Inventive spirit for over 100 years

Since its foundation in 1919, EVVA's distinctive inventive spirit has probably been its most important attribute. This is already reflected in the company's name: Invention, test and evaluation institution. Permanent innovation is an absolute necessity for EVVA. Access technologies must always be up-to-date and be able to withstand criminal techniques in the best possible way. This inventive spirit is part of the corporate culture and can be found on three levels.

1 Incremental innovation that keeps EVVA at the forefront

Incremental, i.e. step-by-step innovation refers to further developments of existing products and processes that keep EVVA at the forefront of access technology. Thanks to these continuous adjustments, EVVA remains competitive and meets the constantly changing market requirements.

Economic aspects

• Our 45-strong team in Research & Development (R&D) invents product innovations and processes that guarantee highly secure access. In addition to millions of customers, our around 10,000 business partners and distributors also rely on this. They sell our solutions and rely on innovative and reliable products as specialist retailers. This trust in us as a high-quality manufacturer is probably the company’s most important asset and must be proven at all times - even and especially when technical challenges arise. Lack of trust has a negative impact on the entire organisation and all stakeholders. Therefore, security products must meet high standards and international certifications, which can also change - continuous research and development is therefore indispensable. EVVA invests around 5% of sales in R&D
   
• Patents: Our innovations - such as non-copyable magnet technologies, security elements hidden inside the key or state-of-the-art encryption processes for electronic security systems - are currently protected by over 459 patents in 42 patent families in around 50 countries. Only EVVA may produce these security solutions. This uniqueness is the foundation for our success and that of our trading partners. Therefore, ongoing research and patent applications are essential to further develop and protect our intellectual property. Patent-protected access solutions are a unique selling point and protect against imitation. This guarantees our position as a European market leader and thus the economic sustainability of our company and our business partners
   
• In the last two large EVVA-Partner surveys (carried out in European countries with EVVA branches), we received the highest rating in the “degree of innovation” category compared to other security companies: 1.4 on a four-point scale We want to maintain this outstanding value, because innovation and pioneering spirit have been part of our self-image since EVVA was founded in 1919
  

Environmental Aspects

• Long service life and matching components
  Being innovative means not only inventing better products and technologies, but also enabling a long service life. The more durable the products are, the less resources need to be used. Read more under Quality
   
• Thanks to the modular design of locking cylinders, which was developed back in 1998 and for which EVVA was awarded the Öko Business Award by the City of Vienna, precisely fitting components can be installed at any time. The advantage: The fitter adapts the cylinder length to the respective door thickness on site with modular extension elements if necessary. This flexible approach can reduce waste and CO₂ emissions by eliminating unnecessary car trips for installers. However, no exact CO₂ savings data is available for this

• Low power design: “We use advanced semiconductor technologies in our electronic access products, which are also used in smartphones and wearables,” says Johann Notbauer, EVVA Group Division Manager for Market Innovation and Technology. "These are designed for particularly energy-saving operation, because the batteries in these systems also need to last a long time. With this strategy, our products benefit from innovations in the smartphone segment." The batteries are ready for use significantly longer, currently approx. 3 years. This is also the reason why our electronic access systems can offer more and more additional functions without increasing the power requirement during use. EVVA is working on extending the service life of batteries even further: towards 5 years. Johann Notbauer: "EVVA is attempting to extend the service life of the batteries even further with even more innovative programming, even more precise control of the wireless components and the use of energy-saving microcontrollers. We are also researching battery-free technologies with high-tech partners."
   
• Networking through digitalisation: Thanks to the interface-capable electronic EVVA products, information can be shared in buildings. Coupling with lighting controls and heating/cooling systems in smart buildings enables energy-optimised operation
   
• Clean production: EVVA cooperates to develop machines to manufacture without oil and water, which reduces resource consumption (more under Clean Production)

Social aspects

• The reassuring feeling of security is one of the basic needs of humanity. Permanent research and development in access technology not only ensures physical protection, but also psychological protection. The figures provided by the victim support organisation "Weißer Ring" show how strong this feeling is: Up to 20 percent of all burglary victims suffer from long-term anxiety. And 10 percent move out of their home after a burglary, adds the German Psychological Academy (source: ntv; https://www.n-tv.de/ratgeber/Wie-Opfer-mit-dem-Schock-fertig-werden-article20581071.html)
   

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  Around half of all machines used at EVVA were designed by the in-house mechanical engineering team. Very valuable innovation know-how that also has an economic impact: Further developments and repairs can usually be carried out internally. For more information, see Security of supply. You can find out more about our highly trained employees at EVVA Academy and Top Training Company

2) Immerse yourself in improvement processes and idea pools

The knowledge and ideas of our employees are incorporated into EVVA’s improvement processes. This allows us to continuously optimise our products.

• CIP (continuous improvement process): Employees can use the internal tools EPOS (for production employees) and WoW! Suggest improvements to products or processes (for all) at any time and thus initiate positive changes. EPOS suggestions are submitted via digital team boards and tracked transparently. They relate exclusively to improvements in production operations and can address aspects such as lean management, more efficient production processes, occupational safety, environmental protection, etc. Treatments
   
• Innovation ideas: The EVVA Genius suggestion platform enables employees to directly contribute completely new ideas for innovation search fields

The following graph shows the total number of all improvement suggestions. In 2023, existing ideas were compiled digitally and many of them were processed. This is why the value is higher than in 2024.

3) Beyond the edge of the plate: Innovation without limits

Identifying future trends at an early stage and using them for new business areas is part of EVVA’s strategic direction. This is done through regular Foresight Management.

• Foresight management: Anticipate trends
  What is still considered new today may be outdated tomorrow or on the day after. Being up to date is evolution and not a closed matter. Market leaders such as EVVA must therefore always have a sense of trends that can establish themselves as the spirit of the times. EVVA uses future orientation strategically: Trends, regulations, market movements and customer requirements are analysed in a structured manner in order to develop EVVA-specific innovation search fields
   
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• Actively shaping innovation
  The EVVA search fields form the basis for our innovation processes. These are actively operated with interviews, problem analyses, hypothesis validation and ideation processes. With this approach, we want to ensure that new business areas are identified at an early stage.
  
  In the 1970s, EVVA was the first company to calculate cylinder locking systems with a computer and in the 1990s developed the first cylinders online. In 1993, we were the first locking system manufacturer in Europe to be awarded the ISO 9001 quality certificate. EVVA has also exceeded all GDPR regulations with the AirKey electronic access system, years before they became mandatory. The big challenge for a technology company is therefore to recognise at an early stage what could be decisive for orders in the future. And what needs to be done now to be ready.