Master Key Systems.

Hi, my name's Sean Falkinder, and welcome to Spec & Fix Locking Solutions.

 

At Spec & Fix we're passionate about key control. A carefully designed master key suite, bespoke to your requirements, can drive efficiencies within your working environment whilst enhancing your security.

 

Our team are here to help you map out your business and form a hierarchy tree to calculate the exact schematics of how your system will work.

 

A lock that's just picked off the shelf randomly without corresponding to any system is known as standard differ. Standard differ locks in a commercial building is an administrative nightmare. We've all seen a caretaker with a big jailer key ring and only they know which key opens which lock – hassle.

 

Now imagine doing away with that bunch and replacing it with a tailored master key system where your one key gets you into all the doors that you're allowed to enter. We'd refer to this as, regaining key control.

 

As a responsible supplier, we'll hold the records to detail exactly how many of each keys have been supplied, with all keys having a unique stamp to reference back to. Gone are the days where you need to bring in a key to duplicate from, we can do it all from code, saving you time.

 

From a security point of view, only trusted personnel would be eligible to obtain keys and cylinders upon approval from yourselves with proof of identification.

 

When selecting which platform to undertake it's absolutely imperative that you opt for as long as patent as possible to prolong the security of your system.

 

Patents are the single only way to guarantee key blanks cannot be duplicated by third-party key manufacturers for a window of time. So in other words, you won't find your key belongs to your freshly supplied system in your local cobblers.

 

A patent is a grant by the government that allows a vendor to maintain a monopoly on the use and development of an invention for a limited time. UK patents last for a duration of 20 years from the date of application. Some systems will be released during the patent pending stage however normally the larger manufacturers will wait until it's granted, but this can usually swallow up two to three years of its lifetime. Giving the consumer a remaining 17 years-ish of protected manufacturing.

 

For a patent to be granted, the technology within the locking system, or the key, must have something completely novel - or in other words have their own unique intellectual property.

 

For key systems we have seen this included within side bars, paracentric keyways, fluted keys, square pins, undercuts, magnets, the list is endless.

 

So in layman's terms, if you bought a freshly released system in 2023 that had 17 years of patent left, your keys would only be allowed to be produced by the manufacturer who owned the patent.

 

This protects you as the consumer, as no other company can manufacture the key blank, and you can obtain the keys from the locksmith of your choice, and be safe in the knowledge it is managed correctly and only supplied to who you give permissions to.

 

Come 2040, when the patent expires third parties can copy these key blanks and release to the general market, which would mean the security of the system is in Jeopardy and could be compromised.

 

Hopefully a few years prior to this, plans would be in place to replace the system with a freshly patented master Key System.

 

To explain further, we've attached a white paper produced by global giant ASSA ABLOY, to give an in-depth explanation of patents and copyrights within master key systems.

 

If you're unsure of whether your system is protected, we're here to help. If you send a picture of your current key we offer a free or charge service where we'll provide the patent information for the particular system that you own.

 

Should your system be out of patent, we'd happily discuss solutions moving forward and help you regain key control.

 

If the thought of replacing mechanical systems time after time worries you and you are looking for a more advanced solution, we'd always recommend an electro-mechanical locking solution. This will far outperform a mechanical solution and gives major benefits over and above.

 

For more information, please jump over to the intelligent locking and access control section.

 

Thank you for taking the time to watch this short video, hope you found something of use. As always if you'd like to get in touch, my name is Sean Falkinder from Spec & Fix Locking Solutions. Reminding you always, that if it's on a door we've got you covered.