Tech Talk: Featuring Eric
Who better to ask about locks than the knowledgeable technicians who work on them every day? This month, we’re featuring Eric, a Senior Technician deservedly nicknamed “The Asset”. He has 15 years of experience and numerous certifications. In addition to standard door locks, Eric is a registered safe technician and is an expert with LKMs, X-10s, and S&G locks.
Q: What is your favorite type of lock to repair/replace? Why?
A: I like all high security related locking hardware. For safes and SCIFs, Lockmasters LKM10K and S&G 2890 pedestrian door locks, as well as Kaba X10 locks. They are well made, meet all DoD/GSA requirements, and they have amazing technical support.
Q: What advice would you give about home locks and why?
A: You should never skimp on your home security. It protects all that’s important in your life: your family and possessions. Instead of buying a 100 inch TV with a 5 dollar lock on your front door, you should secure your house first and then fill your house. A good quality, Grade 1 lock with a high security cylinder added will deter many potential bad people from bothering your home. Bad people like an easy crime and they’re studying locks to find which ones are poorly made or crafted with quality. The goal is to make a bad person skip your house and choose another target.
Q: What is the most memorable job you’ve completed?
A: It’s hard to choose because all of my jobs are fun for me. I would have to say, at the end of our work day, all of the technicians were starting to leave. We got an emergency call from a corporate customer whose security guard lost a Grand Master Key that gained access to 5 large office buildings. All of the Fedlock staff jumped in their work vans and headed to the customer to save the day. We worked overnight and rekeyed the 5 buildings to secure them. We then went home for an hours sleep and back to work for another day. Another memorable job at a local military base, had a General scheduled to board a flight in 20 minutes. He needed documents out of a GSA container (safe) but the lock was malfunctioning. I was able to manipulate the lock open in about 2 minutes and the General was able to catch his flight, probably with a little speeding on the way.