Kone is an international engineering and service company from Finland that employs approximately 55,000 people in 60 countries worldwide. Founded in 1910 in Espoo, near Helsinki, the company has been owned by one of Finland’s wealthiest families, the Herlin’s, since 1924. Specialising in the building of auto-walks, automatic doors and gates, escalators and elevators, the company’s sales revenue in 2018 was estimated by Forbes to be at $10.7 billion. Originally forged as a subsidiary of Gottfr. Strömberg Oy, KONE began to produce and install its own elevators in 1918. Six years later, entrepreneur Harald Herlin purchased the company and soon installed his son, Heikki, as its technical director. By 1932, he was the President. By 1957, the company’s first foreign subsidiary, AB Kone Hissar of Sweden, was established. In 1981, Kone entered the U.S. market by acquiring Armor Elevator Co. This was followed by a series of buys in Canada, Japan, Israel, the U.S. and, more recently, Central and East Africa. Frequently rated as one of the world’s most innovative companies, in 2018, it was listed at number 54 on Forbes annual list. The company has also been consistently ranked by the same publication as one of the world’s best employers and was ranked at number 105 on the latest list.
- Family name: Herlin family
- Sector: Diversified Industrial Product
- Founded: 1910
- Founder: Heikki Siren
- Country: Finland
- Company headquarters: Espoo, Finland
- Revenue: 9.4
- Employees: 49,734
- Website: kone.com
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