In a market that is historically a code-driven ‘have-to’ purchase, small changes can have big impacts; and 2015 saw the continuing of that trend, with strong performance and a very positive outlook for 2016.
For a market characterized as stable, code-driven and conservative, 2015 seemed to be a turning point for many in the fire detection business, marking the true end of the downturn and the return to growth. For others it was a continuation of this trend that began a few years earlier. Much of the response to “How was 2015?” depended on three big factors: what area of the country you are in and whether the new construction market has rebounded there; what version of the NFPA code your local AHJs follow; and what vertical markets you are most involved in. But overwhelmingly, manufacturers, dealers and integrators tended to find one or more positive trends pointing to growth last year and an even more optimistic outlook for 2016.
“2015 was a great year for us in the fire alarm market,” says Brandt Phillips, commercial fire security director of sales, Napco Security Technologies, Amityville, N.Y. “We are actually following a banner year in 2014, so additional growth was really significant.”