For Access Technologies General Manager Brian Pertman—who’d spent his entire 25-year career with SBD—the initial call about his company’s decision to sell was emotional at first. “It was an intense period for us as a team and individually, as an event like this can go in many directions,” Pertman said. “But along with that emotion was genuine excitement about the future. And we knew that taking our door business to a door company like Allegion was right for us.”

Pertman said Allegion employees and leaders, alike, have been open, warm and welcoming throughout the acquisition and transition processes. The investment, support and positive employee culture has poised us for a successful future together, he said.

Customers have given positive feedback about the focus on delivering customer satisfaction throughout the acquisition and ensuring the transition didn’t interfere with operations.

“Here we are, one year in, and we couldn't be in a better place than we are today,” Pertman said.

Strategy, challenges and investment

"When Allegion spun off from Ingersoll Rand in 2013, leadership began looking at what parts of the security and access industry it wanted to be a part of. Automatic doors were always a consideration", Dave Ilardi, senior vice president of Allegion Americas, said.

“Our customers would always ask why we can’t support them in the automatic sliding door areas,” he continued. “We look at our LCN business in the legacy Allegion portfolio and we have the automatic operator. But we were missing that sliding door solution. It was exciting for us to finally get an opportunity after that long of a strategic plan.”

According to Ilardi, that opportunity came during the height of post-pandemic supply chain challenges and economic headwinds.

And, Allegion has already made investments in Access Technologies, which include modernising manufacturing equipment, migrating enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and investing in technicians, quality and environmental, health and safety (EHS) personnel, to name a few.

“In year one, one of the only constants was change,” Pertman said. “And as Dave and I talk about what year two is going to look like, we will continue to evaluate wise investments and leverage the combination of our two businesses to grow and take care of our customers together. Once those investments start to make their way through the business, we expect to see continued improvement in performance."

“Change is hard,” Ilardi said. “Part of the way we work through change is through constant communication and by taking a very structured approach to ensure we’re not working through it too quickly. We recognise that change can be painful, but the goal is to get our teams more productive and successful as we continue to look forward to the future.”

‘The long haul’

Allegion and Access Technologies are excited about what the future holds as our company continues to grow and invest in our business while unlocking the potential of all our employees across the organisation. “We’re in it for the long haul,” Ilardi said.

Pertman added that he’s been grateful to Access Technologies’ incredible employees for rallying and supporting both each other and Allegion through the acquisition.

“We couldn't be happier where we are. We were a door business at a tool company, and now we’re a door business at a door company, and we could not be set up for more success,” Pertman said. “Culture wise, it’s been incredible for us. So many friendships and strong working relationships have already formed.”