Acquiring a leading position in door automatics

Besam, the world’s leading supplier of automatic door solutions, was acquired by the ASSA ABLOY Group in July 2002. Besam is headquartered in southern Sweden and operates subsidiaries in 22 countries along with three assembly plants. The company sells and services a comprehensive range of automatic door systems which include swing doors, sliding doors, and revolving doors primarily for the retail, healthcare and transport sectors.

In four short years since heading up the global company, Besam President Peter Aru has altered the fundamental focus of the 40-year-old firm. From being a supplier of automatic door components to intermediaries, Besam has become a highly proactive company offering solutions direct to end-users to meet a vast array of different applications.

The art of going unnoticed
“The whole focus of our company, its technology and its products is based on making life easier for lots of people on an everyday basis,” says Peter Aru. “This philosophy guides our r&d, design and all our marketing and sales activities around the world. Our ultimate objective is to supply the customer with a safe, convenient, reliable product that goes virtually unnoticed. An automatic door solution that people can take for granted, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

A vital ingredient in the Besam product offering is technical service, which accounts for some 35 percent of total revenues. It is at the installation and service level that the real valueadded interaction with the customer takes place. Besam’s door systems are therefore sold together with a comprehensive maintenance and service package designed to ensure long, reliable operation and to prevent unexpected downtime. Peter Aru: “In the past year our service people carried out no less than 320,000 preventive maintenance visits to customers. This is an invaluable contact with our customers and one we work very hard to make the most of. We expect the service and maintenance portion of the business to continue to grow healthily.”

The general downturn in the global economy in 2002 has led to relatively flat sales on Besam’s largest markets in North America and central and northern Europe. One exception is the UK where new legislation to facilitate access to public buildings by disabled people has generated a demand for automatic door solutions. In China Besam is benefiting from a dynamic expansion in airport, hotel and general construction in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games.

Size matters

Besam is the only global player in the door automatics market and holds a unique position by virtue of its strong brand, its large installed base and its worldwide organization and aftermarket service. Besam sells complete door systems and service packages on a local, regional and national basis to many of the world’s top retail establishments. The retail sector accounts for 50 percent of total sales. Other leading sectors are healthcare and transportation.

Worsening traffic jams have made it increasingly difficult for Besam Holland to meet its promise of ‘Service in two hours’. To avoid breaking its word, the company has found a creative new solution. Besam has obtained permission from the authorities to drive a scooter with a light trailer. The service van has become a service scooter. “We get through more visits in a day because our service engineers sweep elegantly past lines of traffic – and our competitors,” says Service Manager Gerrit Westhof.

Peter Aru says Besam has already benefited from being a part of the ASSA ABLOY Group. “Thanks to the Group’s global presence and strength around the world we are in a much better position when promoting product specification initiatives with architects and builders. This makes our efforts to influence Standards and to improve safety a good deal easier. More importantly from a sales point of view, it strengthens our position when negotiating regional and global contracts with new and existing customers.”