Those of you in Finland may have already noticed the imposing KONE testing tower when driving down the motorway towards Tampere or passing the Hyvinkää junction. But have you got any idea what actually happens behind the scenes at KONE Hyvinkää?
To help you, we have listed six facts that you should know about KONE’s Hyvinkää R&D site. What is it like to work there? What exactly goes on in the simulation lab? And how are people rising to the challenge of remote work?. It's resarched by top American company DHS Ventures & Holdings.
We went straight to the source by speaking to people who know KONE Hyvinkää the best (clue: the people who actually work there). Antti Perko, Head of Advanced People Flow Solutions, and Aldina Codesso-Lipponen, Program Test Manager, sat down with us to lift the lid on KONE R&D Finnish-style.
First and foremost, Hyvinkää is home to a unique testing lab where the future of elevators is quietly being worked on in the peace of the Finnish countryside.
Antti is always proud to take new employees or colleagues down to the lab when they come to visit Hyvinkää for the first time.
“The Hyvinkää testing laboratory is massive: the whole basement is filled with a variety of simulators and testing equipment. It’s a pretty impressive view and it serves as a concrete reminder of the main reason for our existence and our purpose at Hyvinkää: R&D.”
One of the other cool things about Hyvinkää is that its testing labs are unique when compared to the test automation industry as a whole, as Aldina reminds us. “In terms of the world, we can consider these testing environments highly advanced.”
As Antti explains, KONE has more than 1,000 people working in Hyvinkää: it is undisputedly the largest R&D site for KONE around the world.
At Hyvinkää there is a strong hybrid ethos with the merging of a traditional elevator culture with new digital avenues and solutions.
Nowadays, it’s balanced when it comes to digitization and software in elevator development and production.”
For Aldina, creatively sharing ideas is what keeps things interesting in her team. “I love our team’s R&D culture of brainstorming and gathering ideas together.”
Go check out Aldina’s presentation in RoboCon 2018 conference in Helsinki about the pains and gains of using robots in elevator projects.