Kone Building in Keilaniemi, Espoo
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Julkinen osakeyhtiö | |
Traded as |
Nasdaq Helsinki: KNEBV OTC Pink: (ADR) |
Industry | Engineering and service |
Founded | 1910 |
Headquarters |
Helsinki, Finland Corporate Headquarters |
Key people
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Antti Herlin (Chairman) Henrik Ehrnrooth (President and CEO) |
Products | Elevators, escalators, automatic building doors |
Revenue |
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Profit |
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Total assets |
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Total equity |
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Number of employees
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52,104 (2016) |
Website | www |
KONE Oyj (officially typeset KONE and pronounced /koʊneɪ/), founded in 1910 and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, is an international engineering and service company employing some 49,000 personnel worldwide. The firm is the 4th largest manufacturers of elevators and escalators worldwide, and also provides maintenance services and modernization. In addition, KONE builds and services automatic doors and gates. The company provides local service for builders, developers, building owners, designers and architects in 1,000 offices in over 50 countries. Since 1924, KONE has been owned by one of Finland's wealthiest families, the Herlin family. After Harald Herlin purchased the company in 1924, he served as its Chairman until 1941. Afterwards, his son, Heikki H. Herlin, took over his father's post from 1941–1987. Control of the company was then handed down to his son, Pekka Herlin, which he retained from 1987–2003. The current Chairman of KONE's Board of Directors from 2003 onwards is Antti Herlin, the son of Pekka Herlin.
In the Finnish language Kone means "machine" or "device".
KONE (then known as Osakeyhtiö Kone Aktiebolag) was founded in 1910 as a subsidiary of Gottfr. Strömberg Oy. Strömberg's license to import Graham Brothers elevators was transferred to the new company. KONE sold just a few units before terminating the licensing agreement in 1917. KONE, then a company with only 50 employees, started to make and install its own elevators in 1918. Six years later, in 1924, entrepreneur Harald Herlin bought KONE from Strömberg and became the new chairman of the company's Board of Directors. His son, Heikki H. Herlin, joined the company and was appointed technical director in 1928. His office was located in a former margarine factory on Haapaniemi Street in Helsinki that KONE had bought and converted into an elevator production facility the previous year. Heikki H. Herlin took over as KONE's president in 1932. KONE's first foreign subsidiary - AB Kone Hissar of Sweden - was established in 1957.