At Your Service

Service leadership is an ambitious target that requires both technical excellence and a service mindset – every single day and at every customer encounter.

Common sense dictates that once an elevator or an escalator is installed, it needs to be maintained.

Providing the best possible service, however, takes more than common sense. It requires solid technical knowhow and a deep understanding of customer needs.

Customer loyalty is the best indication of service excellence, says Pekka Kemppainen, Executive Vice President of KONE’s Service Business. “Business growth is steered not only by innovative products, but also by customer-driven services,” says Kemppainen, emphasizing that maintenance services are an essential part of KONE’s work. Maintenance and modernization currently account for about half of the company’s overallbusiness.

KONE’s top priority is to ensure elevators and escalators operate safely, reliably and without interruptions throughout their lifetime. This is especially important in critical locations like transport hubs and commercial premises where downtime can mean financial losses and disruptions and delays to people’s journeys.

In It For The Long Run

The history of KONE’s service business dates back to the company’s origins in 1910. The tools and techniques have since evolved, but the service mindset remains.

KONE takes on a life cycle approach to our products. This means working closely with customers already at the design and installation phase to ensure the provided KONE solutions best suit the client’s needs. It also means providing preventive maintenance and considering customer needs when planning and carrying out service work on site.

Through our KONE Care for Life™ service concept, we work with building owners to plan maintenance and servicing schedules well in advance. This allows customers to plan and budget ahead for projects like elevator modernization, which cause short-term disruptions to users but may be necessary to improve safety, accessibility, ride comfort, energy consumption and the overall appearance of equipment in the long run.

The Visible Serviceman

“We’ve been training and coaching our employees in communication skills for years, teaching them to be open, informative, understanding and friendly toward customers,” says Kemppainen.

“Interpersonal skills can sometimes be challenging for people whose profession primarily involves technical skills.”

The KONE ambassador training program has been designed for everyone who is contact with customers to meet these goals. As a global operator, we aim to enhance our capabilities to give high quality customer service on a world scale.

Staff at KONE’s 24/7 customer call centers are prepared to deal with emergencies like elevator entrapments promptly, clearly, effectively and sympathetically.

Global Reach Local Focus

KONE currently maintains approximately 1 million elevators, escalators and autowalks globally.

Much of the growth in the service business comes from maintenance contracts for KONE’s own recently installed equipment, whether in huge airport complexes or small residential blocks. Increasingly, larger customers impressed by our service excellence, are entrusting us to maintain their non-KONE equipment in their portfolios. Growth is particularly strong in Asia.

“The advantage of engaging a major supplier like KONE includes our presence and reach across the entire countries and internationally, ensuring favourable response times and availability of space parts,” Kemppainen says.

KONE has operations worldwide and in Asia, KONE has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam to better service the needs of the local audience. This enables us to get close to our customers, listen to them and make improvements on the basis of feedback. Local presence equates to faster response time and illustrates KONE’s commitment to form a long-term partnership with our customers.

Service Quality

KONE’s service technicians strive to combine technical quality with a wider customer experience. Our technical expertise enables safe, comfortable and uninterrupted People Flow in buildings.

Over 13,000 KONE service technicians around the world perform regular maintenance checks to offer a smooth, safe ride to the millions of people who use KONE equipment daily. People rely on KONE equipment to get wherethey need to be, day to day, decade after decade, so nothing is more important than regular preventive maintenance.

KONE’s Modular-Based Maintenance™ method is designed to identify and correct potential faults before they jeopardize anyone’s health or safety. a tailored maintenance plan is devised for each piece of equipment, and each component is serviced at specific intervals following a standardized procedure. Comprehensive training and regular audits ensure rigorous compliance with the system.

“Price is not really the prime consideration for customers, but rather value for money and an appreciation for the way we stick to our commitments with no compromises. Customer satisfaction

is the most important indicator of service quality, and loyal and satisfied customers are our best advertisers!” Kemppainen says.