'New way of thinking offers unprecedented design freedom'

Revolutionary locking system is turning point in door history

Over the past ten months, the MACO Innovation Tour toured across Europe. In a specially designed 65 square meter show truck, the Austrian total supplier of window, door and lift-slide hardware presented numerous innovations. On Tuesday, June 6, the roadshow touched down at MACO Nederland in Zelhem in the Achterhoek.

On this bright Tuesday morning, the MACO Innovation Tour Truck is looking brilliant. The beautiful weather also creates a good mood among the visitors from the plastics industry invited today. What certainly contributes to this is that they can admire the very latest innovations in fittings technology live. Dirk Zwaan, Product Manager Protect of MACO Benelux, is one of the employees giving a tour of the show truck. Soon a group of interested people gathers in front of INSTINCT, MACO's brand new revolutionary locking system.

Flexible placement of locking components

"The INSTINCT is our flagship product," says a visibly proud Dirk. "This product offers a solution for locking and unlocking a door in a way that has never been seen before. What is unique is that the individual locking components can be flexibly placed in the door, i.e. in places you want. Together they form a complete electronic multi-point locking system that eliminates the need for a locking cylinder and a door handle. In fact, this is a whole new way of thinking about how to design a door. It offers unprecedented design freedom!"

Dirk underlines his words by showing a double door solution in the form of a honeycomb. "Architecturally, you can therefore go in any direction with the INSTINCT. This will undoubtedly mean a lot to the design world in the future. Incidentally, in addition to RC2, the INSTINCT now also has the SKG^** certificate for the application of plastic window frames."

Flying motor lock

Another MACO innovation important to the Dutch market is the M-TS, which Dirk says is the fastest motorcycle lock on the market. "Because it opens in just 0.3 seconds. The moment the door closes, it locks on three latch locks. The nice thing is that this eliminates the need for a freewheeling cylinder with the M-TS. And the high closing force also makes this product ideal for air- and sound-proof construction. By the way, both the INSTINCT and the M-TS can be operated via a Bluetooth module with our specially designed INSTINCT app. This app lives up to its name, as it is intuitive as well as user-friendly. The app makes it easy to open and operate the front door. It includes access authorizations, a day mode function, a logbook and a child lock. And of course one can also choose alternatives with the fingerprint, keypad, or tags in combination with other smart home systems."

Smart sliding hardware gives space

Visitors in the show truck are short of eyes and ears, so many novelties are on display. Among them the MOVE, a fast and cleverly assembled movable sliding fittings with an impressive tolerance capacity. 

"Also convincing is the free choice of handle position; because the handle can be placed on all four sides of the sash, there is great flexibility in design," continues Dirk. "Moreover, the MOVE makes series production possible. It is simply: drill, fit and screw in. And is the desire to open a kitchen window at a crack for ventilation, or do you want a convenient top window in the bathroom? Even then the MOVE is a smart choice. This new sliding element offers the solution through its space-saving parallel position. The gap position offers protection against unintentional sliding open and facilitates ventilation. Special formats are also no problem. The optimized sliding system has good sealing and water tightness due to the tightening and circumferential sealing in a specially developed plastic profile.    

This also makes the MOVE a textbook example of cooperation between frame manufacturers and us as hardware manufacturers. Also good to know is that this sliding system is certified in Schedule A and C with burglar resistance class SKG2."

Self-healing hardware

That the Austrian hardware manufacturer is at the forefront of innovations is also shown by the new EVO surfaces presented in the bus. In addition to the standard fittings Silverlook-EVO, there is now also its successor: MACO Tricoat-EVO.

"The uniqueness of this is mainly that this hardware is self-healing, which makes us unique in the market." The product manager further explains, "The hardware has a kind of protective skin layer. If the surface is damaged, for example by mounting, substances are released in the nanocapsules and these fill in the scratches again. This additional surface treatment lubricates the hardware - self-lubricating - under mechanical stress. This is unique in the industry. Thus it is guaranteed that this hardware can withstand even the most challenging outdoor conditions." 

Finally, Dirk points out an important development with which MACO intends to distinguish itself in the future: "In addition to fittings for the plastics and wood industries, we are slowly but surely moving toward making fittings for the aluminum processing industry. Particularly within the Benelux, we are going to increasingly explore that market as well."

Somfy

Also prominently present at the MACO Innovation Tour in Zelhem is Somfy, the partner for smart home solutions. According to Harold Wisselink, MACO Sales Director Benelux, this is not without reason: "Since smart home solutions are the future, our MACO products will also be increasingly integrated into Somfy systems. Moreover, smart home systems also connect nicely with our INSTINCT technology and other motorized solutions."