Lockwood Paradigm Series Lengthy Entry Hardware - Stylish, Classy, Secure

 Recently, we returned from our factory tour and meetings with a few world-leading lock and door hardware manufacturers.

During our trip, we experienced the manufacturing procedures for many of  Assa-Abloy Lockwood Australia's super-high quality products.

One new product we are currently evaluating for North American market entry is the new Lockwood Paradigm Pull Handle Lockset or Deadbolt.

 The product, (pictured here) is a totally new design that originated in the research and development department in Australia. With a lengthy handle and built-in key cylinder, this new product design, exceeds many requested features by commercial and residential builders, designers and dwellers. Ease of operation with a conventional mechanical bump resistant and pick resistant key cylinder, options include double cylinder, single cylinder, safety release, locking/unlocking indicators, deadlatch, passage latch or deadbolt functions and are available in a host of desirable color finish options.

 Stylish hardware is the modern choice by many new homeowners who want to maintain a minimalist yet sexy ambience without detracting from the features of their doors. This new series of Assa-Abloy Lockwood Australia Paradigm Series combines security excellence with noveau and modern lines that enhance virtually any entrance.

 As you can see, the handles are unique in their design, with a slightly longer external handle that hold the outside key cylinder and a shorter interior handle with a separate thumbturn handle beneath. Using a version of the award winning design Lockwood 001 inner handle makes the product easily operated by physically challenged users.

Of course there are a few different designs to whet your appetite, from plate mounted to straight door mounted hardware.

Double cylinder with safety indicator or no interior cylinder. Safety holdback feature with indicator, so anyone approaching the door from inside can easily view the operational status from farther away.


With replaceable cylinders that can allow for higher security mechanical key systems to also operate, these modern breed of door hardware and entry products are providing modern increased options for residents, businesses and operators to benefit from intuitively easy to use hardware that increases the value of your entry and the value your visitors place on you.


We are putting the product through our internal tests and hope to make this product available in North America shortly.

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Why Is Re-keying Your Home Locks Vital And Important For Home Security?

Pictured here is a typical front door entrance set found commonly across the United States.

Many customers we visit, ask us to re-key their locks. It is one of a locksmiths principal service offerings.

But why is it a vital and important project upon buying, renting or moving to your new home, to re-key locks?

In our vast 35+ years of experience across four continents, we have re-keyed a great many lock systems for our customers. The obvious reason for re-keying your locks, is to lock out a key holder.

We attend many customers who rarely think to re-key their locks when they first move in to their new home or office. Many seem to think that previous owners or tenants have returned all the operating keys and that full disclosure indicates there are no additional operating keys "out there".

But time and again, we find that many homeowners are unaware that many of their new locks, installed by the building contractor, are in fact master-keyed. The reason their locks are master-keyed is often a building contractor or home construction company, will build more than one or two or three houses in a new locality and to minimize the number of different keys that each of their tradespeople are required to carry, to access each different property, the builder will order direct from the manufacturer, all their locks keyed to their master system. The builder will obviously hand over the individual operating keys for each new property to the new owner or agent, but many new homeowners are unaware that their new locks are actually master-keyed and will often delay or forget altogether to ensure no-one but they have keys or copies to their new home. Perhaps they are lured into a false sense of security that their new home is secure because they have original keys in their possession?

There are some builders who operate with integrity and install Construction Keyed locks to doors. And these builders will also instruct the customer to insert their individual operating key to all their new locks and in so doing, their construction keyed cylinders will naturally and automatically "switch off" the construction keying function.

We just came from another customer where we re-keyed their locks. In dismantling the cylinders we discovered master pins in multiple chambers, indicating (most likely) that these locks have never been changed, since original installation.

Now, here is the rub!

Meroni Combina - Character Personified

Meroni Combina

Combina is becoming known as the new flagship product for Serrature Meroni with it's modern appeal and wide variety of color choices, materials, even company embossed personalized logos on door knobs.


We posted a video on the front page of the Meroni section here, that was taken at a trade show upon it's introduction.


There are so many and varied color options with this fabulous product, we will try to include as many as possible below. 
With Meroni Combina, you can choose the color and material of the bottom part of the handle, separate from the top cover. Top covers can be embossed with a company logo or personalized design that will differentiate you from other companies and homes and can even add a unique personal touch that your customers, colleagues and guests will appreciate.


