As 2023 draws to a close and reflect on the journey we’ve taken in the past twelve months. We may not have received many partridges in pear trees or golden rings, but this year has been filled with plenty of gifts, highlights, and company successes.
From new product launches to international expansion, it’s been a busy year. So, in the spirit of celebration, here’s our Christmas-themed round up of some of our favourite moments from 2023. Grab a cup of hot cocoa, or mulled wine if you fancy something stronger, and dive in…
This year, we launched our travelling expert training series, On The Road Locks with Codelocks. We’ve been bringing our tailored Lock 101 training and troubleshooting courses to distributor sites across the UK. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to extend the reach of our expertise and offer flexibility and convenience to our customers. By hosting a session, distributors, locksmiths, and installers have benefitted from professional development tips to improve their customer support and expertise.
Our elves have been hard at work improving our product range. In August, we introduced public functionality to one of our best-sellers, the KL10 KitLock. The mechanical lock now offers multiple users keyless access to shared storage at public facilities like gyms, leisure centers, spas, retail stores, offices, and shared workspaces. It makes the perfect solution for spaces that experience a high number of visitors a day and want to offer short-term storage.
Just like Christmas, our integrated solutions are about bringing people (or products) together. We’ve been joining forces with our customers to deliver access control solutions that form a part of the customers’ product. Thanks to our NetCode® technology, we can provide a smart way to generate time-sensitive access codes via our Codelocks Connect Portal or a customer’s own app. From bike storage to restaurant takeout, the self-service applications are endless.
We recently appointed a Technical, Quality & Sustainability Manager, Paul Campbell. From quality control to sustainability, he’s focused on identifying areas for improvement across the business. He’ll also play a pivotal role in working towards new accreditations and enabling Codelocks to deliver a realistic, and achievable net zero strategy.
It’s more important than ever that we do our part to minimise our impact on the environment and contribute to national and global net zero targets. So, this year we’ve incorporated sustainability into our core company values. This starts with making conscious, practical choices about how we manufacture, package, market, and service our products. From reducing our plastic packaging to establishing e-waste partners and switching to a renewable energy electricity tariff, the sustainability of our company and products is a key priority.
We’ve been lucky to work with a range of customers to deliver exciting and unique applications of our access control products. Here’s just a few of this year’s standout projects:
We started off the year with a new partnership with D&D Technologies, an international leader in gate hardware based in the US. This marked a big step forward for our Gate Solutions by Codelocks, allowing us to expand into the fence industry in the Americas. The alliance has set solid foundations to deliver simple and effective access control for fenced and outdoor spaces. Think commercial or residential environments like schools and colleges, hospitals, hotels and backyards.
We’re incredibly proud of the strong expertise we’ve built in our team and strive to make this accessible to our customers. During Customer Service Week, we shared snippets of the regular feedback we receive from our customers. Whether its product troubleshooting or a complicated project request, Codelocks’ elves are always here to offer a helping hand.
We also launched our Meet The Team series to give you a bit more background behind the people who make up the Codelocks team. From the creative minds who shape our marketing campaigns to the customer support heroes, you can find out more about their stories and the expertise they have to offer on our blog.
Product innovation has always been a core part of our business operations and this year is no different. Behaviours are changing which means our access control solutions need to adapt to meet changing needs. Across Europe, we’ve seen people working in new ways, making more sustainable life choices and demanding new customer experiences. Codelocks has been working with our installers, partners and customers to develop solutions that service the needs of the modern customer. This year saw the launch of GateSolutions and the KL10 Public as well as a new sustainability value.
Our international horizons have widened. In November, we celebrated two years since our successful expansion into Europe, providing access control solutions to our growing European customer base. Since establishing our office in the Netherlands in 2021, we’ve completed projects with organisations of all sizes, from solar-powered electric bike ports to storage solutions for some of Europe’s largest supermarket chains.
We also moved to larger premises in Chatswood, near Sydney, enabling us to accommodate a growing market in the Asia Pacific region. We’ve had solid growth in sales with our KitLock mechanical products like the KL15 and have seen products like our CL400 and CL600 range specified for many retail stores throughout Australia and New Zealand. And growth in the US necessitated the opening of a new warehouse in Indiana, to better service our central and eastern American customers.
From product and partnership press releases to industry thought leadership articles, we’ve been spreading Codelocks’ story far and wide in the media. This year we’ve featured in leading trade publications including AIJ, The Locksmith and The Door Industry Journal. We’ve also addressed entirely new markets with our case studies featuring in Snow Industry News and Physical Activity Facilities. Take a look at our media coverage here.
On the 12th day and final day of Christmas, we’d like to celebrate the most important gift –our incredible team at Codelocks. Even though we continue to grow, one of our proudest achievements is nourishing a supportive, collaborative company culture where the family values we instilled since day one very much remain. From our iconic company events, to our beautifully decorated office Christmas tree, we know how to strike the right balance between work and fun.
Finally, we would like to say a big thank you to our customers, partners and the Codelocks team for all your support in 2023. Let’s bring on another year filled with company successes, innovation, new partnerships and projects, and of course, plenty of fun along the way. In the meantime, a season’s greetings to everyone!
01, Dec 2023