My 400th Post

I don't have any big particular issue to talk about in this milestone post, so I thought I'd just share a few bits of information I learned today off a visiting Yale engineer.

As of Monday, Yale, and in turn ASSA Abloy now own Paddock. The takeover was announced over a month ago, but with all the usual checks and procedures involved in buy-outs, this prolongs the process slightly. Speaking with the guy, it seems ASSA Abloy now seem to own just about all of the major locks and hardware companies worth buying. I put it to him that with all the companies they are getting themselves involved with, is there a risk that with such a large and expanding group, could the lines between them blur and could product and service quality suffer (I know he was just an engineer but he seemed a pretty knowledgeable guy)? He assured me that when ASSA buy out companies, they try not to integrate them too much. Simply, they buy them, pocket the company, make them use the Yale brand, but leave them to run the company as they see fit...for now anyway.

The ASSA Abloy Group is now that huge that if you work in any sector that even comes close to windows and doors, your going to be purchasing from a company within that umbrella, and not just here, all over the world. Below is a list copied from a Wikipedia search highlighting why they are the biggest in the world:

Finnish

Abloy
Abloy Exec
Abloy Protec


American
Arrow Lock and Door Hardware
Corbin Russwin
Curries
Graham
Ceco
Fargo Electronics
Flemming
Folger Adam
Hes
HID
Emtek
Medeco
McKinney
Norton
Pemko
Rixson
Rockwood Manufacturing
Sargent
Securitron
TImelox
Interlock USA Inc.
Yale


Australian
Lockwood
Whitco
Trimec
Padde


British
Chubb
Union


Danish
Ruko A/S
Besam


Dutch
Nemef
LIPS


French
Fichet
JPM
Laperche
Vachette


German
Ikon
Keso
Effeff


Israeli
Mul-T-Lock


Norwegian
TrioVing
VingCard
Elsafe


Swedish
ASSA
Besam
Spanish
Azbe
Tesa

It is also probably worth noting that Union, Chubb and Yale have companies within their portfolio.

If you want an example of how to build a HUGE business portfolio internationally, take a look at the ASSA Abloy group.