Keying systems from ABUS - Know the key structure

Keying Systems

Safety padlocks are often part of a complex keying system. Such a system usually consists of different padlock groups with either keyed-different or keyed-alike locks and one or more superordinate master key(s).

Typically, padlocks are bought keyed-different which means that each lock has its own single key that is assigned to it. In this case, no other key can open this specific lock. Keyed-alike padlocks in contrast share one key that can open all locks within their group.

ABUS is a strong and experienced partner for companies to create comprehensive and intelligent keying systems based on individual needs and requirements. Together with our customers, we design larger keying systems with multiple levels in which master keys or even grand master keys are being used to open all keyed-different or keyed-alike locks from different groups. We keep track of all the keys that we send out to our customers in order to make sure that no lock can ever be opened with a key that is not supposed to open that lock.

Here are a few pictures to give you a better understanding about the different kinds of keying systems:

Keyed Different Each padlock in this set only operates the lock to which it is assigned.	Keyed Alike All padlocks in this set operate with the same key.

Master Keyed Different Each padlock in this set has a key that will operate only the lock to which it is assigned. The master key assigned to this set will open all locks in the set.	Master Keyed Alike The yellow padlocks in this set operate with the same key. The blue padlocks operate with a separate key. The master key assigned to this set will open both yellow padlocks and both blue padlocks.
Master Keyed Different and Keyed Alike The red padlock and yellow padlock in this set are both keyed differently - they each have one key that will only operate the corresponding lock. The blue padlocks in this set both operate with the same key. The master key assigned to this set will open the red padlock, the yellow padlock and both blue padlocks.	Grand Master Keyed A grand master keyed system can be comprised of many different master keyed systems. All locks that are part of a grand master keyed system open with a grand master key.