As 2023 draws to a close, the DustShield® team takes a look back at the biggest trends and challenges of 2023, and then what we expect customers to see in 2024.
As federal interest rates continued rising in 2023, we saw that many organizations halted and/or slowed their capital investments. This resulted in a slowdown in new business, which forced some industry rightsizing, mergers and acquisitions.
On the DustShield side, that decrease in capital investments resulted in more companies looking for enclosure solutions to protect their current electronics. Many organizations decided that since they couldn’t buy new label printers, computers and other electronics, they would protect their current stock with DustShield enclosures to prolong the electronics’ life. And if a company did decide to purchase new electronic equipment, protecting it became even more important.
We also saw an increased interest in traceability. From logistics to warehouses to inventory management and more, companies looked for more ways they could track their products’ movements and locations, while also protecting the machines that do that. We expect to see traceability become more and more important to companies.
Micro/mini-PCs also became more popular, and DustShield received more interest in enclosure solutions to protect those small computers. This trend will continue as computers continue to become smaller and provide more functions.
And while smaller PCs became more popular, we also saw more organizations looking for larger enclosures that protect complete systems, including the PC, printer and monitor, among other components.
Organizations also started purchasing more protective solutions for their network servers, routers, switches and repeaters. DustShield produced more of those enclosures in 2023 as more companies sought a way to create a clean-room style environment for their key equipment without actually having a clean room. We also saw more companies worked to upgrade and protect their security and surveillance systems.
At our manufacturing plant, DustShield was excited to see that material pricing remained steady throughout the year, as did lead times.
The DustShield team expects capital investments to increase in 2024 as more companies replace and upgrade the equipment they didn’t replace in 2023. We therefore expect more enclosures to be ordered, which could result in longer lead times as the year goes on.
We are currently in the research and development process for new products to protect all printer applications. Customers who are interested in protecting their barcode, inkjet and/or laser printers should watch for those solutions to be featured on the website as they are developed.
The DustShield team expects material, and therefore enclosure prices, to remain steady in 2024.
DustShield specializes in creating custom enclosure solutions to protect electronics from a variety of airborne particulates, liquids and more that can harm an electronic system. Our enclosures are made to meet your needs and fit your equipment just right. To learn more, contact our enclosure specialists at 417.736.3746 or sales1@amprod.us.
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