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KONE launches High-Rise MiniSpace™ DX elevator in Southeast Asia

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To better cater to the trends of infrastructure modernisation, buildings rising higher, and property owners’ demand for greater customisation and sustainability in Southeast Asia, KONE has announced the launch of the KONE High-Rise MiniSpace™ DX elevator. Capable of cutting energy usage by up to 30 percent on a typical day, this high-speed, large-capacity elevator can reach beyond 60 floors, and operate easily and cost-effectively.

 

For greater cost efficiency and sustainability, more and more building owners in Southeast Asia are opting to refurbish their properties and internal infrastructure like elevators and escalators, instead of tearing them down and building new ones. From this perspective, the KONE High-Rise MiniSpace™ DX elevator’s ultra-compact machine room space requirements, better price-performance ratio, and lightweight hoisting technology that reduces the amount of elevator shaft reinforcement needed are attractive.

 

Combining the latest sensor technology, this elevator can also pack a big punch into existing shafts by moving faster and potentially be a bigger car with even wider opening doors. This shortens waiting times and increases handling capacity as compared to the building’s current elevators. Further, modernising ageing elevators can reduce their energy consumption by up to 70 percent.

 

The High-Rise MiniSpace™ DX elevator comes with KONE UltraRope®, which is 80 percent lighter than traditional steel ropes, three times more durable, and can cut the energy consumption of a 500-meter elevator ride by up to 15er. The elevator’s other low-carbon features include hoisting motors, lighting and standby solutions that are highly energy-efficient, and sustainable construction materials. The KONE High-Rise MiniSpace™ DX can be easily customised with the necessary digital connectivity, as well as décor, lighting, and signalisation options. The wide array of choices appeals to increasingly sophisticated building owners.

 

“KONE’s constant innovation on the different fronts of elevator provision clearly distinguishes us on the market,” said Edward Loy, KONE Managing Director of Southeast Asia. “Our customers count on us to accelerate their business, and make buildings and cities more modern, efficient and enjoyable to live in.”

 

The KONE High-Rise MiniSpace™ DX elevator launch is a timely prelude to the company’s Rise strategy, which it will implement in Southeast Asia from 2025 to 2030. Through this strategy, KONE will move to lead in customer and employee experience, sustainability and innovations, as well as growth and profitability in its operating markets here, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

 

To reach this goal, KONE has defined four strategic shifts from its current strategy:

  • Accelerate digital and increase adoption of intelligent technologies, to fundamentally transform how KONE’s solutions operate and solve Southeast Asian customers’ business challenges. For example, the region faces manpower constraints in maintaining buildings and infrastructure like elevators and escalators. Adoption of connected digital solutions to manage infrastructure can, for example, automate the cleaning and maintenance of elevators, reducing the need for human-centric manual work. Predictive maintenance technology cuts costs and downtime. 24/7 AI-driven, digital connectivity will also give building owners and users slick, consumer-grade services compatible with today’s lifestyles. An application programming interface (API) based system enables building owners to add connected services and features over time.
  • Help building owners and cities maximise the returns on their past investments by modernising their current infrastructure, instead of demolishing and rebuilding. In Southeast Asia, there are many buildings more than 15 years old which are still in good condition. Governments and building owners can reduce cost and environmental impact through refurbishment, which can also improve safety and comfort.
  • Penetrate the residential building market, to add on to KONE’s lead in the commercial sector. The number of homes in Southeast Asia is expected to proliferate as more people move to the city. The United Nations predicted that by 2050, 68 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas, up from 55 percent today. This effectively adds 2.5 billion people to urban areas by 2050. Close to 90 percent of this growth is taking place in Asia and Africa.
  • Cut carbon through initiatives like utilising energy-efficient technologies and more sustainable materials, to provide a tailwind to Southeast Asian countries’ energy transition efforts. Many governments across the region, including those from Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, have already embarked on programs to make their countries more sustainable.

 

“Urbanisation is one of the greatest opportunities availing itself to Southeast Asian nations today,” continued Edward Loy. “KONE has been a resolute partner of the region for over 45 years, making cities here more prosperous, livable and sustainable with our technology and innovation. The new Rise strategy will pave the way for advancing that ambition.”

 

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KONE Awarded Industry-first Green Label Indonesia Certification

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KONE has become not only the first and only vertical transportation service provider, but also the first Finnish company to have its products certified by the Green Product Council Indonesia (GPCI). As a nod to its long-term commitment towards the green transformation of Indonesia’s built environment and beyond, the GPCI awarded the highest Gold rating in KONE’s recent Green Label Indonesia certification for six elevator and one escalator products.

