Kone Oyj (officially typeset
KONE and pronounced /ko.ne/), founded in 1910 and headquartered in
Helsinki,
Finland, is an international engineering and service company employing some 43,000 personnel worldwide. The firm is one of the largest manufacturers of
elevators and
escalators worldwide, and also provides maintenance services and modernization solutions. In addition, KONE builds and services automatic doors and gates. The company provides local service for builders, developers, building owners, designers and architects in 1,000 offices in over 50 countries. Since 1924, KONE has been owned by one of Finland's wealthiest families, the Herlin family. After Harald Herlin purchased the company in 1924, he served as its Chairman until 1941. Afterwards, his son, Heikki H. Herlin, took over his father's post from 1941–1987. Control of the company was then handed down to his son, Pekka Herlin, which he retained from 1987–2003. The current Chairman of KONE's Board of Directors from 2003 onwards is
Antti Herlin, the son of Pekka Herlin.
