Vytautas, who understood the subtleties of the world of locks and keys: I can open the doors of my house in Lithuania while I am in New York | Lifetime

“Code X”. The company named in this way operates in Marijampolė, and the limits of its activity are all of Lithuania. Calling it a turnkey workshop doesn’t work. Also don’t go out and name the lock shop. Rather, it is the way of life of Vitautas and his mother.

“It is a shame that my mother is not gone now. She is very cool, I’m serious. There is no such experienced locker in Lithuania. My mother also trains new people who work for us, ”said V. Bielys of his 70-year-old mother.

– Vitautas, a living memory of antiquity. When you enter the key, you are often greeted by an angry, cluttered, often smoked key. Such is the profession of key in memories.

– There are other keys that you are talking about. And quite a few. It seems incomprehensible to me: how can a person smell in a room where the floor is broken?

– How did your company start? How did keys and locks come about in your life in general?

– It has been a family business since 1987. My dad then worked for a refrigeration company and they needed a key. Everyone refused, nobody wanted to participate in this activity. My dad saw the prospect and agreed. That’s how it started working. But from the beginning, he had health problems.

One day it happened that he couldn’t work at all due to health. My sister and I are still little. Later, Mom left her job in one of the factories where she worked as an economist and came to produce the keys without realizing anything.

There was a father in the hospital while she worked on the machine. They cut anything at first because they didn’t leave. But the process continued. Mom has a very high stubbornness, will, determination.

Mom left her job in one of the factories where she worked as an economist and came to produce the keys without realizing anything.

He studied the key blanks at night, the keys themselves. There are now tens of thousands of posts in those blanks, and then there were about ten. After all, it was the Soviet era, the standard everywhere. Mother perprate key production system while sitting next to them at night. And so he began to make the keys.

Soon the 1990s came, the walls opened, and the car markets began. After all, Marijampolė had a large Lithuanian car market. This is how car locks and keys came about.

Car key locks are completely non-standard, things are fundamentally different. So nobody did it in Marijampolė, so my mother started to repair the car locks. He also understood the processes of such locks. So far, our employees have been trained.

I don’t have that much experience, I’m more immersed in programming. Mechanics don’t fascinate me. Although I understand that I am catching, but it is not mine.

A little later, in 1995, programming began, when immobilizers appeared in cars.

Mom was under a lot of stress then. Dad invested in programming equipment, but he couldn’t do anything by himself. Also, everything in English that my mother didn’t know. They used to get out of the car wet, because of stress, they were afraid of doing something wrong. For example, press the “delete” button instead. After all, if the immobilizer freezes, you will even have to ask the manufacturer for help.

There was everything. But she studied, she did, she worked very hard. And so far no woman in Lithuania does it and at that level.

– How did you get to the family business?

– When I was a student, I built my own businesses: windows and landscaping companies. So, as Dad’s health deteriorated, I realized: or I maudausi In my dreams, or I go and help my parents, we expand the business. That is what I did, I sold my businesses, I invested in a family business. He was 29 then.

First off, I bought the programming stuff I needed to work with the car keys, locks. I had to get familiar with the immobilizer controllers and processors, solder them, rewrite the chips.

Although math was never a success for me, it started to follow after seven years of night work. Generally speaking, you get a map, a mix of numbers and letters. So you have to figure out where to put it chip. I have a stubbornness from my mother. I have learned.

– Wasn’t it faster to learn it somewhere than to try it yourself?

– At that time, no one taught such things. Later I went to Italy to improve.

– How to name what you do? Are you key people? Sell ​​to sellers?

– First, the production of keys. Various: home, safes, cars, tractors. Another activity: we program the keys, as well as repair locks for both homes and cars, we install them. We carry out the emergency unlocking: safes, simple and armored doors.

We are members of the Lithuanian Association of Lithuania and Europe. Of course, we also sell locks. Sometimes police officers seek our help when they need information on how the lock was unlocked.

– How much is the most expensive lock you have?

– 450 euros.

– What makes it special?

– This is a padlock from a German manufacturer. In the world, this is a lock that is impossible to unlock. It cannot be shot, cut or punctured. Such locks are more for money safes, they are more reliable than a safe.

