Kone focuses on IoT to ease up mobility

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

A 109-year-old Finnish company which began as a machine repair shop in Helsinki is committed to research and development (R&D) for continuing innovations that include the Internet of Things (IoT) with industry partners, to ease up the compounding problems of mobility brought about by burgeoning populations.

Kone-Global Marketing and Communications Managing Editor, Laura Vinha told Gulf Today: “Urbanisation is the major phenomenon driving our business. As increasing numbers of people move to cities, the need for housing, office space, leisure facilities and public transport hubs grows. The focus of Kone (Finnish for ‘machine’) is on improving people flow in and around buildings, and in this way making cities better places to live, work, and commute.”

She said, “Our focus is on developing innovations and breakthroughs that help improve buildings and people’s experience of moving within them. What we manufacture must operate safely and smoothly.”

The Kone high-rise laboratory testing site in Lohja, Finland is connected to the Tytyri Limestone mines, portions of which have been operational since the late 1800s, with a huge section converted into a museum since 31 years back.

The visit was part of the August 18 to 20 Press Tour which Business Finland had organised in relation to Helsinki’s participation at Expo2020 Dubai.

Finland at Expo 2020 Dubai Commissioner General, Severi Keinala said Kone will be among the 130 well-established and small-medium-enterprises participating at the Lumi (Snowcaped) Pavilion that will be a display of Finnish advancing technological ingenuity.

The Kone Tytyri high-rise laboratory was acquired in 1997, extensively renovated and re-opened in March 2017 for the growing demands for skyscrapers.

Complete with all the know-how for various climatic conditions, it is equipped with the world’s deepest and longest shaft in the world at 350 meters. There are 11 shafts with the combined length of 1.6 kilometres. These are “long enough to test technology for the tallest buildings in the world.” The dependability of the elevator technology rests on a “shaft long enough for an elevator car to accelerate, to run at the normal speed, to decelerate and to break.”