanding of our customers and their end-users” said Kim Blomberg, Global Project Manager for the event.