U.S.-based business magazine Forbes has ranked KONE the 39th most innovative company in the world. KONE is the only elevator and escalator company to have made it to the top 50.
Forbes magazine’s ranking is based on a metric called the “Innovation Premium”. It is a grade bestowed by Forbes upon a company as a measure of the premium the stock market has placed on the value of the company due to expectations of future innovative products, services, and new markets that will generate even larger income streams.
As the Forbes ranking shows, innovation is one of the key factors to KONE’s success. The company has always invested into its innovations with a view to the long term.
“Our mindset is that of a challenger. We are all the time intensively looking for opportunities to develop our products, services and processes in order to deliver a better customer and user experience” says Matti Alahuhta, CEO & President, KONE.
A strong example of KONE’s industry-leading innovation is the KONE MonoSpace®. This elevator system eliminates the need for a machine room and consumes 70% less energy than a hydraulic drive and 40% less than a geared traction elevator drive, making it the most eco-efficient and space-efficient solution on the market today. Another example is the KONE MaxiSpace™ elevator, which eliminates the need of a counterweight in the elevator shaft.
”It’s an honor to be included in this year’s Top 50 and be recognized as one of the world’s most innovative companies,said, ”Mr. Neeraj Sharma, Managing Director, KONE India. ”KONE has always taken the lead in delivering the best People Flow experience, keeping up with changing markets, customer needs, and introducing one of the widest range of movement offerings over the years. We feel proud that India is one of the key R&D centres for KONE and a lot of technology breakthroughs originate from here. The Forbes ranking is an acknowledgement of our consistent, quality driven, endeavours to be a step ahead of the times.” he said
This was achieved by developing eco-efficient hoisting machines, regenerative drives, LED lights, and standby solutions.
In the field of service innovations, KONE has created for example Modular-Based Maintenance, a harmonized process for preventive maintenance of elevators.
The list of world’s most innovative companies can be viewed on forbes.com.
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.com
About KONE in India
KONE’s presence in India dates back to 1984 and today it is one of the leading elevator companies in India. Based in Chennai, KONE India serves customers all over the country through its 40 branches and provides sustainable People Flow™ solutions for India’s rapidly growing cities. It employs about 2,800 people in the country.
KONE’s production unit in Chennai produces elevators for the Indian market as well as for Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The production unit also manufactures components for modernization projects in other Asian-Pacific markets such as Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. Chennai also has a training center where KONE’s installation engineers and field mechanics are trained to meet KONE India’s strong reputation for high quality and uncompromised safety, as well as the expectations of Indian customers, when installing and maintaining elevators and escalators. KONE’s global technology and engineering center is a testing and research hub which supports the latest technology and development of future KONE solutions.
KONE contributes to sustainable urban development with eco-efficient solutions that offer energy savings in buildings and deliver the best user experience. KONE is a pioneer in developing Eco-efficient™ solutions. KONE also actively contributes to local social development through its community involvement initiatives. KONE supports a childcare center and a consulting service for local mothers in Ayanambakkam village that provides information about children’s nutrition and other important issues including vaccination programs. KONE also sponsors one local secondary school and participates on a needs basis in emergency and local infrastructure improvement programs together with other local companies. www.kone.in
For further information, please contact:
Ms. Sreelakshmi Menon
Director Marketing & Communications
+918056041205