Kone

Kone Oyj (; officially known as KONE and trading as KONE Corporation) is an elevator engineering company employing over 60,000 personnel across 60 countries worldwide. It was founded in 1910 and is now headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with its corporate offices located in Espoo. In addition, Kone builds and services moving walkways (referred to by the company as autowalks), automatic doors and gates, escalators, and lifts. In the Finnish language, Kone means "machine". Since 1924, Kone has been controlled by the Herlin family. Harald Herlin purchased the company in 1924 and served as its chairman until 1941. Afterward, his son, Heikki H. Herlin, took over his father's post from 1941–1987. In 1954, Pekka Herlin joined Kone and succeeded his father as president in 1964. Since 2003, Antti Herlin, the son of Pekka Herlin, has been its chairman. , Antti Herlin controls 62% of the voting rights and 22% of the shares of the company, which is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. History 1910–1964 Kone (then known as Osakeyhtiö Kone Aktiebolag) was founded in 1910 as a subsidiary of Gottfr. Strömberg Oy. Strömberg's license to import Graham Brother's 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 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.