Bottleneck? Solved.

The entire ASSA ABLOY team enjoys working with our customers to find customized solutions to meet their needs and provide the customers a great experience walking through the front doors. We do this while keeping code compliance and pedestrian safety at the forefront of the solutions we provide. One recent project example that embodies these thoughts began with a big box discount store that needed their facilities to stay up to date (and up to code) with their expanding offerings.

This particular retail chain decided to grow its product offerings and offer liquor for sale, but Florida code requires that liquor deliveries be through the main entrance and not through the warehouse or backdoor deliveries. They had tried to adapt by fencing in an area of the store off the main entrance for the alcohol, but it was creating major bottlenecking with just one door remaining for customers to enter and exit (with some big carts!)

The client knew this was a job for ASSA ABLOY’s scale and skill set, and called specifically for our understanding of local building codes, unique and broad construction experience, and most of all our ability to improve foot traffic flow and prevent bottlenecking. The biggest challenge may have been that they asked for a solution that would cause no store closures, downtime or any other interruption to business.

Client Needs:

●      A door with the largest possible clear opening, no exceptions

●      No structural modifications to existing building face as shutdowns to main entrance are unacceptable

●      Be completed via turnkey construction, including permits

ASSA ABLOY solution:

To prevent much costlier structural modifications, and to prevent downtime, we worked with the client to create a vestibule on the inside of the building. This vestibule created the proper distance between the existing structure for safety pinch points when doors are broken out and exceeded the current life safety egress path. Because we used a glass storefront system, this avoided additional permitting and local building code scrutiny as a non-weight bearing structure. Of course, the ASSA ABLOY team worked with our local engineering team to create the plan submittals for permitting. 

Ultimately, we installed a 238-5/8” ASSA ABLOY SL500 (6) panel telescopic full breakout door system and all locations passed inspections with 100% customer satisfaction (with no downtime at all during the project) and the client has engaged ASSA ABLOY to update another seven locations.