With brands older than a century and a legacy of innovation, Allegion Canada offers the finest technology and mechanical quality in smart security locking systems.
Allegion Canada’s team of industry experts has one ultimate responsibility and that is to ensure people’s safety. Growing numbers of smart buildings are appearing across Canadian city skylines, and the demand for smart door locking systems and entrance security is also increasing. By designing, manufacturing, supplying, and installing everything from simple mechanical and electronic door hardware to fully-integrated electronic access control solutions, the company offers smart building owners the key to genuine security.
Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, it also has distribution centers in that city and in Edmonton, Alberta, serving all of Canada. The company forms part of a global group, Ireland-based Allegion PLC (Allegion), with well-known brands like Schlage, Von Duprin, and LCN.
The company is particularly proud of its Schlage Mobile Access Solutions that offer complete mobile access to buildings and living spaces, winning it a place on Building Design + Construction magazine’s ‘Top 75’ products of 2020. This cloud-based technology allows consumers to safely access secured entrances by presenting their mobile device like a smartphone rather than a traditional badge.
The company is first to agree that its people are what sets its offering apart. “We’re dedicated to our customers and our partners. We have a robust sales force across Canada, and we aim to be our customers’ partner of choice for their security and access control needs,” says Erin Mann, Strategy and Marketing Manager, Multifamily.
Considering its attention to both detail and security it makes sense that the company’s products are favoured for use in residential properties, healthcare facilities, government buildings, multi-tenant properties, higher education, and educational institutions. Whether its customers need top-security access measures or low-key solutions for simple entry control, Allegion Canada has what is needed.
Its diverse product range lends itself to answering the security and access control requirements of commercial, multifamily/multi-tenant, and residential markets. It is experienced in adapting to clients’ needs, led by the scope and nature of each project. “Our sales organization works as true security consultants, helping our customers and clients understand the complexities of access control while ensuring the products fit their unique needs,” says Mann.
Its service departments are supported by marketing, operations, and customer care teams that underscore its passion for taking care of its clients. Its focus on performance aims to facilitate ease of use and a pleasurable product experience.
Behind these goals is a philosophy that feeds its business culture. This includes being invested in excellence, self-empowerment, and accountability among other aspects. Beyond these, employees are invited to consider the business their own and take initiative.
As providing safe and secure products is the ultimate and main function of the business, ensuring that the technology and the architecture supporting its access solutions is equally secure is part of the team’s responsibility. With the advent of IoT and connected smart buildings, this function has become imperative to functional, secure access points.
The Schlage Control™ lock coupled with Engage™ software is a smart lock created for multi-group entry points so people can enter buildings with the help of smartphones rather than keys. Without needing gargantuan numbers of traditional keys, this system is a blessing for property managers in charge of residential doorways, making it deserving of its recently landed ‘Best smart lock for simple set-up award’ by CNET.
The Schlage Encode residential smart lock is specifically designed for families. The product’s smart WiFi deadbolt function means that homeowners or tenants can grant access to authorized family or friends to enter their homes with unique access codes sent via WiFi. Residents are alerted of each entry, giving them complete control of their front door.
The Von Duprin Remote Undogging and Remote Monitoring model won the Judge’s Choice Award from the Security Industry Association (SIA) in 2018. This door security system can be easily retrofitted to buildings such as schools, allowing central electronic monitoring and control of door locks, and permitting rapid lockdown if needed for security threats.
Allegion Canada is deeply rooted in the security business, benefitting from centuries of knowledge brought to the table by its product partners and its parent company, Allegion.
Allegion’s safety and security heritage spans more than one hundred years. Some of its partners can trace their European origins back as far as 1750. Von Duprin started in 1908, registering the first patent of its kind on an exit device that it invented. Formed in 1920 and also a leader in its field, Schlage is another trailblazer that registered the original patents on cylindrical and push-button locks. In 1877, LCN developed the now-familiar door closing device for Boston Trinity Church to prevent slamming.
These brands have no shortage of really interesting stories illustrating the importance of their contributions to the world. Like the story of how Carl Prinzler, who, by sheer luck, avoided being caught in Chicago’s 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire in which around 600 people lost their lives. As a result, he invented the “panic bar.” The panic bar, designed by Prinzler, a manager at Vonnegut Hardware Company in Indianapolis, Indiana in collaboration with Henry DuPont, would go on to allow people to exit safely even though the doors were locked from the outside. The device was marketed under the name Von Duprin, derived from the names Vonnegut, DuPont, and Prinzler.
Allegion Canada believes in empowerment. This means ongoing investment in its people, and this translates into career development, self-improvement, professional development, skills enhancement, fulfillment, and leadership training. “Though we’re spread across the country, our general manager, Nate Spitz, and our senior leadership team have created a strong organizational bond of one Allegion,” Mann says.
“The marketing team at Allegion Canada is one of the most knowledgeable, dedicated, and fulfilling teams. Our team works to continuously build personal knowledge, so we can be the subject matter experts for our markets,” Mann adds. Vice President of Marketing Michael Del Guidice brings his own share of expertise to the team.
The advent of COVID-19 in 2020 did not catch the company off guard in terms of its regrouping skills. Ensuring its staff’s safety and health has always been a priority, so dealing with the matter did not require a big leap on the company’s part. As many of its products involve elements like door handles that are touched, its research and development department quickly turned its efforts to ways of preventing the spread of germs. “With that in mind, our vision of ‘seamless access and a safer world’ has never been more important,” Mann adds.
Ingenious surface technology, like silver ion antimicrobial coatings and other technologies with anti-bacterial properties, is being emphasized. Then, of course, there are its touchless solutions like door pulls that can be hooked with an elbow, automatic door openers, and contactless identification readers that limit the need to touch door handles.
Despite the challenging times, the team continued to share time and money in support of several causes close to its heart. November saw Allegion Canada fulfilling its drive toward corporate social responsibility with the Construction Halton Challenge in support of Halton Food Banks, and in December, parent company Allegion gave over $500,000 to international hunger-relief groups. Toronto’s food banks also benefitted from its generosity during the holidays, while Canada’s Habitat for Humanity is one of its long-term beneficiaries.
Globally, Allegion has nearly doubled the size of its team to more than eleven thousand in only seven years. Its 2020 revenues were US$2.7 billion and, to date, it owns over thirty brands, holds more than eight hundred active patents around the world, and has more than fifteen thousand channel partners.
Looking ahead, Allegion is investing in hot new technologies and start-ups. It continues to acquire strong industry brands while developing ever-smarter products and solutions to meet the practical everyday safety and security needs of Canadians and others around the world.
