Two companies, Winkhaus Türtechnik and FSB, have combined their product development since 2004.

Both firms have been market leaders for many years and are counted among the most reliable industrial partners in the fields of metal fittings for building construction, door furniture and electronic access control. The products of both companies are not only characterized by their closeness to the door and its multiple functions, but also by sharing the corporate culture of middle-sized enterprises.

This has been the starting point for joint, coordinated product and system development. The purpose of such joint development is to exploit a significant synergy potential for construction managers and decision-makers in building construction by offering them complete door fittings systems. The synergy effects are expected to simplify planning and to accelerate decisions and processes.

The first result of this cooperation is the new EZK door furniture system illustrated below (EZK stands for EAC, electronic access control). Both companies have contributed their core competences to the EZK fittings system. The proven Winkhaus BlueChip technology has been combined with a completely new range of door furniture from FSB, custom-made to accommodate the BlueChip system and patented in the meantime.

The joint strategy of Winkhaus Türtechnik and FSB has also been expressed in a totally different way in East Germany. With the joint acquisition of SSF Sächsische Schlossfabrik GmbH (Groitzsch/Leipzig). a historic tradition has been revived, and we plan to reverse the separation of locksmiths from makers of door furniture, which took place at the beginning of industrialisation. In view of the many technical points of contact between locks and fittings, it is our clearly defined goal to develop innovative, integrated and technologically coordinated door furniture solutions in this area too, and to open up new fields of competence for the FSB brand. This is a further step in the direction already taken with the development of barrier-free handle systems. In view of market demands in building construction becoming more and more complex with the introduction of various new EN norms, a variety of substantial synergy effects must be created in the near future, of course without compromising the uniform high standard of technology and quality of products "made in Germany".

So far, the SSF product range includes mortise locks and screw-on locks as warded locks and locks with cylinder drillings, to be combined with different types of locking plates. The first integrated door furniture solutions were presented at the trade fair Fensterbau/frontale which took place in Nürnberg in March 2006.