In the Netherlands there are championships in which the so-called hackers trying to unlock multiple locks. They have not yet been unlocked by anyone.

It cannot be shot, cut or punctured.

There is a protected lock opening, there are three heights, three depths. As a result, it is impossible to unlock it. Each mechanical lock is unlocked giving she stretching sliding the plates. And you won’t stretch anything here. The keys to these locks are not manufactured, they are ordered according to your ID card, sent from Germany.

It is true that these locks can be unlocked by the security services, I know. But with a prerequisite: they must have a very clear image.

– So the word “code” is just a myth? I remember wondering what the keyword means.

– It sounds like a key. But there is no such thing. A key is a device, a device where your fingers, hands, and head work together. When you do blocking sections, movable plates and unlocks. But it’s not like you take a magic item out of your pocket and unlock it. There is no buratin key.

– You mentioned the unlock championships. Have you ever been in such a championship, do the Lithuanians participate?

– No, I didn’t listen. I was an observer, not a participant.

– Are there buyers in Lithuania who represent the safe?

– Each other.

– Another area of ​​its activity is smart locks. What is it?

– It is a lock that can be operated from anywhere in the world. While I am in New York, I can open the door of my house in Lithuania. They open with a code or with a fingerprint.

– Isn’t this an excess of our lives? We are surrounded by many modern things, but who needs a smart lock?

I used to carry a package of keys. I don’t have one now. First of all, it is convenient. I remember when I put a smart lock on my front door about three years ago, my wife still kept the keys on the other door for a while so that she could get in if the lock didn’t work. You would ask him now, you would not go back to traditional locks for nothing.

With a smart lock at home, you won’t forget to lock the door, and if you think you forgot, you can always look at your phone. You never forget the keys because they just don’t exist. On the beach, riding a bike, nowhere and you never need keys.

I remember a time when my friend and I returned from a trip. The plane had to land in Palanga, but due to the fog it was directed to Kaunas airport. We got off the keys of a friend: in the car, and the car in Palanga. In the meantime, I don’t need the keys, I can go home.

It is still very convenient when they bring packages and the hosts are not at home. Then you can generate a one-time code for the messaging service. Or to know when the housekeeper leaves or comes. Extremely convenient for renting accommodation, no need to carry keys when guests arrive.

– When we lived in Palanga, we left the key to each other under the carpet. A smart decision, right?

– Much (smile) And so far people are leaving. Under the rug, in pots, under the pot. Once, a client who rents an apartment on the beach once said: probably half of Lithuania already knows where my house key is.

I would still highlight the old ones. How many times they fail, they cannot open the door themselves. Smart locks are also a solution that doctors can easily enter. This can be done by children even in another part of the world. The internet is not required for such locks to work, the locks also operate at a considerable sub-zero temperature.

– And in terms of security?

– In my opinion, thieves will never invest enough to unlock constantly improving smart locks. However, I would still focus on security rather than security.

You see, if you keep a pink diamond at home and someone in the world wants to steal it, they will steal. Through the window, through the door, that diamond will finally be brought into the house by an “insect” flown home.

A myth has been created about armored doors. They are not safe or so reliable.

– How much does a smart lock cost?

– Several, but the average – about 250 euros.

– Expensive.

– I would say it is cheap. Well thought out, a good, reliable simple lock costs similarly, but the advantages are obvious: you never have to search for lost keys, you don’t have to worry about pockets or handbags when you return everyday, etc. It’s a modern solution to feel comfortable, not worry about keys, to plan time by hiring both housemaids and renting apartments.

You control everything on your phone, see who entered and who left, set the time of your arrival for the people who arrive.

– When it comes to security, there are armored doors, not just locks.

– For a specialist, unlocking a security door is a five-minute job. It is a door on which a myth has been created. They are not safe or so reliable.

Where in the world have you seen two locks stacked on one door, the top and the bottom? Lower – Scandinavian, upper – Italian. Two things, incompatible with each other, north and south, are locked in a door. And those so-called armored door lock pins are a laugh.

– Looking back, Vytautas, are you happy with your decision to sell your business?

– Yes, I fully realize it here. It is not a boring and equal job. Everything changes constantly.