Success centered in residential and project specification sectors

For ASSA ABLOY’S Scandinavian regional organization the majority of companies have achieved excellent development, and the past year has been strong in Norway and Sweden. Product launches, notably of the CLIQ electronic lock cylinder technology, have turned out well. Earnings in Denmark have been rather weaker than in the other countries even though its core products, headed by locks and lock cylinders, have shown good development on the home market. DIY sales all over Scandinavia have increased.

“During the 1990s it was commercial construction that showed an upswing. Now we are seeing a change and it is the residential market that is giving us some of the most exciting opportunities,” says Hans Johansson, Group Vice President responsible for Scandinavia. “Much of the region’s housing stock is in great need of renovation, and there is also a significant housing shortage in many areas. We have high hopes in particular of the major conurbations and some of the smaller university cities.

 
“Safety and security are prime concerns for our tenants,” says Roland Håkansson, Administration Manager of Växjöhem, which manages the Hästhagen apartment block.

 
“In many ways 2002 has been a year of development. We have identified many future opportunities for improving our offer to customers. One of our main targets for the year was to get closer to both customers and distributors. Cooperation with security centers throughout Scandinavia will continue as the basis of our efforts to develop the market.”

A source of inspiration
“For us the year’s most memorable event was the Volvo Ocean Race,” Hans Johansson goes on. “The Race was a source of inspiration for many people in the Group, and the stopover in Gothenburg was one of the most successful of all. Over 600,000 people came to it, and nearly 2,500 customers visited the ASSA ABLOY tent, where the Scandinavian companies took the opportunity to display their products. We also organized a number of projects taking the Race as their theme with the aim of bringing us a step closer to the customer.”

The Gothenburg stopover also provided an ideal venue for the process of formulating the ideas and projects that will form the framework of ASSA ABLOY’S development plans for Scandinavia over the next few years.

Broader solutions
“To achieve the goals we have set, we must focus on broader solutions involving greater variety and greater flexibility,” Hans Johansson believes. “We have already come some way towards simplifying and clarifying our structures. We can also gain a lot of benefit from exploiting Group strength to the full and from working with companies outside the Group, utilizing our local customer relationships with Swedish construction companies. One of the first fruits of this approach was the successful turnkey tender for one of Europe’s largest hospital building projects, currently underway in Malta, which was presented as a joint Scandinavian Package for Export.

An increasingly important part of ASSA ABLOY’S business in Scandinavia is to sell support services, especially project specification, to traditional lock businesses. Other support services include consultancy, the organization and supervision of installation, and quality control.

“Scandinavia is a small market, and we constantly need to seek new ways of creating business,” Hans Johansson says. “We see great opportunities in a more advisory role.”

In Norway ASSA ABLOY’S companies, led by TrioVing, now perform about 75 percent of all project specification work. The largest project so far, completed in late 2002, is the new headquarters offices of the telecommunications company Telenor at Fornebu near Oslo, which has 7,500 individual workplaces and a total floor area of 137,000 square meters.

“Project specification is a good way of making sure that architects prefer our products,” Hans Johansson explains. “By becoming involved early in the planning phase we can influence their choice of lock solutions. We start with the building plans and consider what locks and fittings are necessary to meet the required level of security for different rooms and areas. We take account of the requirements laid down by, for example, insurance companies and fire authorities. We also pay great attention to visual design. Most significantly of all, we can provide a continuous development towards a higher level of security and safety by always giving customers a high-security option.”

Technology and design
The Group’s CLIQ technology, which adds advanced electronic features to highsecurity mechanical lock cylinders, was launched in Sweden and Norway in 2001. “The market has given CLIQ an outstandingly positive reception,” says Hans Johansson. “Demand has exceeded our planned capacity throughout the year.” “The ease with which CLIQ can be added to existing systems, and the ease with which lost keys can be blocked and new users given secure access, are the crucial features,” Hans Johansson says. “CLIQ has also initiated a new era in the way that we engage with the market and serve and collaborate with our security partners. “Scandinavian design is worldfamous, and we pay as much attention to our products’ appearance as their functional performance. Thus we consulted the designer Pelle Wester when designing Assa’s new Epok range of door handles and fix’s new Vinga window handles.

“Together with our sister companies throughout Europe, we are playing an active part in the development of the new European (CEN) lock Standard. Remembering the state of the housing stock we also have ongoing programs of education for end-users as well as distributors. We sponsor Neighborhood Watch schemes and arrange educational activities for housing associations in conjunction with local police.”

 
Residents of the Hästhagen apartment block in Växjö, southern Sweden, now have better security. Doors of the 232 apartments have been fitted with the strong new Assa Evolution lock-case and the Assa C 10 dual-function lock. This lets each tenant decide when service personnel can have access, without having to hand over their own key. Instead, the tenant leaves the lock in a special service position when removing the key, and the janitor uses a different service key to get in.