ABLOY Critical Infrastructure Global Solutions announced Monday, April 25 that Midwest Security Products, Inc. has joined its new National Accounts Partner program for top security systems integrators in North America. One of the providers of superior access control security solutions in the U.S., Sylvania, Ohio-based Midwest Security Products counts utilities, corporations, government and military installations among its critical infrastructure clientele.
ABLOY created the National Accounts Partner program to recognize its integrator partners who demonstrate leadership, unique added-value capabilities, and commercial relationships with critical infrastructure customers in North America. It also offers access to a variety of benefits that help develop their expertise and increase their capabilities to customize and deliver advanced ABLOY security technologies.
Doug Schoenrock, the founder and president of Midwest Security Products, believes this partnership will benefit his critical infrastructure customers and says the timing is right on several fronts.
“We have enjoyed our relationship with ABLOY as a strategic partner and their products are always in demand with our customers, especially now with heightened concerns around infrastructure security," said Schoenrock." We are heavily invested in working side-by-side with ABLOY to drive new opportunities in key markets including clean power, water treatment and utilities.”
Since 1985, Midwest Security Products has provided high security products and consulting services. Their 40,000 square-foot facility is home to a full production department, in house engineering and manufacturing, sales and national account end-user support. They also provide installation and break-fix service nationwide. These capabilities are what separates them from other integrators and distributors in the security systems industry.
Jerry Burhans, managing director of ABLOY Critical Infrastructure Global Solutions, explained how a deep integration of ABLOY technologies with Midwest’s value-added services and solutions can provide a superior solution to customers.
“We are proud to recognize Midwest with this special credential from our factory. They take a totally different approach because they are deeply involved in planning a customer’s system from the ground up,” he acknowledged. “Our competence center in Texas supports their engineering department for a complete understanding of our technologies. Add to this their capability to design and manufacture custom products needed to fully implement a customer solution, and you have something truly unique in this industry.”
“We’re able to to take a valuable product technology from ABLOY and build an entirely new product around it to solve some unusual security challenges that our customers face,” added Schoenrock. "This often involves harsh weather conditions, especially in open spaces such as wind farms or any operation involving water. Our service is all encompassing too, from recordkeeping and training to the implementation of a system and the backend support.”
One product that is experiencing high demand with Midwest Security Products customers is the ABLOY PROTEC2 CLIQ system. It combines both mechanical and electronic aspects consisting of heavy duty, super weatherproof padlocks that stand up to the harshest environments, and keys that provide full access control functionality. Security managers now have the ability to update, amend, revoke or renew access rights remotely using the latest Bluetooth technology paired with a mobile phone.
Utility customers that partnered with Midwest Security Products in recent years have successfully switched to PROTEC2 CLIQ systems to secure thousands of locking points throughout the U.S.
“With most utilities, there is little to no documentation of who has keys and when they used them. Since most openings are keyed the same, this presented tremendous security risks across the network,” recalled Burhans.
“Midwest Security Products installed PROTEC2 CLIQ, which helped their customers to establish full control and meet new NERC CIP regulations in the utility sector. Whether it is an access control system on this scale or creating a lock for a very specific purpose, Midwest Security Products and ABLOY together have the resources that others can’t match.”
