Whether it’s 3-d Cad designs, e-commerce sites for small businesses or new production processes, jewellery companies of every size and section are researching new and exciting possibilities that promise to alter their operations. Technology is also helping to define a new future for the safety of jewellery operations, particularly with regard to improving the impact resistance of display showcases and the potency of safes.
SHOWCASES
Today’s merchandise-display showcases commonly employ laminated security glass in their structure. These glazing materials only offer minimum impact resistance when pressure is used. In the aftermath of recent smash-and-grab strikes on high-end retail jewellery shops, there has been an increasing interest in improving the operation of impact-resistant substances used in showcase construction.
What might jewellers see next? Happily, research and development during the past several years has helped push new standards and materials used in a glass showcase. Even better, variations of those materials are available now. As an example, in case of a physical assault, laminated glass can be held in place by an interlayer of polyvinyl butyral (PVB). This is effective because the PVB is sandwiched between a couple of layers of glass. Laminated glass comes in many different thicknesses with many different interlayers of different gauges. The depth of the gauge of the interlayer (lamination), in addition to the depth of the glass, help control impact resistance.
SAFES
Underwriters Laboratories, LLC rates burglary-resistant safes based on the amount of time the safe will withstand burglary attack. As an example, the maximum score is noted as TXTL 60 X 6. This means an explosive, flashlight, and tool-resistant safe that withstood a UL safe assault for 60 minutes. However, what if a safe were assembled in such a manner that it might hold up against an attack for a much longer period? That might be a possibility if the building of a safe comprised the substance called graphene.
What might jewellers see next? Graphene is one Molecule sheet of carbon atoms that is pliable (like rubber), can run over a thousand times the quantity of power as aluminium, and has amazing strength. Its properties were first discovered in 2002, but since then, scientists were unable to turn these 2-D molecular sheets to 3-D, every-day software — till today.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech have created a structure 10 times stronger than steel, but only 5 percent as dense! The team at MIT considers the geometries of the configuration could assist graphene become a replacement for concrete and steel, which would apply to the building of safes. Unfortunately, safes which incorporate graphene technology are probably years away, and even then, will most likely be cost-prohibitive. However, innovations with respect to cost-effective safe construction using new applications of existing substances are already under way.
Remember, these are all possible applications the security market is exploring. Still, as fast as technology is moving, it is not a bad idea to keep your pulse on fresh and innovative ideas. After all, the next major thing five years from now might not even have been thought of yet!