ASSA ABLOY buys Alarm Controls

STOCKHOLM, Sweden and DEER PARK, N.Y.—In acquiring Alarm Controls Corp., ASSA ABLOY is gaining a company that has the “ability and willingness to do custom work,” said Scott Baker, president of ASSA ABLOY Electro-Mechanical Specialties and OEM Group.

Alarm Controls, based in Deer Park, manufactures access control accessories such as “magnetic locks, timers, everything you need except the access control itself,” Baker explained.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Alarm Controls has revenues of less than $10 million.

“My favorite thing about this company is that it's flexible,” Baker said.

Integrators who have worked with ASSA ABLOY “are probably familiar with Alarm Controls,” Baker said. The company has been in business since 1971 and has approximately 30 employees. Alarm Control's products are widely available through distribution channels.

Alarm Controls will supply accessories for jobs big and small, but it's particularly good at quickly coming up with unique solutions to problems integrators run into, Baker explained. “It could be a 200-door job and [in the middle of the job, the integrator finds] they have 14 doors with a specific problem that needs a special solution.” That's where Alarm Controls does a very good job, he said.

The former owner, Howard Berger, will stay on with the company on a part-time basis.

ASSA ABLOY will invest in improvements to Alarm Controls' back-end operations, “like IT, HR, accounting, sourcing—logistically things that a very large company [such as ASSA ABLOY] does very well, without interfering with the flexibility, speed and customer service [that a small company does better],” Baker said. Sales and product development operations will stay the same.