 

The certified KONE products are KONE Minispace™, KONE E Minispace™, KONE N Minispace™, KONE E Monospace®, KONE N Monospace® and KONE S Monospace® elevators, as well as KONE TravelMaster™ 110 escalator.

 

The independent Green Label Indonesia certification scheme, introduced in 2015, promotes and facilitates the use of eco-friendly products and sustainable practices in the country’s construction industry. Through this eco-label certification, KONE’s elevators and escalators are on track to be recommended for the Green Building Council Indonesia’s Greenship and even the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings. Today, these certified elevator and escalator products are already implemented in many iconic buildings across Jakarta’s financial centre and Surabaya, bringing about smooth and efficient people flow.

 

“At KONE, we are committed to supporting our customers in achieving their building sustainability goals. To bring more transparency of our manufacturing and solution integrity to the market, we chose to complete the Green Label Indonesia certification process with seven of our best-selling elevator and escalator products. Achieving such a third-party accreditation helps us demonstrate the environmental stewardship of our manufacturing process, that we have proper controls in place to minimise the use of resources and reduce waste while upholding high standards of product safety and quality,” says Budi Silaban, KONE’s managing director for Indonesia.

 

“This recognition is also a great testament to KONE’s contributions in paving the way for Indonesia’s sustainability journey. We have been actively present in Indonesia for 30 years and hopefully more, to help customers effectively reach their sustainability targets, with green building solutions, best-in-class energy efficiency and solutions that extend the equipment lifetime.”

 

Yudiono, GPCI chairman, who graced the Green Label Indonesia certificate award ceremony last month at KONE’s head office in Jakarta, comments, “The Green Product Council Indonesia warmly congratulates KONE on being the country’s first elevator and escalator company to earn the Green Label Indonesia certification and impressively with the top Gold rating. For our construction industry, this marks a step change in pushing the boundaries of sustainable business practices and enables the market to make more informed decisions about elevator and escalator products. We look forward to partnering with KONE, with its advancements in sustainability and environmental achievements, to continue driving impact and promoting environmentally friendly programs widely including to suppliers.”

 

Beyond its Green Label Indonesia certification, KONE has also made significant strides in greening its local operations and elevating the industry. Last year, the company successfully replaced the entire petrol-based motorcycle fleet in Indonesia with electric vehicles for its field team of maintenance supervisors. With sustainability as an integral part of the business, KONE is also furthering regenerative drive technology to support customers in cutting electricity usage. Today, some 43 percent of KONE’s elevator car interiors are manufactured locally, earning it the Tingkat Komponen Dalam Negeri (TKDN) certification recognition in 2023.

 

 

KONE at Keppel Towers

KONE Awarded Contract to Equip New Development at Former Keppel Towers Site

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KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, has been awarded the contract to equip the new development at the former Keppel Towers site with a total of 23 elevators. The new commercial development will comprise a 32-storey Grade A office tower and ancillary retail spaces. KONE will provide the redeveloped building with 17 MiniSpace™ and 6 MonoSpace™ DX Elevators, which have built-in connectivity functions and will operate at a maximum speed of up to 8m/s.

The MiniSpace™ and MonoSpace™ elevators serving the office floors will be installed with Destination Control System that takes into account desired destination floors and the number of waiting passengers to significantly improve efficiency and convenience, as well as Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to allow potential future integration with the building’s in-house application or other third-party systems.

“KONE is pleased to be able to join Keppel Land in the redevelopment of Keppel Towers, as we have always recognised the importance of energy-efficient, innovation-led people-flow solutions without compromising performance,” said Samer Halabi, Executive Vice President, Asia-Pacific at KONE. “We are excited to partner with Keppel Land to achieve their vision of a future-proofed, sustainable, and intelligent commercial property.”

The order was booked in the third quarter of 2021, and the redevelopment of Keppel Towers is projected to be completed in 2024.

KONE Expands Office in Jakarta to Support Growing Indonesian Operations

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KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, recently announced that the inauguration of its new office in Jakarta, Indonesia. Indonesia is one of the fastest growing economies in the Asia Pacific region and infrastructure is undergoing rapid transformation to create cities of the future.

Riding on the country’s strong growth momentum, KONE’s new office is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to investing into its growing operations in Indonesia and providing quality service for their customers through introducing intelligent solutions.