The Meroni Combina product line has been developed into 3 distinct styles. Colori, Idee and Stile

Meroni Combina COLORI Bottom Body Matte Chrome Code: US26D Material:Zinc Alloy Color: Satin Chrome Dark Grey Code:DG Material:Zinc Alloy Color:Dark Grey Matte Nickel Code:US15 Material:Zinc Alloy Color: Matte Nickel Top Cover Rubber Blue Code:LB Material: Resin Color:Rubber Blue Rubber Dark Green Code:GG Material:Resin Color:Rubber Dark Green Rubber Orange Code:OR Material:Resin Color:Rubber Orange Rubber Red Code:LR Material:Resin Color:Rubber Red Blue Code:BV Material:Resin Color:Blue Yellow Code:GP Material:Resin Color:Yellow Lobster Red Code:AV Material:Resin Color:Lobster Red Amaranth Metal Code:AM Material:Resin Color:Amaranth Metal Application code: K11 Usage: For passageways Both pushbuttons are always available as free passage. Application code: K12 Usage: For bathrooms Locks with push-button that turns on the occupancy indicator if provided. It can be opened on the outside with an emergency key, screwdriver or other similar tool. Application code: K13 Usage: For entrances and offices It can be locked or unlocked on the outside with the key, on the inside with push-button. Application code: K14 Usage: For entrances and offices Outside knob without pushbutton with security plate. Opens only with key. Inside pushbutton always available as free passage. Application code: K15 Usage: For entrances and offices The key from the outside or from the inside locks or unlocks both pushbuttons. Application code: K17 Usage: For classrooms and offices It can be locked or unlocked on the outside with the key. Inside pushbutton always available as free passage. Application code: K24 Usage: For hotel rooms Outside knob without pushbutton, opens only with key. The push-button turns on the occupancy indicator if provided.

Meroni Combina IDEE Bottom Body Polished Chrome Code:US26 Material:Zinc Alloy Color:Polished Chrome Polished Gold Code:US3 Material:Zinc Alloy Color:Polished Gold Matte Gold Code:4K Material:Zinc Alloy Color:Matte Gold PVD Black Code:TN Material:Zinc Alloy Color: PVD Black Top Cover Polished Chrome Code:US26 Material:Resin Color:Polished Chrome Polished Gold Code:US3 Material:Resin Color:Polished Gold Maple Code:RA Material:Resin Color:Maple Polished Veneer Code:RR Material:Resin Color:Polished Veneer Wenge Code:RW Material:Resin Color:Wenge Acid Green Code:VA Material:Resin Color:Acid Green Pearl Green Code:VP Material:Resin Color:Pearl Green

Meroni Combina STILE Bottom Body Black Code:NE Material:Zinc Alloy Color:Black Dark Grey Code:DG Material:Zinc Alloy Color:Dark Grey Natural Aluminum Code:NA Material:Zinc Alloy Color:Natural Aluminum White Code:BO Material:Zinc Alloy Color:White Top Cover White Code:BO Material:Zinc Alloy Color:White Clear Grey Code:CG Material:Zinc Alloy Color:Clear Grey Dark Grey Code:DG Material:Zinc Alloy Color:Dark Grey Black Code:NE Material:Zinc Alloy Color:Black Light Blue Code:AZ Material:Resin Color:Light Blue Green Code:VV Material:Resin Color:Green

Select Attributes below And Click Add to build your shopping cart

Meroni Premiapri Combina

$18.00

Body Type:  COLORIIDEE (+$7.00)STILE (+$9.00) Function:  PassagePrivacy (Bathroom)Entry Hotel EntryStoreroomDouble CylinderDummy Body Color:  Matte Chrome (+$45.00)Dark Grey (+$45.00)Matte Nickel (+$45.00)Polished Chrome (+$45.00)Polished Gold (+$45.00)Matte Gold (+$45.00)PVD Black (+$55.00)Black (+$50.00)Dark Grey (+$55.00)Natural Aluminum (+$65.00)White (+$65.00) Cover Color:  Rubber Blue (+$6.00)Rubber Dark Green (+$6.00)Rubber Orange (+$9.00)Rubber Red (+$9.00)Blue (+$9.00)Yellow (+$9.00)Lobster Red (+$12.00)Acid Green (+$12.00)Light Blue (+$9.00)Green (+$9.00)Amaranth Metal (+$12.00)Pearl Green (+$12.00) Rose:   Black Nylon Rose (+$4.00)Metal ALIA Rose (+$10.00) Latch Mechanism:  60mm Latch (2 3/8"), Square Edged (+$6.00)60mm Latch (2 3/8")Round Edged (+$8.00)70mm Latch (2 3/8")Square Edged (+$7.00)70mm Latch (2 3/4")Round Edged (+$9.00)80mm Latch (3")Square Edged (+$8.00)80mm Latch (3")Round Edged (+$10.00)127mm Latch (5") Square Edged (+$10.00)127mm Latch (5") Round Edged (+$12.00) Strike Plate:  Square Edged (+$3.00)Round Edged (+$4.00)

Quantity:

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Masters Home Improvement Centers To Close 63 Stores Across Australia - Big Box Retailer fails To Capture Market Share

Masters Home Improvement Centers, the joint venture between Australian based Woolworths (supermarkets) and USA based Lowes Home Improvement Stores, announce the closing of their stores.

