BROGREN APPOINTED CTO AT ALIMAK GROUP
BROGREN APPOINTED CTO AT ALIMAK GROUP
Charlotte Brogren has been appointed chief technology officer (CTO) at Alimak Group. She most recently served as director general at VINNOVA, the Swedish government agency for innovation systems. Prior to that, she worked for 15 years in various R&D management positions for ABB, most recently as technology manager for the robotics division. Brogren has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lund and holds several board positions with the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences. As part of Alimak's management team, Brogren will be responsible for technology, innovation and product management. She succeeds Frank Klessens, who continues to serve as head of Product Management for the Alimak Hek brand.
KONE RESTRUCTURING TO RESULT IN LOSS OF 1,000 JOBS
KONE announced a restructuring program on September 26 expected to result in the loss of approximately 1,000 jobs globally as the company consolidates some operations. Expected to generate annual savings of EUR100 million (US$117.8 million) from 2020 on, the program is called Accelerate Winning With Customers and is based on KONE's Winning With Customers program designed to "bring new levels of customer centricity and value-adding services and solutions." Details will be directly communicated to those affected. At the end of 2016, KONE had approximately 52,000 employees, so the anticipated cuts will affect close to 2% of the workforce.
LIFTINSTITUUT PESS EXPLANATION ADDED TO VFA FORUM
In addition to the many other VFA Forum presentations during Interlift 2017, Tijmen Molema, product specialist at Liftinstituut, will give an explanation of Programmable Electronic Safety Systems (PESS) on October 20 at 11 a.m. Molema will share his experiences about this subject and give tips to avoid mistakes and make the most advantageous use of the systems. Liftinstituut added, “Since the introduction of PESS, much inside the lift business has changed. There are a lot of opportunities and advantages of modern electronics. Since the technique is relatively new for a lot of companies, mostly the same mistakes are made.” Interlift 2017 will take place October 17-20 in Augsburg, Germany.
L.A. THEATER DISTRICT CONDO TOWER BLENDS OLD AND NEW
SCG America, the U.S. subsidiary of Shanghai Construction Group, broke ground on September 21 on Perla, a 35-story condominium tower at Broadway and Fourth Street in Los Angeles' Broadway Theater District, the Los Angeles Times report. SCG is the latest Chinese developer with big plans in L.A., following in the footsteps of Shanghai's Greenland Group, which is developing Metropolis, and Beijing's Oceanwide Holdings, which is behind Oceanwide Plaza. The design, by CallisonRTKL, blends old and new, with a 10-story podium echoing nearby historic structures topped by a 25-story, slender, modern tower. The property is expected to open in 2020.