The office is located in the newly completed MNC Land Tower in the heart of Central Jakarta, a 37-floor mixed-use office and luxury hospitality development. It houses KONE Indonesia’s head office and is also the base for KONE’s Customer Care Center in Indonesia.

Urbanisation levels in Indonesia has increased tremendously with 56 percent of its population living in cities. Together with the ongoing push by the government towards developing smart cities as part of their 100 Smart City Movement, this has brought about an increased demand for smart buildings.

According to Frost & Sullivan, smart and green buildings will comprise around 20 to 25 percent of Indonesia’s market by 2025. The growth in the elevator and escalator market in Indonesia is led by the residential and commercial markets in Jakarta together with an increasing number of mixed-use developments in other cities such as Surabaya, Makkasar and Batam.

The opening ceremony for the KONE office was led by Mr Henrik Ehrnrooth, President & Chief Executive Officer, Mr Axel Berkling, Executive Vice President of KONE Asia Pacific and Mr Yandy Januar, Managing Director of KONE Indonesia along with Guest of Honour, Mr Jari Sinkari, Ambassador of Finland to Indonesia.

Mr Berkling, Executive Vice President of KONE Asia Pacific said, “I’d like to express my heartfelt congratulations to our Indonesian colleagues on the opening of their new state-of-the-art office in Jakarta. We are proud of the tremendous growth and success KONE has achieved in both Indonesia and the wider APA region and reaffirm our commitment through our ongoing investment into the region to better service our customers.”

“Indonesia mirrors the regional trend of rapid urbanisation and increased connectivity for infrastructure development. With more people living in cities than ever before, smart and sustainable homes and offices are essential for quality and green city living. We are continuing to see an increasing demand for effective, safe and reliable People Flow solutions as standards of living continue to improve across communities,” added Mr Berkling.

KONE has been working closely with some of the country’s leading developers to supply elevators, escalators and turnstiles for commercial and residential buildings as part of the increasing demand for efficient people flow solutions

In line with the Indonesian government’s move to capitalise on growth opportunities arising from the 4IR, KONE has leveraged breakthroughs in state-of-the-art technologies such as AI and IoT to improve equipment performance, reliability and safety.

It is working with IBM to provide KONE 24/7 Connected Services, utilising IBM’s IoT platform to introduce intelligent services to elevators and escalators. The KONE service can predict potential issues before they occur in real-time. This service has enabled technicians to resolve potential problems before breakage and resulted in better planning of maintenance visits and improved value to customers.

Mr Yandy Januar, Managing Director of KONE Indonesia said, “Today marks a new chapter for KONE in Indonesia. Indonesia is a fast-growing and important market for KONE, catalysed by the country’s rapid socio-economic development and the ongoing technological revolution. We are grateful for our customers’ continued support and confidence. Our strong partnerships with leading developers in Indonesia and offering intelligent solutions to improve the safety and reliability of our elevators and escalators is a testament to our strength of providing efficient and reliable people flow solutions.”

KONE has been recognised as one of the world’s most innovative companies by Forbes. The company defines ‘People Flow’ as the movement of people in and between buildings. An efficient people flow means moving smoothly, safely, comfortably and reliably eliminating delays.

Escalator safety during the holiday shopping season

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With the right preparation, facility managers can rest easy this season by significantly reducing the risk of incidents around their elevator and escalator equipment.

With the right preparation, facility managers can rest easy this season by significantly reducing the risk of incidents around their elevator and escalator equipment.

By Matthew A. Pike

The holiday shopping season is here, and with it are holiday shoppers flocking to department stores and malls to cash in on the year’s biggest sales. Although gift ideas and savings are on everyone’s mind, the increase in foot traffic in malls and stores raises safety concerns for facility managers around the use of vertical transportation. Escalator safety is one of these areas of concern.

However, with the right preparation, facility managers can rest easy this season by significantly reducing the risk of incidents around their elevator and escalator equipment.

Confirm the shopping environment is prepared for heavy traffic.

Aside from assessing vertical transportation and identifying any potential issues that may arise in advance of a heavy traffic shopping season, it’s important to make sure the area around the equipment is suited to handle the increase in traffic.

Create and post new signage in advance of the shopping season, which will help deter bad behavior around elevators and escalators. Signs should include directions to the elevator and encourage families with small children and the elderly to use the elevators.

Finally, it’s important to not place any displays, especially those that particularly attract children, around elevators or escalators. Not only will this create congestion in the area and potential tripping hazards, but it could also be unsafe for children who might be inclined to play on the equipment.

