ASSA ABLOY Security Solutions has announced it will focus solely on its trade customers and has appointed Eryl Jones as new Managing Director to lead the way. Having spent his early career working in national sales, moving on to senior management within the construction industry, we find out how Eryl plans to apply his wealth of experience to his new role.
From the age of 14 I spent my summers between school and university working at a slate mine in North Wales, which gave me an understanding of what is relevant to our construction industry customers. Being able to absorb the construction industry from a young age and at its grass roots encouraged me to pursue a career in the industry. I then became sales manager at Jewson, my first real taste of a corporate environment where I gained an insight into providing customer relevant solutions and how get the best out of our supply chain.
I joined ASSA ABLOY in 2008, and was appointed as Commercial Manager for Wholesale for UNION and ASSA. I then became responsible for Trimec® and when ASSA ABLOY Security Solutions was formed, creating more collaboration between the brands, extending my role. My career at ASSA ABLOY has enabled me to broaden my skills within operations, purchasing, logistics and rounded my knowledge of the business – I plan to use this insight into the wider business to develop ASSA ABLOY Security Solutions.
One of my biggest successes so far has been my part in offering solution-driven business support for customers, with the launch of ASSA ABLOY Security Solutions in 2011. UNION, Adams Rite, ASSA, Trimec® and Pemko are no longer brands managed in isolation and can be reached by a single point of contact. So our customers benefit from a wealth of skills and a more streamlined service for projects. Those individual brands have heritage, however, and I am proud to continue to maintain and invest in them including our oldest heritage brand, UNION. We continue to manufacture many products from our Willenhall factory and this is something we should be proud of in such a competitive market.
The construction industry was hit hard by the recession and although there a positive signs of recovery I don’t think this will come in a “big bang” but with steady growth.. Investment in infrastructure and commercial projects is encouraging. London is seeing a boom in construction and I’m hopeful that the rest of the country will catch up with this prosperity providing a positive effect on business. I’m confident that with the investment in the ASSA ABLOY brands over the last few years, we are in a very good position to take advantage of this upturn and support our customers in developing their sales.
I’m keen to ensure that we continue to create new and diverse products to help locksmiths adapt to the changing markets. The UNION Codehandle is a good example of this, offering the latest innovative technology to provide locksmiths with new revenue streams, supporting the evolution in the way we lock doors.
I also want to ensure our products are relevant to our customers, making life as easy as possible for installers and offering some of our latest product innovations such as shineTM, a digital lock that we are launching soon. The lock can be clamped on to glass doors, without any need for drilling – a benefit that will save installers and locksmith’s time; shineTM is also battery- powered, eliminating the need for complicated wiring, offering instant access control that can be in place within half an hour. With some products we have made ‘how-to’ videos, offering installers step-by-step instructions to make their jobs easier. This can be seen with our EximoR panic device video, illustrating that the EximoR range also has a number of features that can save locksmiths time on construction sites.
We need to support our trade customers and are continuously looking for ways to make information about our products more accessible. We have been improving our IT systems, soon to improve our telephone system and have launched e-catalogues – to give better customer service and making information on products and orders easily accessible.
My goal as new MD for ASSA ABLOY Security Solutions is to place a greater focus into our trade market and to be relevant and important to our customers. We are working hard to develop product innovation to support our customers in a fast moving market and we need to challenge ourselves to ensure we deliver this.
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