KONE Innovates Best People Flow Experience

Indian cities are getting bigger horizontally and taller vertically, resulting in a promising market for elevators and escalators. Amit Gossain, MD, KONE India in an interview with S.A.Faridi shares the company's innovative and technological expertise in offering secure, smart, and energy-efficient services for people flow.

What is the current market scenario and future outlook of the Elevators & Escalators industry in India?
The Indian real estate sector is an integral part of the economic performance and is expected to be a major beneficiary in the coming economic growth. The momentum is now set in early with encouraging news from the Government on policies relating to the real estate industry. REIT's, RERA and smart cities are some welcoming moves announced in the last two years budget which will have a positive impact on the real estate industry growth. Demographic statistics also suggest that India will be a leading destination for real estate business globally.

The major drivers supporting real estate sector include urbanization, rising income level, young population, growing number of nuclear families and strong growth expected in manufacturing and services sector. The country's growing urban population is equivalent to the total population of certain advanced economies. With urbanization growing at this pace, it is expected to create demand for spaces to live and work - those which are safe and energy efficient.

Owing to an increase in demand for space, cities have to get bigger and taller which results in both horizontal and vertical growth. Thus India emerges as one of the most promising markets for elevators and escalators with a high growth trajectory going forward.

It's an era of smart technology and sustainability. How well is KONE equipped to incorporate these into its products and solutions?
By 2050, 50% of India's population will be living in cities. Our customers will face growing requirements for seamless building services, energy-efficiency and connectivity to attract tenants and users. To serve these goals, buildings need to become more intelligent and more integrated. Hence, KONE solutions have to also connect and interact with other smart building systems, at the same time ensuring adequate level of security and safety.

New technologies, such as cloud computing, modern sensors, big data, digital media and smart mobile applications, will create significant possibilities to take next leaps in productivity and customer value. Products and operations will go increasingly into digital format, opening completely new business opportunities.

At KONE, we are continuously looking for digital innovations, which enable the best people flow experience. Innovation can happen when we match the customer need, business opportunity and the digital solution and one such example is the coming together of KONE and technology giant IBM Watson- the agreement to provide cloud based Internet of Things technologies and services. This will certainly benefit the customer in remote monitoring of elevators and escalators which will deliver smart people flow experiences going forward.

Sustainability is an integral aspect of how we do business. At KONE, environmental responsibility is a combination of offering our customers innovative solutions that are both energy and cost-efficient, and reducing adverse environmental impacts of its own operation. Our current range of Monospace elevators are 90% more energy efficient than from the 1990's.

KONE's leadership in sustainability has been recognized by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), where KONE was ranked as a world leader for corporate action on climate change in 2015 and was awarded a position on the climate performance A list.

What are the new innovations and launches being planned by KONE?
Our history of innovation is one of our success factors and we always believe in being closer to the customer and consumer to innovate better - main reason for having our Indian Technology and Engineering Center (ITEC) in Chennai. ITEC has been playing a key role in supporting KONE India's market development.

Completing the projects on time is one of the top priorities for all the builders in any project and if it's a high rise, it becomes a greater challenge for the elevator company - to safely transport all the required construction materials and people to the desired height. That's when KONE came with an innovative solution called the JUMP lift - a construction time elevator which uses the building hoists to move upward as the construction progresses.

KONE also led the way by introducing a new hoisting technology 'KONE Ultra rope' - a super light carbon fiber core. The Ultra rope is 90% lighter than the equivalent steel cable, thereby reducing more than 50% reduction in moving masses and 15% reduction in energy consumption. It also allows the elevator to travel up to one km in a single run, double of what's currently possible with a steel cable.

It gives us immense pleasure when all these innovations are actually transferred to the customer. One such moment was when we became the vertical transportation partner for the world's tallest tower - the 'Kingdom Tower Saudi Arabia'. This tower will have the world's fastest double decker elevators with Ultra rope technology traveling at a record speed of 10m/s.

All these innovations have made us feature for the 5th time in the Forbes list of 100 most innovative companies. With stronger R&D, engineering collaboration and an expanded facility in India, we can serve the growing Indian market with even more innovative People Flow solutions.

Project management is critical in the elevator industry. What are KONE's skills in this area?
High-rise buildings are towering achievements that indicate the future of urban living. Every single day, there are millions of people moving around these impressive structures - working, living, and visiting. Tenants expect the best in comfort, security, and convenience. Building owners and managers require the project to be completed on time with cutting-edge technology and integrated systems that enable efficient building management. Meeting all these demands is always a challenge since the elevator operates under highly demanding conditions. When existing technology and solution can be taken no further to meet this challenge, there comes the need for innovation.

Any kind of vertical installation requires a support structure, and in India, this support structure has always been scaffolding. KONE started installing elevators using the scaffold-less method which greatly increases safety and productivity at work. In addition to this, our installation executives are equipped with an online tab which captures the actual progress of work at site keeping the factory and the customer aware of the proceedings at the site. With all this there is real time data available with us at any point of time, which ensures us to complete projects of any stature on time, every time.