Ensure employees are properly trained. An important step in keeping visitors safe during the shopping season is stationing employees of your facility near vertical transportation. While signage will help guide many visitors, it’s the physical employees who will enforce the rules and further discourage bad behavior around elevators and escalators.

Before the doors open on heavy traffic days, make sure employees know what to look for throughout their shift, and who should be directed toward the elevators. For example, children playing around equipment or elderly visitors who might have a difficult time navigating the equipment are better suited to use the elevator. Another consideration is to direct visitors who have several bags, a cart or carriage for children away from the escalator, as these items should always go on the elevator with patrons

Prevent visitors from using out-of-service escalators. An escalator shutdown during shopping season can be frustrating for visitors. If your escalator experiences issues during the heavy-traffic season, be sure to barricade it immediately. This can prevent two potential incidents. First, trips and falls are more likely on non-moving escalators being used as stairs, as the step risers are significantly different from regular stairs. Secondly, although the brake is designed to hold more than the equipment’s weight in the event of a shutdown, it is not meant to bear the dead weight of consistent foot traffic. Instead, the brake functions only to hold the step band in place. Once your escalator is barricaded, call your service provider right away to decrease your equipment’s downtime during the busy shopping season.

Shopping season is an important time for retail stores everywhere, when millions of consumers stop in to check a few items off their holiday gift lists. While foot-traffic seems like a difficult task to manage during this time, it can be done simply with a little preparation and planning from facility managers.

Pike is manager of customer based risk management for KONE. In this role, he helps develop and implement new programs aimed at addressing safety within vertical transportation equipment, which includes hands-on work with some of KONE’s largest customers across North America. This article was first published in Facility Executive.

KONE opens one of world’s tallest elevator test towers

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The Kunshan test tower is the tallest among KONE's eight global testing facilities.

The Kunshan test tower is the tallest among KONE’s eight global testing facilities.

KONE, one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry, recently celebrated the opening of one of the world’s tallest elevator test towers. The new 36-floor tower is centrally located at the KONE Park manufacturing site, engineering facility and research and development (R&D) center in the Kunshan New and Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone in Eastern China.

Reaching a height of 235.6 meters, the tower contains 12 shafts that can be reconfigured for testing new high-rise solutions and components. Permanent features include a high-speed elevator that carries visitors to a sky lobby and showroom at speed of up to 10m/s. This is the world’s first double-decker elevator to feature KONE UltraRope(TM) super-light rope technology.

“The new test tower demonstrates our strong commitment to developing R&D in mid- and high-rise elevator technology. We are the industry leader in China, and this investment will further strengthen our position in a rapidly changing market. Now that we have additional capacity and capability to test our innovations, we will be able to deliver new products faster than ever before,” says Henrik Ehrnrooth, CEO and President at KONE.

The Kunshan test tower is the tallest among KONE’s eight global testing facilities. KONE’s underground testing facility in Tytyri, Finland, is 305 meters deep, allowing the company to test elevators at speeds up to 17 m/s – the only testing facility in the world where such speeds can be reached. In the new Kunshan test tower, the maximum speed is 15 m/s.

The Kunshan R&D team works in close collaboration with KONE’s existing high-rise laboratory researchers in Finland. “It will bring our R&D units in Finland and China closer together. Geographically it benefits us to have two separate laboratories near our markets in Europe and Asia, serving both hemispheres,” adds Ehrnrooth.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs Olli Rehn, the Vice Mayor of Suzhou Xu Huimin, as well as KONE Chairman Antti Herlin, and KONE President and CEO Henrik Ehrnrooth.

KONE will supply 60 elevators to Sky Park, a mixed development in Cyberjaya

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kone040815KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, has won an order to supply 60 elevators to Sky Park, a highly integrated upcoming development in Cyberjaya, a town within Selangor, Malaysia.

Expected to be an iconic development in the skyline of Klang Valley, Sky Park spills over 11.12 acres of land, where six exclusively designed buildings will stand. The mixed development consists of serviced apartments, small office/flexible office (SoFo) complexes, strata office, commercial office, オンライン カジノ shopping mall and a sky bridge that links up five of the buildings.

KONE will deliver 23 KONE MonoSpace® elevators and 37 KONE MiniSpace® elevators to Sky Park. Out of 60 elevators, 44 will be scenic elevators to complement the unique building design while providing views of Cyberjaya. These elevators can reach the travel speed of 4m/s and are connected to the KONE E-LinkTM monitoring system that provides real-time information and statistical reports on their performance.

