KONE Corporation, founded in 1910 and headquartered at Espoo, Finland, is an international engineering and service company employing some 27,000 people. It provides elevators and escalators and solutions for their maintenance and modernization, as well as maintenance of automatic building doors. The company provides local service for builders, developers, building owners, designers and architects in 800 locations in over 40 countries. In June 2005 the company was demerged into two separate companies. One retained the name KONE Corporation, and the other became Cargotec, and became listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange as well..
History
KONE was founded in 1910 and it has since been owned by one of Finland's wealthiest families, the Herlin family. Chairman of the Board was Harald Herlin 1924 - 1941, Heikki H. Herlin 1941 - 1987, Pekka Herlin 1987 - 2003 and currently Antti Herlin. KONE was one of the first Finnish companies to start major global operations in the 1960s.
Premises
The KONE Corporation offices are located in Finland, in Espoo. In the United States, the KONE (formerly Montgomery Elevator) offices are located in Moline, Illinois, part of the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa. The KONE tower is located near the Mississippi River, and is visible from Interstate 74.
Figures
KONE has annual net sales of approximately EUR three billion; its class B shares are listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The company is named after the Finnish word kone, meaning 'machine'.
Milestones
In 1996, KONE revolutionized elevator technology by launching the first machine-room-less elevator, Monospace.
