In a white paper Andy Billingham, Managing Director - EMKA (UK) Ltd, discusses how new demands in the area of industrial security drive a continuous development process in tandem with new materials and production technologies. He suggests these demands may be most easily categorised as:
The white paper explains how in turn these have an effect on usage of materials and the design concept. In this respect the trend is toward increasing sophistication - it's no longer acceptable to open a control or data cabinet with a screwdriver if you don't have the key! So where once a wing knob latch was sufficient it is important to consider the need for keylocks - perhaps to IP65 or even IP69 - and the option of vibration resistant compression locks which prevent nuisance door opening, as well as more complete gasket pull-down and consistently higher IP sealings.
Other demands call for other materials such as high-grade engineering plastics and yet other technologies - leading us to Biometric locking and three-tier security. Follow the link to read the full white paper from EMKA.