The story is well-known in the locksmith industry, but it never fails to satisfy:
To sell his prospective audience on the durability of his key machine, Frank Agius, founder of Framon Manufacturing, used to take his key machine, turn it upside down and drop it on the floor of whatever convention hall he was in. Then, he would pick it back up, flip it over and cut a perfect key with it.
“That was one of my dad’s favorite things to do,” Phil Agius said during the latest meeting of Locksmiths United. Agius is vice president of marketing and sales at Framon. “I’ve never dropped a key machine at a show, but my dad always used to do it.”
“That’s just pure, raw marketing genius right there,” said Wayne Winton, founder of Locksmiths United, who then told a Framon 2 story of his own.
“I put one into one of my service trucks,” he said. “It has been wrecked twice, fairly severe wrecks, and the only thing that survived was the Framon 2. That’s the only thing that insurance didn’t have to recover. There were other key machines in that truck, and they got warrantied out.”
News You Can Use
Framon history made up a large part of the Locksmiths United meeting, but some news was disclosed amid the stories:
- Agius says Framon is testing new sets of Push Keys, automotive decoders that were introduced for Ford vehicles in fall 2022. Framon now is testing Subaru and Toyota, but no timetable was announced for their release.
- ALOA will hold an automotive-only convention in fall 2023. The International Association of Automotive Locksmiths, a division of ALOA, was introduced in 2022, with a goal of holding an annual show similar to SAFETECH for safe specialists. Bill Mandlebaum, president of ALOA, says the new show should be similar to what Just Cars had been doing. Stay tuned for more details.
Go here for a video of the meeting.
Locksmiths United
Locksmiths United is a monthly Zoom presentation to discuss locksmithing and provide information to others in the industry. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, the first Monday of each month. All locksmiths are invited. Contact Winton via Locksmith Nation’s group page on Facebook for the Zoom link.