“We are elated that our close cooperation with MCT Bhd has resulted in providing the best people flow experience to this uniquely designed development,” says Neeraj Sharma, Executive Vice President for KONE Asia Pacific and Middle East.

Sky Park is developed by MCT Bhd and is scheduled to be completed by end of 2017.

The order was booked in the second quarter of 2015.

KONE wins order to equip Beijing’s tallest building to be

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KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, has won an order to equip China Zun, a 528m tall office building in Beijing’s central business district. KONE will deliver 142 elevators and escalators to what will be Beijing’s tallest building when completed in 2018.

KONE’s people flow solutions to China Zun will consist of 101 elevators and 41 escalators. The order includes 21 eco-efficient KONE DoubleDeck elevators that can reach speeds of 10m/s.

Jointly designed by a group of world-renowned agencies Kohn Pedersen Fox, Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, CITIC Architectural Design, Arup and Parsons Brinckerhoff, the mixed-use development is said to demonstrate efficiency, sustainability and creativity in design.

William B. Johnson, Executive Vice President for KONE Greater China says: “We appreciate the opportunity to again prove our high-rise capability in a landmark building like this. Sustainability is one of our hallmarks and we are proud that our energy-efficient high-rise solutions will be part of China Zun.”

 

KONE wins order for Sengkang General and Community Hospitals in Singapore

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KONE, an innovative leader in elevators and escalators, has won an order to supply elevators and escalators to Sengkang General and Community Hospitals.

Upon its completion, the 1,400-bed integrated hospital development will bring holistic, multi-disciplinary and patient-centric care to meet the healthcare needs of the residents in northeast Singapore. Sengkang General and Community Hospitals will be situated closely to light rail transit stations and have easy access to amenities such as retail complexes.

KONE will be installing energy-efficient KONE MiniSpace™ elevators, KONES MonoSpace®machine room-less elevators, KONE TranSys™ elevator, KONE TravelMaster™ 110 escalators and dumbwaiter elevators from an external source.

All elevators and escalators will be linked up by KONE E-Link™ monitoring solution with remote management capabilities. KONE E-Link™ provides real-time status updates of the equipment performance and facilitates rapid resolution deployment to ensure operational quality. In addition, some elevators casino online will be equipped to interface with Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV), ensuring smooth and on-time delivery for meals, documents etc.

“We are delighted to be awarded the contract for this new development. As an insightful organization, we were able to understand the end user requirements in a medical segment and provide the right kind of solutions,” said Neeraj Sharma, Executive Vice President for KONE Asia Pacific and Middle East. “KONE’s people flow planning expertise will enable patients, hospital staff, and visitors to move smoothly and safely within the hospital”.

KONE expands in East Malaysia with new Sabah office

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KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, recently opened a new branch office in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. This latest investment in Malaysia is to enhance the service level to its existing customer’s base and poises itself for growth in the East Malaysia.

KONE’s Malaysia operations, KONE Elevators (M) Sdn Bhd., wholly owned by KONE Corporation in Finland, has its new branch office situated at Cybersquare Commercial Centre, Kota Kinabalu.

“With increasing foreign and domestic investments, developments in East Malaysia is growing in tandem with the other states in the country and this expansion enables us to better serve and meet the needs of existing and new customers,” says Mr. Lim Chong Hoe, Managing Director, KONE Elevators (M) Sdn Bhd.

KONE’s innovative people flow solutions, best-in-class energy efficiency elevators offerings and People Flow Intelligence solutions like the destination operating panel, enhance the user experiences, contributing to development of smarter cities and buildings.

In June 2014, KONE Malaysia was awarded the contract to supply elevators, escalators and KONE People Flow Intelligence solutions including KONE highly innovative Destination Control System to KL118 Tower (Warisan Merdeka), a 118-storey mixed use tower developed by PNB Merdeka Ventures Sdn Bhd in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. KL118 is expected to be the tallest building in Malaysia upon its completion. KONE is also the provider of people flow solutions for Hatten City, a mixed-use development in Malacca, Malaysia. Its residential tower, Silverscape is among one of the highest building in the State of Malacca.

KONE has operated in the Malaysia since 1985 and acquired Fuji Lift & Escalator in 2006. Today, KONE is one of the fastest growing elevator and escalator companies in the Malaysia. Globally, KONE has over 1,000 offices in some 50 countries.