KONE Corporation, press release, October 10, 2012

KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, celebrates its annual People Flow Day today. During the day, close to 800 KONE employees in 26 countries around the world will act as researchers and visit approximately 100 sites to get closer to customers and building users. Via this ethnographic study, KONE gains a deeper understanding of customer needs and user experience in practice.

This year's theme is design and KONE employees are studying elevator and escalator use from an aesthetic, functional and emotional view point. In 2012 design receives special attention at KONE as the company. KONE is one of the main corporate sponsors of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 project. The ideals of World Design Capital are firmly in line with those that KONE incorporates into its products and services - embedding design and good user experience into everyday life in an increasingly urbanized world.  

"Design plays a key role in KONE's vision and strategy. We are creating the best People Flow® experiences and solutions for our customers and users, meaning we are enabling people to move smoothly, safely, comfortably, and without waiting in and between buildings. User experience is strongly connected to emotions and feelings, and it is obvious that design is a part of this experience," says Timo Tiainen, Director of Design Solutions at KONE. "It is also one of the most significant elements of our new elevator offering, launched earlier this year. Design is a differentiator that sets us apart."

The year 2012 marks the third time KONE organizes People Flow Day, with the centennial year 2010 being the first.

The valuable data obtained during the event will be passed on to KONE's research and development teams with the future objective of developing new solutions. KONE regularly conducts end-user studies to test the usability of solutions in different building environments.

For further information, please contact:

Anne Korkiakoski, EVP, Marketing & Communications, KONE Corporation, tel. +358 204 75 4775

Read more
about KONE's new elevator offering and award-winning design from our website at
www.kone.com/press
New industry-leading elevators from KONE

KONE wins four prestigious red dot design awards

About People Flow Day: www.kone.com/pfd