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KONE 2016 | SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
5
INTERVIEW WITH THE CHAIRMAN
AND THE PRESIDENT AND CEO
“Sustainable and socially
responsible activity is an
important prerequisite for
the long-term success of
our company.”
- Antti Herlin
in our strategic target to be a leader in
sustainability.
Naturally we have been developing our
strategy and we are now embarking on the
next phase, Winning with Customers. This
marks a new and inspiring chapter for us.
In a fast-changing and connected world
that Antti referred to, customers advocating on
our behalf will lead to the best form of growth
and success for KONE. Winning with Customers
will help differentiate us and bring new levels of
customer centricity that have not been seen in
this industry before. This way we will help make
customers businesses more sustainable.
Can you reflect on the people aspects of
KONE’s progress, especially in areas like
safety and quality?
AH:
Well, I think that quality and safety
continue to be an integral part of KONE’s
strategy and a cornerstone of our business.
Many cities are undergoing urban
transformations and adopting sustainable
practices. However, it is important to remember
that in a life-cycle business, such as ours, safety
and quality remain essential and they are
deeply embedded in KONE’s culture.
HE:
I’d like to follow that by going through
how safety and quality are related.
Everything we do starts with safety, and
this can never be overstated. After all, each
day, over a billion people use equipment
that we service and we have thousands of
employees and contractors serving customers
and servicing equipment. We always want
our employees, and people who use our
equipment, to return home safely.
In 2016, it was good to see that our Industrial
Injury Frequency Rate (IIFR) was reduced further
to 2.1, down from 2.3 last year. The average lost
days per incident was reduced by 14.2%.
Service quality is absolutely critical to safety.
We work very closely together with customers,
building owners and equipment users to educate
and promote safety and deal with situations that
could lead to potential safety risks.
From a quality point of view, the quality
culture we promote encompasses our products,
processes, and all the services we offer from
design to maintenance and modernization.
Everyone at KONE is responsible for quality.
And have there been notable developments
during the year, when it comes to KONE people
and employees?
AH:
KONE people continue to be our best
ambassadors and a diverse employee base means
we can attract a more diverse base of customers
around the world. It is clear that we need to be
able to build deeper customer relationships and
better understand customer needs.
HE:
I couldn’t agree more. If we are to succeed
in a customer-centric environment, we need
many new perspectives and ideas, as well as
the ability to implement and execute.
There’s no doubt we have made progress:
in 2016, over 97% of eligible staff and over
94% of eligible technicians took part in
performance and career development reviews.
At the same time there has been a strong focus
on competence development, with over 3,400
training programs in our training offering.
However, we need to continue to
encourage diversity at KONE and make it
a competitive advantage for us. Diversity
will help broaden our capabilities, deliver
better value to our customers and meet their
changing needs.
Finally, how has KONE improved its business
performance while implementing sustainable
practices?
HE:
It’s worth remembering that sustainable
practices are good for business. Sustainability
leads to better energy efficiency, better
processes and better management of our
resources.
And, ultimately, benefits are passed on to
our customers, bringing them added value.
From our operations point of view, KONE’s
carbon footprint relative to net sales decreased
by 4.1% compared to 2015.
Our achievements have been recognized
worldwide. 2016 marked the second year
KONE has earned a place on the A List for
the CDP as one of only 193 companies from
thousands of others independently assessed
against CDP’s scoring methods. We also
received recognition as a leading supplier for
action on climate change.
AH:
Let me conclude by adding that
sustainable and socially responsible activity is
an important prerequisite for the long-term
success of our company. They are a driver for
innovation and growth and I believe there is an
exciting future ahead. With this in mind, we of
course strive to enhance our contribution to a
sustainable future, so that we can continue to
earn our stakeholders’ trust.
Read more
about KONE’s financial performance
on p. 38 - 40.