With automotive - style design becoming the norm for off-road vehichles, the next logical step is to offer single-key access, which can potentially be extended over an entire fleet. In an industry increasingly looking to replicate the automotive look and feel, OEMs in the off highway and construction and agricultural industries need to deliver equipment that provides the necessary performance, productivity and cost-effectiveness in a package that meets the high expectations of a wide range of end users in terms of design and ease of use. For that, they look to the support of suppliers such as Southco who listen to the leading industry players to deliver product sets that meet those needs.
With modern cabs already delivering features such as air conditioning, multi-positional seating, glove box and storage compartments – even stereo systems – Southco is now working with the leaders in the industry to take the off-highway vehicle even closer to its road-going counterparts by offering a single source, single key solution.
Describing the advantages, Southco Transportation Business Manager Gerry Gomez explains: “In a car, all of the locks and latches are designed be operated by the same key as the ignition. In the off-highway industry, vehicles traditionally have a plethora of different locks. This can include the latches for cab access, various access covers on the chassis and storage compartments and glove boxes within the cab. We have developed the capability to offer key code flexibility, the ability to design the various lock cylinders around the ignition key and effectively deliver the same single key solution for the off-highway industry as we do for the automotive industry.”
If it sounds so simple, why isn’t everyone doing it? Gomez: “Any typical vehicle will have a number of different latch types – slam latches, draw latches, pawl or compression latches – with the designers cherry picking from different manufacturers’ ranges. The latch normally determines the key, so the end user has a number of different keys to contend with. We have turned that situation around because we have the capability to manufacture all of those different latches types. We can, therefore, engineer the lock cylinders to the same key profile, no matter what type of latch the customer wants. We can also provide the lock with or without the key so that the OEM or dealer can customise the latch with their own lock plug to provide the level of security that they require. Whilst the idea of one key is not unique, Southco is the only manufacturer capable of taking the concept over the whole range of latches.” elaborates Gomez.
The single - key access solution offers the ultimate in user-friendliness for the vehicle operator but its impact goes far beyond simple convenience. Gomez: “One of the main benefits of this key code flexibility is security. Vehicle owners can determine the level of flexibility or security they want. For maximum versatility and operator efficiency where drivers have to change regularly from one vehicle to another, fleet managers may opt for a single key across their whole range of vehicles. Others may wish to restrict some areas of access, for example, only giving the driver access to those functions necessary for normal operational needs.”
Gomez: “With the ultimate scenario, we could see fleet owners having their own exclusive key for all their vehicles, no matter who the manufacturer is. This would offer maintenance teams total convenience – they would not have to store masses of different keys, ensuring that they were correctly labelled and there would never be the problem of an engineer turning up on site with the wrong keys. The time saving would be enormous. We are already working with the leading manufacturer in the industry to provide single key solutions and the feedback from the market is excellent. It is where the market wants the manufacturers to go next and as cabs are being re-designed to meet changing environmental regulations it is a feature that will become more and more common.”
Southco sees the key coding flexibility as being just the first step. The company is already working on an electro-mechanical latching system concept in response to market demand and anticipates offering systems to operate both compression and slam actions. Gerry Gomez: “Truck manufacturers have got there already and the off-highway industry is equally keen to be able to incorporate these features. With different types of actuators such as a key fob, we will be able to offer lock/unlock and latch/unlatch functions in whatever combinations the customer wants.” states Gomez.
As the leading global manufacturer of engineered access products, Southco is uniquely positioned to provide the ultimate in single sourcing solutions. A dedicated vertically integrated manufacturing facility enables the company to carry the single key concept through its full range of latch types, matching this with the ability to supply global management of keycode flexibility. Gomez: “Off-highway is a truly global industry with manufacturers focusing production of different vehicle types in different facilities worldwide. To be able to offer single key solutions to customers purchasing mixed fleets, they need a supply partner like Southco who can match their global capability.”
As a proven supplier to the off-highway industry, Southco champions a close working partnership with its customers, offering a high level of technical and commercial programme management delivered with full service capabilities. This encompasses concept development, CAD design and FEA, prototyping and testing through to final production and subsequent product launch support with engineer-to-engineer connectivity that makes Southco a virtual engineering extension of its customer’s organisation.
With design and manufacturing facilities in the USA, UK and Asia and an authorised distribution network in 23 countries, the company’s key account managers can utilise any of these sites to provide OEMs with seamless global integration wherever their manufacturing bases are.
Gomez concludes: “Our experience across a wide range of automotive industries helps us to spot the trends. The influences of the car industry are getting stronger in off-highway: ten years ago it would have been regarded as being crazy to put air conditioning in cabs. Automotive design thinking has arrived and the single-key solution is the obvious next step on the road to maximum user-friendliness and operational efficiency.”