LISLE, Ill., Oct. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- KONE Inc., a leader in the elevator and escalator industry, today celebrates its fourth annual People Flow Day. During the day, close to 1,000 KONE employees in more than 30 countries around the world - including Canada, Mexico, and the United States - will act as researchers and visit more than 100 sites to get closer to customers and building users. Via this ethnographic study, KONE will gain a deeper understanding of customer needs and the user experience in practice.

Safety has been chosen as the theme for this year's event as it is an integral part of KONE's strategy and a cornerstone of its business. The topic affects millions of people using escalators, elevators, autowalks and automatic building doors supplied or maintained by KONE.

"Safety is of the utmost importance to us, and we constantly strive towards achieving our ultimate goal of zero accidents by paying rigorous attention to our design, manufacturing, installation and maintenance processes," says Tomio Pihkala, Executive Vice President of Safety, Quality and Installation for KONE Corporation. "People Flow Day is a great example of how we can make our safety culture even stronger by engaging our people. It is also a great opportunity for us to listen to our customers and end-users and educate them on the safe use of equipment," he adds.

For the first time, KONE Americas employees will join their overseas colleagues, collaborating with customers and end-users in a joint effort to improve elevator and escalator safety. Specifically, offices in Phoenix, Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Montreal will be hosting events at the following locations:

Phoenix, Arizona: 


    --  Collier Center
    --  Papago Gateway
    --  Grand Canyon University
    --  US Airways Center
    --  Tucson Medical Center

Mexico City, Mexico:


    --  Plaza Portal Churubusco
    --  Hotel Crowne Plaza
    --  Reforma 195
    --  Clinica 92

Monterrey, Mexico:


    --  Centro Medico Zambrano

Guadalajara, Mexico:


    --  Plaza Andares

Montreal, Canada:


    --  Industrielle Alliance
    --  Vigi Sante Ltee

"We're proud that millions of people rely on our elevators and escalators for their daily transportation needs," said Larry Wash, EVP and Area Director for KONE Americas. "We are committed to safety not only through design, manufacturing, installation, and maintenance processes, but also by working with customers and end-users to help promote a zero-incident culture."

The valuable information obtained during the event will be shared with KONE's research and development teams with the future objective of developing new solutions. KONE regularly conducts end-user studies to test the usability of solutions in different building environments.

For further information, please contact:

Kellie Lindquist, Marketing Manager, KONE Inc., tel. +1 630 955 4202

Previous press releases on KONE People Flow Day are available at www.kone.com/corporate/en/press including:

- Oct. 10, 2012 KONE's global People Flow Day highlights elevator and escalator design
- Oct. 27, 2011 KONE celebrates annual People Flow Day
- Oct. 27, 2010 KONE - dedicated to People Flow already for 100 years

About KONE
KONE is one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry. The company has been committed to understanding the needs of its customers for the past century, providing industry-leading elevators, escalators and automatic building doors as well as innovative solutions for modernization and maintenance. The company's objective is to offer the best People Flow(TM) experience by developing and delivering solutions that enable people to move smoothly, safely, comfortably and without waiting in buildings in an increasingly urbanizing environment. In 2012, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 6.3 billion and around 40,000 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd in Finland.

www.kone.us

SOURCE KONE