KONE Elevators Australia, press release, November 1, 2018
KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, has today launched its unique 24/7 Connected Services in Australia and New Zealand. The new service will enable smart elevators in buildings to improve facility performance and reliability.
As part of the new KONE Care™ maintenance, 24/7 Connected Services uses the IBM Watson IoT platform and other advanced technologies to bring intelligent services to elevators and escalators. The system enables vast amounts of data from elevator sensors to be monitored, analysed and displayed in real-time, improving equipment performance, reliability and safety.
With this new service, KONE's customers will experience less equipment downtime, fewer faults and greater transparency around maintenance work. For people using elevators and escalators, it means less waiting time, fewer unexpected stoppages, and a more efficient elevator ride in their home or office.
"With new technologies and connectivity, we are able to even better meet our customers' changing needs and expectations on speed, transparency and predictability. With this service, we are well on our way to creating a truly intelligent elevator and escalator service platform, which will help our customers to add value to building users in totally new ways," said Jim Hastings, Director Maintenance, KONE Australia and New Zealand.
Using sensors, data is collected from each unit. This data is then stored in the cloud for KONE to monitor the data and identify patterns. Using artificial intelligence, patterns can act as indicators of potential faults or sub-optimal performance, enabling KONE to send out support to carry out preventative maintenance prior to a fault or stoppage.
John MacLeod, IBM Watson IoT technical specialist said, “KONE services over a million elevators and escalators in some of the world’s tallest buildings. Using artificial intelligence and IoT technologies, IBM is helping KONE manage the safe and smooth flow of people by using a truly intelligent platform that can predict the condition of an elevator and ensure it is running efficiently. For people who use elevators and escalators, it means less waiting time, fewer delays, and the potential for new, personalised experiences.”
“Unexpected stoppages are certainly unfortunate and remain an ongoing concern particularly for our customers and visitors. Being able to predict and in some cases eliminate these stoppages offers greater peace of mind, which in turn allows property and facilities teams to remain focussed on the many other aspects of a customer’s experience,” said Jim Jones, Regional Director, CBRE.
The 24/7 Connected Services is part of KONE Care. The company is bringing new levels of flexibility to elevator maintenance, through its fully customisable portfolio of services and advanced tools, designed to meet the individual needs of different customers, such as building owners and facility managers. Using KONE Care, KONE's customers are able to request and customise services to match the specific requirements of their business, tenants, or building type, instead of predesigned service packages.
In 2016, KONE and IBM announced a multiyear agreement in which IBM will provide cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and services to drive innovation in the elevator and escalator industry. KONE aims to connect over one million additional elevators and escalators to the cloud over the next few years.
To bring a human touch to the technology behind KONE's 24/7 Connected Services, KONE and IBM have teamed up to demonstrate intelligent services. Discover how different elevators in different countries "talk" to the IBM Watson IoT Platform, live and in real-time at http://machineconversations.kone.com/
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About KONE
At KONE, our mission is to improve the flow of urban life. As a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, KONE provides elevators, escalators and automatic building doors, as well as solutions for maintenance and modernization to add value to buildings throughout their life cycle. Through more effective People Flow®, we make people's journeys safe, convenient and reliable, in taller, smarter buildings. In 2017, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 8.9 billion and at the end of the year over 55,000 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. in Finland. http://www.kone.com.au