Borg Locks wins GAI Company Innovation Award

The Borg Locks team were humbled and delighted to be named winners of the Guild of Architectural Ironmongers Company Innovation Award 2022, highlighting companies which have demonstrated they are innovating through improved processes that deliver positive change to them, their customers or wider society.

Accepting the award on behalf of Borg Locks, MD John Hyslop said:

“Winning this award is recognition for all the hard work that our team puts into everything that they do. From the humble beginnings twenty-five years ago of one digital lock available in just two finishes, Borg Locks have continually and successfully grown their product range and customer base.

“Borg Locks has always focused on quality, usability, performance and the reliability of our locks to set us apart from the rest of the locks available on the market.”

He also highlighted Borg’s bold product designs and continual investment in innovation as key to their success too over the last 25 years.

Innovation at Borg Locks with Easicode Pro

One such example of innovation is unique to Borg Locks – Easicode Pro.

This patented system allows the digital keypad code to be changed easily in situ and quickly in just a matter of seconds. It was created when recurring customer feedback pointed to a particular digital lock bugbear for locksmiths and end users. Namely, the amount of time it took to remove a lock from a door just to change the keypad code. Historically, changing the code using removable pin code tumblers resulted in a number of ‘return to vendor’ issues; so this was something the company was also keen to address.

Typical of Borg, they put their best people into solving the problem and it was Joe Charnley, now General Manager at Borg Locks who came up with the solution that has set the locks available from Borg streets ahead of their competitors – the Easicode Pro.

Joe commented: “I can’t begin to imagine how much time and money Easicode Pro has saved both locksmiths and our customers since it was launched. It’s one of my proudest achievements during my time at Borg Locks and it’s been so successful that almost our entire range of digital locks now comes either with Easicode Pro as an option, or as standard.”

Since the introduction of Easicode Pro, Borg Locks has now seen the number of ‘return to vendor’ issues drop to zero, allowing them to further improve their customer service even further.

Uniqueness is inherent at Borg Locks

Another reason locksmiths and end users love Borg Locks so much is that over the years the company has focused on creating locks designed specifically for the required applications. Such as the Marine Grade Pro gate lock products, which feature robust push button keypads and a highly durable finish, designed to withstand the harshest external environments.

The team at Borg Locks is very proud to be wholly involved in the design and continual improvements of their products, and to directly oversee every detail of their lock production at the Borg Locks factory.

This means Borg Locks can be both creative and agile when responding to customer feedback, changes in the market or wider, global implications. Their innovation in continually improving their products has led to them being long admired leaders in the digital push button lock market place.

The impact of the pandemic

The onset of the coronavirus pandemic changed the focus at Borg Locks. News from our colleagues in the Far East about a highly infectious new form of ‘flu’ lead them to start early development work in late 2019 on a never-before-seen digital lock that would help to reduce the spread of many types of virus on high traffic touch surfaces in critical environments such as care homes, hospitals and schools.

Through their extensive research and partnering with specialists, Borg Locks noted that copper had inherent 24/7 antimicrobial properties that could neutralise viral activity in under a minute and would never ever stop working during its lifetime.

And so the Cu-Shield, the world’s first digital combination lock was created. It perfectly met the ‘Hands, Face, Space’ message being promoted by the government and the NHS in the fight against the coronavirus. Because the lock was made from a high copper content alloy and didn’t rely on the application of an antimicrobial spray like some other lock solutions, the copper-touch surface would never stop working to kill viruses and pathogens which landed on it.

Says John: “We’re incredibly proud that we launched the Cu-Shield so early on in the pandemic and helped to play our small part in slowing down the spread of coronavirus. Best of all, we can rest assured that all of the Cu-Shield locks that were fitted are still working just as hard today to neutralise viruses on their surfaces, helping to keep the vulnerable safe in critical environments.”

Looking forward to the next 25 years

Borg Locks may be celebrating a very successful 25 years in business in 2022, but they are not yet ready to rest on their laurels. John has already indicated that the creative minds at Borg are now focusing on new product launches for later in 2022 and beyond.