According to a survey by Canstar who surveyed more than 2000 consumers, the quantity of complaints has proven insurmountable for the joint venture to succeed.

Some of the complaints include...

‘THE STAFF ARE UNHELPFUL’

• Staff can be very vague about products and where they are in the store.

• It is sometimes hard to find staff to help you in our local store.

• Staff unhelpful and don’t know their products

• Staff are not that helpful, can be hard to find things.

• Mistakes at check-out with a mistake made on most visits.

• Some of the staff in the gardening section need horticulture experience, especially to give advice about plants.

• It can be hard to find staff for advice on hardware products.

• Customer service is poor. Not as helpful or available as Bunnings.

• Not enough staff in the late afternoon, evenings.

• Not enough staff.

• No staff to help you.

• Couldn’t find a salesperson to help for ages.

• It was difficult to find what I was looking for and no staff were available to help me, so I had to roam around until I found what I needed.

• The staff there are not helpful. They are good at talking or consulting but don’t help to lift or move the goods I bought. They are so lazy. At last I have to move the BBQ and furniture I bought by myself. Nobody helped me. They gathered together talking and chatting. They are so lucky to get this kind of job.

• Not a lot of assistance.

• Checkout operator was not particularly friendly.

• Trying to find a staff member to help took a very long time.

• Some of supervisory staff are autocratic.

• Was hard to find a staff member.

• Staff service is very poor below standard.

• Service can sometimes be slack.

• Staff rude — don’t understand sizing.

• Sometimes difficult to find a staff member.

• Not enough floor staff help.

• Have had a problem with click-and-collect once because staff couldn’t find the order. Would have been much quicker to find it myself in store.

• Occasionally can be hard to find someone to help me.

• Sometimes check-out service is not so good.

• The item was delivered at 8pm at night after several phone calls to see where it was — put on the wrong truck.

Goji - Crowdfunded Wireless Smartphone Controlled Deadbolt Fails To Launch

I'm not sure if you have seen or know about the Goji Smart lock that was being crowdfunded via multiple separate crowdfunding sites in the last couple of years, but a report out a couple of days ago indicates that this particular product has failed to launch.

The Smart Lock market has been evolving for a number of years now and according to sources, is expected to rise from the current fledgling $8 Billion market to $120 Billion by 2025.

There are a number of entrants that have evolved in recent years and we have written about a few of them. Products like the August Smartlock, the Lockitron and others. We have found that many of these "new breed" of stand alone wireless smart locks are being developed by entrepeneurs who lack industry knowledge, experience and longevity.

The large industry players like Assa-Abloy, Yale, Schlage, Kwikset, Master and others who have been in the security product manufacturing industry for a great many years, are also firmly entrenched in the Smart Lock market. But the difference between these industry stalwarts and the current breed of new entrepeneurs has much to do with their successes developed over many years of R&D, interaction with their customers and tried and proven manufacturing practises that continue to produce the high-quality requested by the consumer driven market.

Goji, obviously was seen to have merit and raised about $800,000.00 through multiple crowdfunding sites including Indiegogo and Fundable.

This news is not surprising really. there are many entrants to the smart lock market that appear to not have done their due diligence and market feasibility studies prior to launch. Goji had developed a promising looking product that operated with Android and iOS operating systems, but I suggest that the actual integration of these sophisticated smart phone operating systems proved too much for the Goji team to master.

Goji CEO Gabriel Bestard-Ribas is quoted in a letter written earlier this week,

Apple Withdraws August And Kevo Smart Locks From Its Shelves

According to an article in Techhive, a tech industry online magazine, Apple have pulled the popular August and Kwikset Kevo Smart Locks from their stores.

Apparently Apple have decided to only include products that adhere to their chosen HomeKit Smartphone platform.

While this may be interesting news for Apple iPhone users and existing owners of August and Kevo products, I think it is not surprising.

Apple is a forward thinking tech giant that offers premium quality products at premium prices and aligning themselves with cheap stuff doesnt really seem an appropriate fit for America's leading company.

We have posted articles about the August Smart Lock and also the Kwikset Kevo in the recent past and we continue to remain totally unimpressed by the products.

There is no doubt that electronics embedded in door locks is here to stay. But the quality of door lock, you choose to have on your home or office can say much about you. Choose wisely.

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Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Locks Almost Sold Out - New Inventory Expected July 24th

Our very popular Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock is selling extremely fast with fewer than 10 remaining in inventory.

We are expecting replenishing supplies July 24th, 2015.

At this time, we expect that due to manufacturer cost increases, the cost for this wonderful, in demand product will increase consequently.

