64 • SAFES
PROUD SPONSORS
OF THIS PAGE
Sterling Locks – Doing it better!
»»Editor Stephanie Wright was
invited to spend time at security products
Sterling Locks’ new HQ and see how,
since its takeover by Germany’s leading
safe and post box manufacturer, BURGWÄCHTER the business is driving its
products forward, utilising the skills from
both businesses to give customers a highly
competitive, comprehensive range of
products.
Many may not be aware, but the
history of West Yorkshire based Sterling
Locks stretches back to the 80s, when
the business was established in 1987 as
Phoenix Security Products.
In 2006, the company saw a change
in ownership with an overhaul of
the management structure and a
management buy in. The business later
acquired ‘SafeCan’ which had devised
novel ways of hiding personal belongings,
such as keys or jewellery, and in 2007
launched a revitalised new logo and
packaging.
With 25 years under its belt, Sterling
started to look for a parent company,
which would firstly invest into the
business’s already successful products
lines, but also complement its business.
In 2013, after spending a couple of year
searching, BURG-WÄCHTER acquired
Sterling adding strength in brand and an
extension of security products to Sterling’s
already extensive portfolio under the
BURG-WÄCHTER brand.
Sterling’s new UK facilities, situated just
off the M621 in Bradford, West Yorkshire,
has been handpicked by the management
team of the company, after being based
near to Leeds Bradford airport.
The site, which took three months to
fit out, houses the company’s fabulous
140sqm showroom and nine metre high,
newly fitted pallet racking system, which
also saw a sizeable investment for a VNA
(Very Narrow Aisle) forklift truck, which
uses an iPad to help it locate products.
Credit has to be given to the team
at Sterling for their ability in choosing
a building which can now cater for all
their business’s needs, which offers an
easy flow of goods around the facility,
and even accommodates the largest of
safes, allowing the business to offer the
highest levels of productivity and stocking
efficiencies.
The investment in the company’s new
facilities cements further the commitment
Burg holds towards establishing stronger
brand awareness in the UK for its two
brands and products.
Alongside its stocking and distribution
areas, the site also boasts a dedicated
testing facility, which has given Sterling
the opportunity to produce its exclusive
‘lock rating’ classification to guide
locksmiths and retailers through the
options of using the right product for the
job.
The classification is simplistic in its
usage, but has taken Sterling a good
amount of resource and investment
to produce what it feels is the closest
representation of what a security rating
should be. Rated from one to twelve,
one being lightest of security and twelve
being the heaviest, each product is graded
according to its tested strength within the
testing facility. Tests undertaken include a
hardness, pull strength, visual and manual
inspection, product disassembly and
competitor comparison.
All Sterling POS and packaging now
carries the security rating certification
and with more than 70% of the company’s
business being its range of padlocks,
locks and security chains and cables, it’s
imperative it provides leading evaluation
information to its customers.
Since the company’s acquisition,
Sterling has seen a move from offering its
traditional range of locking products and
introduced BURG-WÄCHTER’s product
range to its portfolio; safes, post boxes,
cash boxes, electronic access control and
measuring equipment, to name a few.
Prior to acquiring Sterling, Burg’s main
route to the UK market fell to its national
distributors. This now falls into the lap
of the management team at Sterling,
where it works in conjunction from its
headquarters offering support and advice
from dedicated trained staff, enabling
product to get to customers quickly.
Seeing the amount of safe variations
Sterling was offering from Burg’s range left
me a little gob-smacked. I never imagined
there were so many; practical small home
locksmithjournal.co.uk | NOV/DEC 2015
Sponsored by ABUS
safes for personal papers and items from
£1,000, to large high value commercial
safes with cash ratings of £100,000
and certification to hold valuables to
£1,000,000.
Burg offers a range of certified
Eurograde safes that are tested to meet
EN1143-1. Fitted with VdS tested locks
that ensure the safes achieve a high level
of resistance and reliability, Burg offer
the only VdS approved finger scan lock
currently in the market.
One area of business activity that
Sterling and Burg are big on is their
partner support to their distributors and
as a consequence they have created an
exclusive programme for independent
locksmiths and safe dealers nationwide to
help grow safe sales.
The programme has been devised to
allow distributors to choose from the
level of training they require and offers a
range of customised POS display units and
literature.
Sterling plans to continue to build on
its brand; delivering on quality, value and
service in the future, alongside developing
the BURG-WÄCHTER brand and the
business’s ‘Safe Centre Partnership’ in the
UK.
The business appears to be in a good
position at the moment to deliver on
its promises and with the strength of B