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KONE 2015 | SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
5
INTERVIEW WITH THE CHAIRMAN
AND THE PRESIDENT AND CEO
“We should remember
what new technology can
bring to sustainability.
Digitalization gives us the
opportunity to be more
efficient in our operations
and improve quality.”
-Henrik Ehrnrooth
Looking back at our progress during 2015, are
there any particular highlights which stand
out?
AH:
I was pleased to see that our growth was
geographically broad-based, not only in Asia,
which has been a major growth driver over the
last 20 years. Another highlight for me is that
2015 marked our 50th consecutive profitable
year.
HE:
The increasingly broad based growth in
both new equipment and in services was an
important achievement for us. Other areas
include our ability to constantly reduce our
carbon footprint. In fact, during the reporting
year, our operational carbon footprint is down
by over 60%, relative to orders received,
compared to 2008. We were also awarded a
position on the Climate Performance A-List by
CDP, recognized as one of the world’s leading
providers of climate change data.
AH:
Another aspect where we have made
progress is safety, which can have big impacts
on sustainable urban living, and our employees.
HE:
Yes, safety continues to be important in
everything we do. We have an ambition to
reach zero accidents and in 2015 the number
of incidents decreased again. The industrial
injury frequency rate (IIFR) improved further
from 2.8 last year, to 2.3 this year.
It is interesting when we look at safety and
business performance. Because what becomes
clear, when you look at that correlation, is that
our business units with the best safety track
record tend to have the same track record in
business performance. It all goes together hand
in hand.
How has KONE improved the integration of
environmental, social, and governance issues
into its business?
AH:
This is really important because
integration with the business happens over
the long term. We have to consider that we
are all sharing a global environment and
the resources we have at our disposal are
becoming increasingly scarce.
To be a leader in sustainability, efficiency
becomes more important. We need to be
resource-efficient in everything we do and
there are a lot of examples of how we have
made our products more efficient and more
sustainable.
The same applies to other areas. The less
waste material and wasted resources we have,
the more efficient we are, and that applies
throughout our operations and facilities.
HE:
Absolutely, and we should remember
that new technology is a significant enabler of
improved sustainability. The technology in our
products and services can significantly reduce
elevator and escalator energy consumption, while
reducing waiting time for users. Digitalization also
gives us the opportunity to provide new services
for our customers, which improve efficiency.
We are, for example, investing significantly in
diagnostics for our services which improves the
quality and predictability for our customers. The
agreement we announced with IBM in 2016,
will bring cognitive analytics to our services. In
practice, this means that we can resolve issues
before they occur, with our analytics platforms
constantly learning and becoming better at
identifying future needs. Technologies in smart
buildings is another example which can help
facility owners and managers to improve the
overall energy and resource efficiency of their
buildings, while improving people flow.
How can customers tell the difference between
companies that call themselves sustainable?
What are KONE’s differentiators?
AH:
I think it comes back to what we talked
about at the beginning. We work hard to
understand sustainability and all its dimensions,
including the environment, safety, quality and
continuous improvement. All of that runs deep
in the KONE culture. Our track record is very
strong and if you look at that, it tells you a lot
about our commitment to sustainability.
HE:
As I mentioned earlier, our mission is
to improve the flow of urban life, for our
customers and for the people who use our
equipment. Sustainability is embedded in not
only what we do, but how we do it and one of
our strength is definitely our pragmatic culture.
Our people want to develop themselves and
the company all the time. In 2015, we reached
a record high response rate of 93% in our
global employee survey, and this gives a strong
indication of the commitment they have in
making KONE an even better company.
Finally, our people and culture are built on
KONE’s values, which are about how we
develop as a strong company, contributing to
sustainable cities of the future.