FACTORY VISIT | ABUS
Abus’ Axel Rosler shows off the brutal and intelligent tools of lock picking; Products are put through intensive conditions testing at the Abus facility (above)
Cycle defenders
Bike locks are subject to attacks from saws, bolt cutters and crowbars – and in the case of Abus’ locks, that’s before they’ve even left the factory. Jonathon Harker finds out what goes into the manufacturer’s bike lock production and has a go at being a bike thief, the swine…
BikeBiz’s editor has a hard time cutting one of Abus’ locks (left); The firm creates its tool and testing tools in- house (below)
BACK IN THE olden days, over 80 years ago, Abus was founded. Working in the home security market the firm has expanded its security offering to cover everything from window security to keeping things safe on the move, including motorbikes, scooters, boats and – of course – bicycles. Its extensive offering has even seen it supply Wembley Stadium with security products, trivia fans. Back when it was set up in the 1920s, Abus
was one of 40 producers of locks in the same area of Northern Germany, of which now only three survive (including Abus). While finding a manufacturer operating in Europe is an increasingly rare phenomenon, Abus’ countryside factory setting is, to the unfamiliar, equally unlikely. BikeBiz visited the German production facility and HQ to see first-hand how Abus puts together its product range. The company is, according to Abus, the
world’s biggest padlock manufacturer. It recently made history when it won a contract with the US Army, the first time a non-US based company had achieved that feat.
12 BIKEBIZ JANUARY
Our guides for the day – Abus’ area sales and marketing manager Axel Rosler and international marketing and PR manager Mark Stuiver – tell BikeBiz that the company has succeeded because it has concentrated on who its customer is and never lost sight of that. In the case of Abus, that customer base is firmly in the family, commuter and child market. That market has taken to the likes of Abus’
foldable Bordo lock range, which has, Rosler tells BikeBiz, gone from strength-to-strength. Recent highlights also include the lightweight Mini U lock for fixies and singlespeed markets, an area that is still booming worldwide, the firm says. That growing market has led to the firm extending its sites in Germany. Abus also has a facility in Asia, which it owns, and employs around 800 staff there. The firm has around 1,400 employees in Germany. Looking after staff is a focus for the ‘Christian corporate structure’, where suggestions for improving workstations are rewarded and holding on to skilled staff means it has begun to offer workers the chance to work from home, rather than lose
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