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To talk about locks for wooden doors means first stepping back in time as far as 1830 when Giuseppe & F.lli Bonaiti was founded, to the era when small Lecco area workshops produced the base metal used to create a series of components. Our workshop gradually increased in size and alongside the fastenings and spring catches we also find bed warmers, chestnut roasting ovens, bed bases and the tubing used for headboards, until 1936 when we began to produce external application door locks.
At the beginning of the war we created a lock model fitted into the front of the door, an absolute novelty in those days, based on the British models patented at that time: hence the term “patented” which went on to become an everyday term to identify this type of lock. The workshop of once upon a time, which over the years was gradually transformed into a production company with a staff of 500 to meet demand in the 1990s, gave rise to a spin-off business that became Bonaiti Serrature, handling all stages from design and production through to distribution in Italy and throughout the world of locks for internal wooden doors, with the aim of concentrating financial and human resources into the technological development of these products. At the start of the 21st century production of magnetic locks began, representing the result of all the research and development in recent years.
Company premises cover a surface area of 17,000 square metres, with the various production units occupying 8,000 square metres of covered area, from the raw materials warehouse to the finished products warehouse whose 4,800 cubic metres store the 4,000 products to be distributed to 1,500 customers in Italy and in the rest of the world. In the production departments, 71 staff produce 15,000 locks per day on 12 automatic production lines that allow full control of operations and automatic packaging of every single product. It should be emphasised that all lock components use non-polluting materials and the production cycle is pollution-free, which have led to a strong recognition of the Company as ecocompatible.
The Bonaiti Serrature design philosophy has always been that of anticipating market demand, proposing original, innovative technical solutions and seeking maximum product quality. Every new model produced over the years confirm this corporate policy which for the Company has meant investing a high percentage of its turnover, at the same time creating a highly professional technical team with a vast experience. With the help of sophisticated IT systems, the technicians handle every project from kinematic characteristics analysis to specifications definition, from building the prototype to function testing. A testing station can handle function tests on every lock, simulating open/close cycles that can vary between 100,000 and 200,000 in number.
The company’s technological R&D has for over a decade allowed the production of a complete range of products that meet the demands of a market which called for: creating a product which, by combining different multi-faceted needs, solved a series of problems. This led to the magnetic lock which uses an operating system based on magnetic fields generated by nature’s own permanent magnets. The use of materials other than the old, noisy metal offers silent operation, whilst the inbuilt magnet means there is no longer a need for unsightly protrusion of catch and deadbolt mechanisms from the front plate of the lock. The overall effects of the lock’s structure can be summarised in a clean-cut design that integrates neatly into the lines of the latest door models. Magnetism has also allowed us to produce a further lock, a handle-free model that therefore means doors no longer need to interrupt the formal architectural composition.
In the Company’s distribution of magnetic locks on the various markets worldwide, for the US market it was decided to maintain the magnetic system operation but adapt it to the tastes and standards in the United States. A range of magnetic Latch models was created, from the simplest “passage” version to the more complete range we have today: fundamental functions into a single product: “passage” & “privacy”. In addition to these functional characteristics Bonaiti Serrature studied to use the handles normally used in Europe in addition to the more popular knobs.
With a view to constant product quality, the Company has obtained Quality System certification from an international agency, ICIM, for its lock design and production activities in compliance with UNI EN ISO 9001 standard. When the B-One model first went into production an international jury awarded it the TOP 100 FRAMES diploma of excellence for its exemplary lock architecture research and innovation. B-One is also included in the 2002-2003-2004 ADI DESIGN INDEX yearbooks, as a
candidate for the XX COMPASSO D’ORO award.
| The way we see doors has changed forever. - No unsightly striker plate on the door jamb, no way to catch our clothes or arms on protruding latch tongue. A Clean Door Jamb. Magnetic latch power. |
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