DURING the launch of KONE Academy Philippines, Petteri Richards Kyrklund, Managing Director of KONE Philippines, underscored a powerful truth:
“It’s the core of our strategy-and to have that kind of ability to serve our customers is the people. And the people need to have the correct skills so that we can do efficient work, we can do safe work, we can serve our customers.”
The newly launched academy, located in Mandaluyong City, represents a significant investment in developing talent for a smarter and more sustainable future in the elevator and escalator industry.
“In this academy-which is a big investment for us-we can upskill our people to that new level when we talk about smart sustainable solutions,” Kyrklund said.
“There are more and more solutions which need competencies which are not traditional-just mechanical, electrical. There’s more and more need to have software competencies and how units are interconnected. And in this academy, we can address those and elevate the people to the next level with their competencies.”
Meanwhile, Edward Loy, Managing Director of KONE Southeast Asia, shared KONE’s broader regional vision to tap into local talent through education partnerships:
“This is something that we are also looking at-exploring the partnership with the local technical education institutes to see how we can bring them on board to start their apprentice programme, start their internships-to bring that local talent and provide job opportunities at the same time.”
As the KONE Academy aims to train up to 600 individuals per year, the vision is clear: invest in people, embrace innovation, and create a pipeline of future-ready professionals equipped to lead in a digitally connected and sustainable world. (Vivian Villanueva/PR)
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