business news Business PeoPle Assa Abloy acquires US smart door company Stockholm, Sweden and San Francisco, Ca (USA) Carol P Lowe named as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Flir. new executive Vice President and CFo of Flir systems Wilsonville, Or (USA) Flir Systems, Inc. has confirmed that Carol P. Lowe will join the company as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective November 27, 2017. Reporting to Flir President and CEO Jim Cannon, Lowe will lead Flir’s global finance organisation with responsibility over all financial operations, including reporting, controls, planning, and strategy. Since 2012, Ms. Lowe served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Sealed Air Corporation, where she led all global finance functions. Previously, she worked for Carlisle Companies Inc. for over ten years in numerous executive leadership positions, including President of two business units and Chief Financial Officer. ”I look forward to Carol making a lasting impact on Flir’s financial and operational performance. I also want to thank Shane Harrison for his extraordinary contributions as Interim CFO during this period of transition and am excited for his continued leadership in our corporate development and investor relations functions,” comments Jim Cannon, President and CEO of Flir. Assa Abloy has signed an agreement to acquire August Home, a leading provider of smart locks for smart home access products and services. With primary focus on the DIY channel, August offers smart locks, which now feature Doorsense, the first intelligent integrated sensor that tells users if their door is open or closed, and doorbell cameras. “August Home strengthens our residential smart door strategy with complementary smart locks, expansion into video doorbells and comprehensive solutions for home delivery,” says Thanasis Molokotos, Executive Vice President of Assa Abloy and Head of the Americas division. Based in San Francisco, California, founded by tech entrepre- neur Jason Johnson and industrial designer Yves Behar, August Home has developed three generations of smart door locks and two generations of digital doorbells, making the company among the industry leaders in technology, partnerships and retail sales. “August has created a fantastic consumer experience through differentiated features and software,” states Molokotos. “We look forward to the opportunity to draw from the 180 years of cumulative experience of the Yale team plus the technology expertise of the August team to create the future of smart residential doors.” “We have always admired the design and quality of Yale locks,” said Jason Johnson, CEO of August, “This is a great opportunity for us Assa Abloy has signed an agreement to acquire August Home. to work with the world’s largest lock and access company.” Assa Abloy’s acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. The acquisition is expected during Q4 2017. Financial terms of the agreement are not being disclosed. Added focus on sales growth at Geutebruck Windhagen, Germany Christoph Hoffmann (52) is the new head of the national and international sales team at Geutebrück GmbH — this is in addition to his role as managing director — a responsibility he has shared with his wife Katharina Geutebrück for the past five years. In addition to video surveillance, logistics processes are of crucial importance for mediumsized German companies because the systems are also used to optimise processes and improve efficiency — a business area known as “Value Imaging.” As well as focusing on partners in video security, Hoffmann is therefore also adapting the sales structure to enable a greater focus to be placed on end customers in courier, express and package services, in contract logistics and in land transportation. Due to the increased need for information and advice, the end customer in the logistics industry in particular is to be approached with more focus, presence and visibility. “Many existing video security customers and logistics managers Christoph Hoffmann and Katharina Geutebruck joint MDs at Geutebruck. are not aware of just how much they can optimise and save by visualising processes, and how quickly these investments will pay for themselves,” says Hoffmann. The delivery route via operator partners remains an integral part of the project process. Hoffmann explains: “We need our operator partners for the implementation of projects on site. The combination of our services provides end customers with optimum complete solutions that deliver expertise, technology and service.” Using agile interfaces, Geutebrück solutions combine customer-specific metadata such as time codes, automatically recognised number plate data or process data with the relevant images. In this way, for instance, intruders can be detected on the premises and proof of damage, errors or misuse can be provided at any point along the supply chain. This enables the appropriate action to be taken, causes to be analysed and processes to be documented in a conclusive manner. Security News Every Day – www. securityworldmarket.com 14 • d etekto r internati onal