Canadian Design and Construction Report special feature
Beginning with a simple idea to provide more secure hotel access, Sweden-based ASSA ABLOY Hospitality has become a leading provider of advanced locking and access solutions.
Andrea Roland, president, Plan A Public Relations and Marketing, says the company’s story began in 1974 when lockmaker Tor Sørnes heard reports about his favorite American singer being attacked by an intruder who broke into her hotel room.
Her story inspired him to invent the world’s first recordable door lock, VingCard’s original concept. “The company quickly became the global leader in hospitality industry guestroom security.
Around the same time, Bjørn Lyng, invented and introduced the world’s first electronic in-room safe to the hotel and lodging market. The two companies joined forces in 1994 to form Vingcard Elsafe (now known as ASSA ABLOY Hospitality).
Today Roland says the company continues to leverage the most advanced technologies to offer security and peace of mind to all types of lodging providers and their guests/residents in a variety of industries, including workforce housing and modular facilities.
“This extensive expertise has made us the world’s leading provider of advanced locking and access solutions, including innovative technologies such as Mobile Access, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) electronic locking systems with compatible software, energy management solutions and more,” she said.
Roland says managing the inflow and outflow of both temporary and permanent staff in modular housing/work camps presents many security issues that must be properly managed. “Traditional mechanical keys are no longer a solution, because they are simply unmanageable. In addition to not providing any real security, they offer no traceability of who has been where and when, it is impossible to track copies of keys that might have been made, and cylinders must often be replaced,” she said.
“With all of these factors combined, mechanical keys are simply not the solution when locking systems have to manage thousands of cabins and thousands of employees coming in and out during both the construction and the management of the sites.”
She says ASSA ABLOY’s advanced RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology brings substantial benefits to site management and maintenance, in part because it can also write back information on each staff and personnel RFID keycard. “Therefore, it is possible to read out the events from each user keycard and obtain a detailed activity tracking of each staff and personnel.”
Additionally online installations can retrieve, reprogram and change electronic lock settings, avoiding having to travel to each and every lock to change the site’s access parameters.
Roland says the company’s innovative solutions are continuously setting new standards in the industry with proven, reliable technology and user-friendly features, as well as a “future-proof” modular design that is simple and affordable to upgrade to the latest RFID reader technology.
Product benefits include: A simple upgrade process requiring minimal installation time and impact on employees; security features including remote room status, intruder alarms, remote card cancellation; streamlined maintenance with remote battery status reporting and remote maintenance alarms; and reducing energy consumption within rooms by up to 40 per cent with retrofit of an Orion energy management system.
ASSA ABLOY also provides onsite training and local support.
“Our company has evolved over the years, but who we are remains the same,” says Roland. “Our purpose is not simply to lock and unlock more doors-it is to unlock the feeling of safety, security and belonging for more people, wherever they go.”
For more information, visit www.assaabloy.com.
