This article is from page 4 of the 2013-10-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
A HOMEGROWN Clare company that has been in business for 34 years has been acquired by one of the world’s largest elevator companies.
In a statement last week, American giant Kone announced that it had purchased Ennis Lifts, a local company specializing in the supply, installation, modernization and maintenance of elevators, escalators and autowalks.
Ennis Lifts Limited was founded in 1979 by C.P. McGuinness. Since then Ennis Lifts has grown to become the largest national lift and escalator company in Ireland, also serving Europe and the Middle East.
A statement on the company’s website states, “The cornerstone from which the company has developed has been providing excellence at all levels to our customers, thus becoming specialists in the supply, installation, modernisation and maintenance of lifts, escalators and walkways.”
Kone’s executive vice president and area director for central and north Europe, Ari Lehtoranta said the company is “delighted” with the purchase of Ennis Lifts.
“We are very pleased to have Ennis as a part of Kone. The acquisition will strengthen our business in the challenging Irish market.”
According to Kone, Ennis will continue to operate as a separate company under its current name and brand.
Kone is one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry. In addition to manufacturing elevators, escalators and automatic building doors, it provides maintenance to its global customers. Worldwide, it employs about 35,000 people including 325 in the Quad-Cities, a group of five cities on the Illinois / Iowa border.
The company’s North American headquarters are located in in Lisle, Illinois. Kone Americas’ operations centre is at Kone Centre in Moline. The company has an escalator plant is in Coal Valley, Illinois.
No one from Ennis Lifts was available for comment when The Clare People contacted the company yesterday.