AMSEC Safes has Come a Long Way in the Last 60 Years

American Security Products has been around since 1948, and is most commonly referred to as AMSEC. AMSEC safes was started by Glenn Hall. When he set up shop, he started with only a welder and a lathe. He wanted to build a strong safe, to build something that could withstand an attack from a modern day burglar. As burglars became smarter and more creative, it was important for safes to become more difficult to crack. Because of this, AMSEC has striven to be innovative in the security industry.

One of AMSEC safes first innovative designs was round safe doors. The round door offered better security, but were very expensive to make. The expense primarily came from the complex machining required to make round doors. But regardless of the cost, the security of a round vault door became an industry standard for many years. Though I have not seen very many vault doors in real life, I do remember that most doors seen in movies when I was a kid were round. Why are round doors more secure? I am not sure, though they do not offer corners for would-be burglars to try to pry open. So, the round door vault was also applied to home and business safes.

In the last 40 years, home and gun safes have become more popular. Only the affluent had safes 60 - 100 years ago, but now many average Americans have a safe in their home to protect guns, valuables, documents, collectibles and who knows what else from theft, fire or for safety reasons.

As safes became more popular, AMSEC looked for ways to bring the cost down for the average home owner. The round door was out of the budget of many middle class Americans, so they came up with a square safe door that was more cost effective. A square door could be cut from plates of steel, and today is actually cut submerged in water by a plasma cutter, which allows steel to be cut to precise standards and in mass quantity. The square door did require innovative changes in the bolt and locking mechanisms to maintain the same level of security as the round doors.

In the 1990's, AMSEC safes became the first US company to receive the highest Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Burglary Rating of TL15 and TL30. They earned these ratings on their innovative new composite designed safe. These safes are made of hard plate steel and concrete.

AMSEC safes set themselves very high quality standards. When it comes to fit, strength, reliability and quality, they meet these standards by using the latest welding technology and by using state of the art equipment for manufacturing. Another way they meet these self-imposed standards is by testing their electronic locks to the military standard, Mil 0202-Method 106 (considered the best way to test the reliability of electronic systems) in an environmental chamber. The chamber subjects the locks to severe fluctuations in humidity and temperature.

Today AMSEC manufactures the highest volume of safes in the industry, producing over 600,000 safes each year. They do this in Fontana, California in a factory that was expanded in 1998 to a 150,000 square foot facility. There they employ over 400 people, including 24 hour customer service reps on a toll free line. It is safe to say that AMSEC safes has come a long ways from Glenn Hall's small shop in Paramount.

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