The deteriorating economic outlook in Finland and abroad has not affected the result of Kone Corporation, one of the leading companies in the global elevator and escalator business. The outlook for Kone remains good, as about 65 per cent of its net sales are derived from the servicing and modernisation of elevators and escalators ­ operations unaffected by the business cycle. Kone's order book is also strong for the next twelve months ahead. Kone's success is usually attributed to its innovativeness and reliability.

In a field where success depends on expertise, it is important to place sufficient emphasis on product development. An excellent example of Kone's innovative product development is the machine-room-free KONE MonoSpace elevator, which gave birth to a new industry standard in 1996. These machine-room-free elevators are powered by KONE EcoDisc machines. The innovation has rapidly conquered markets worldwide and is now the company's most important product. Its lighter, more compact solution saves in construction costs and space. Furthermore, the EcoDisc machines are environmentally friendly, as energy consumption is clearly lower than in elevators with machine rooms. The EcoDisc machines recovers a phenomenal 93 per cent of used energy.

Heavy emphasis on R&D

Kone's heavy emphasis on product development was successful also in 2000, when the company launched the KONE Alta skyscraper elevator and the KONE TransSys freight elevator. To improve its skyscraper elevators, Kone built the world's longest elevator shaft ­ 350 meters ­ in an old limestone mine in Lohja, Finland. The company has been developing the KONE Alta elevators there since 1998. The product development work has borne fruit, as the KONE Alta elevator, launched in 2000, is the world's fastest elevator (17 m/s) and its capacity reaches a height of 500 meters.

Product reliability is of utmost importance in the field and Kone continuously strives to improve it. Kone has set itself the goal that only one interruption in the elevator ride is to be allowed per elevator per year. Presently, Kone is co-operating with Nokia in the development of a proactive long-distance elevator monitoring system, in which elevators will themselves inform of coming defects and in which repairs can handled reliably through distance work. The long distance monitoring system is expected to be operational within the next twelve months. Kone's product development outlays in 2000 amounted to around EUR 37 million.

A global business

With its 9 per cent share of the market, Kone Corporation is the world's fourth largest elevator company. Kone's net sales in 2000 totalled about EUR 2.6 billion. Kone consists of the listed parent company Kone Corporation and 150 subsidiaries in 40 countries. Kone has about 800 service points in 50 different countries and employs about 23,000 people. The U.S. employs the most, about 5,200 people. Kone delivers over 20,000 new elevators and escalators every year. Its service network covers nearly 500,000 elevators and escalators. The Finnish parent company, Kone Corporation, was established in 1910.

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