Project of the Year Awarded to KONE

LISLE, Ill., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- KONE, a leading provider of elevator and escalator equipment and services, was honored to recently receive first place in Elevator World's "Project of the Year" contest. KONE was recognized by the publication for the outstanding work done on modernizing 12 escalators at the Morgan Post Office in New York. This is the fifth consecutive year KONE has taken home the award.

For over a decade Elevator World has recognized projects from around the world that highlight innovative design, special applications or unique problem solving solutions in vertical, horizontal or inclined transportation. In order to be selected as the winner, each project is reviewed by a distinguished panel of industry specialists and judged on innovation, originality and creativity, as well as installation methods and techniques.

The Morgan Post Office sorting facility in New York City operates 24-7 with 5,000 employees working three shifts. When the 12 existing escalators needed to be replaced a challenge arose. The question was how to get new escalators into the building and in this case, installed in pairs on six floors all in a stack while avoiding major construction to the building structure. The KONE EcoMod full escalator replacement solution was perfect for this challenge. This product allowed the Post Office to retain the existing trusses with minor modifications and no structural changes.

"We're very excited to be recognized for the work that we put into projects such as the Morgan Post Office," said Vance Tang, KONE EVP and Area Director for Americas. "We are committed to using our knowledge and resources to develop innovative products and services for our customers. It's truly an honor to be acknowledged with this award by our peers within the industry."

The awards announcement comes at the close of a banner year that had KONE announcing the installation of the 200,000th Machine Room-Less elevator (MRL), as well as introducing the next generation Machine Room-Less, MonoSpace elevator. KONE's Machine Room-Less elevator consumes 70 percent less energy than a hydraulic drive and 40 percent less than a geared traction elevator drive, making it the most eco-efficient elevator in the market today.

For more news or information on KONE products, visit http://www.KONE.com or call 877-276-8691.

About KONE

KONE is one of the world's leading elevator and escalator companies. It provides customers with industry-leading elevators, escalators and innovative solutions for maintenance and modernization. KONE also provides maintenance services for automatic building doors. In 2007, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 4.1 billion and 32,500 employees. Its class B shares are listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange in Helsinki, Finland.

http://www.kone.com

SOURCE KONE

RELATED LINKS
http://www.kone.com