We are unsure as to the anticipated cost, at this time, but are expecting at least a 25% increase.

So, if you have been sitting on the fence, hurry while stocks last at the old price.

Pocket Door Locks, Flying Off The Shelves

Our very popular Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock is literally flying off the shelves.

Demand is so strong for this product with no reprieve in sight, that we are now looking to expand our stock holding.

The anticipated release date for the expansion kit, to make installation to 1-3/4" wide doors much simpler has been set back due to the manufacturer of the desired part making a manufacturing blunder.

We have since tailored a work around that we anticipate release before the end of this year, after we complete our testing.

We will provide an instructional video to show how to install with the modification kit.

Because of the strength of the US$, manufacturing costs abroad have increased and we expect that new products (next shipment) will increase in retail cost, so if you're on the fence about ordering at this time think about pushing up your decision before the price rise.

Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock - Price Reduction

Sales of this product are off the charts. Thanks to a more favorable exchange rate and lower fuel costs, we have reduced the cost of this sought after product to only $95.00 plus shipping.

We are only stocking the Satin Nickel (pearl) color option at this special price.

Our modification kit for use on 1-3/4" doors is nearly ready for commercial release. (estimated May 1st, 2015)

This modification will allow for Schlage SC1 keyed cylinders to be used as an option and consequently many other brands of similar keyways. This will allow for keying alike with many existing key systems in the marketplace and also 6 pin cylinders (enabling the product to operate on high-security and design protected master key system key profiles).

Click on the picture to the left to purchase.

EDIT (December 2015): this product now sells for $125.00 plus shipping

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Smartphones To Open Doors For World's Biggest Lock Company As It Eyes Deal With Telcos

Assa Abloy is the world's largest lock manufacturing company.

Last year alone it made more than $300 million, across multiple different manufacturers.

There has been a continual, albeit modest push to introduce more and more electronic smartphone enabled lock systems across their diverse range of products. 

technology companies like Samsung, Apple and Google have been at the forefront of research and development of all things smartphone, ever since Google beat Apple to market with the first Android mobile operating system.

Many startups have entered the market, touting their own novel products aimed at the residential home security market.

Products like Lockitron, August Lock, Yale Real Living and Schlage or Kwikset Z wave, to name but a few.

The automobile industry has long used the transponder chip technology to better secure our cars and trucks, but the residential entry door market has lagged behind this disruptive technology, only due to the issue relating to electricity.

You see, the reason electronic technologies work on vehicles is because vehicles already use batteries to start, run and power vehicle systems.

Most doors in a dwelling are free standing and most often NOT connected to a power source. This has lead to a surge in the number of battery powered products, like the brands listed above, entering the market. The primary drawback with these products, is the need to constantly be replacing batteries on the units to maintain operability.

There are many dwellings that use electric strikes and hardwired electric lock systems, but that technology, even though it has been around for over 100 years, is expensive to install and consequently maintain.

The market is heating up and demanding better electronic technology for use in our homes, but there has been little productive solutions to the issue of the lack of power.

Whereas the market will continue to develop and no doubt grow, I just cannot conceivably fathom the perfect or best solution to this power predicament. When the power dilemma finally gets solved, perhaps electronic and smartphone technologies will provide a benefit to us home owners who dont want to spend the required arm and leg to hard wire our doors, when a totally mechanical, environmentally friendly, green mechanical key operated hardware solution continues to provide ultimate comparative security and convenience for our homes.

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Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock - New Inventory Expected ~ July 1

Our Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock is still beating our anticipated sales numbers in ever increasing amounts.

The last batch we received May 19, 2014 we sold out in 3 weeks.

The next batch we will receive ~ July 1, 2014 and this will include a limited number of Privacy and Passage versions too.

Unfortunately, we do not accept pre-orders for this very popular product, because it sells out so rapidly. Not because we cannot, but because the overwhelming popularity  caused us to rethink our marketing strategy.

We will receive an increased quantity of the Satin Pearl (Nickel) color, together with a small amount of the Chrome Plate in the 7444 version (keyed). We are also expecting a number of the Passage version (7450) in Satin Pearl (Nickel) and also about 4 of the Privacy version (7400) in Satin Pearl (Nickel) also. This directly means you can have identical hardware for double sliding pocket doors, maximizing security and ambience simultaneously.

The Satin Pearl (Nickel) is the most sought after color and subsequently the most difficult to keep in stock.
This increased supply in our July delivery, we expect to be able to keep up with demand a little longer.

We will only bring the Chrome Plate color in the keyed version (7444).

Our modification kit to allow easy installation to a 1-3/4" thick door is still in the process of production and testing. Assa-Abloy Lockwood have confirmed their intention to NOT release a factory version for bigger doors.

We thank you for your understanding and apologize for the delay.