Designing a master key system for an East Tamaki warehouse

The call

A distribution business off Harris Road had grown from six staff to forty without ever changing how keys worked. There was a jar of unmarked keys in the office and no record of who had what. The trigger was a departing team leader who never returned his set.

What we did

We walked all eleven doors and charted a three-level hierarchy: a grand master for the two directors, sub-masters for warehouse and office, and change keys at door level for staff. The system was built on a restricted profile, so keys cannot be copied at a hardware counter, and every key is numbered and issued against a signature.

Because the hierarchy was designed before anything was cut, adding the new chiller door six weeks later took one visit rather than a rebuild.

The lesson

Master keying is a design job first and a hardware job second. Chart it properly and it grows with the business; do it door by door and you will pay to redo it.