DS-AUG26-PG50+51_Layout 1 17/08/2026 12:09 Page 1
FEATURE
ENCLOSURES
55thanniversary
Today’s Trends in The enclosures markeT
Hammond rugged thick wall diecast aluminium enclosures Technology never stands still – if anything, the rate of change is increasing.
Enclosure manufacturers are in the front line of these changing requirements as the housing evolves from being a simple product into a critical part of the finished system. Russell Irvine of hammond electronics explains
T
here are three main trends that make the enclosure an increasingly important component of the finished system:
insTallaTion environmenT Factory control and monitoring systems used to be structured as a central control room receiving information from dumb sensors
over hard wired connections. Today, the trend is for intelligent sensors and controllers to communicate over wi-fi, Bluetooth or Ethernet connections with distributed networks. With sophisticated electronics increasingly being installed in aggressive environments, the enclosure’s role is to create a benign environment, protecting the housed system
or sub-system by protecting the equipment from the external world. For outside installation, UV stability is an
issue for plastic enclosures, so polycarbonate is the plastic material of choice to resist fading and embrittlement. For road and rail applications, shock and vibration are likely to be a consideration. In applications where
from 1916 to 2026: a history of hammond electronics
By coincidence, Hammond is exactly twice as old as Design Solutions. In 1916, the company began, as is traditional, in a backyard workshop (not a garage for a change) in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The original company, O.S. Hammond and Son, was founded in Guelph in 1917. Between 1919 and 1927, O.S. Hammond and Son began producing tube radio sets, battery chargers, and other related devices. To serve the booming broadcast and communications industries,
during the 1950s and 1960s the rising demand for electrical products presented several chances for new products and diversification. Hammond quickly became a significant provider of transformers, racks, cabinets and enclosures for the electrical and electronic industries. Apart from an excellent radio museum in Guelph, Hammond has long outgrown its focus on the radio sector. Today, Hammond is quoted on the Toronto stock exchange, but the CEO
5 desiGn solUtions 1971-2026 JULY/AUGUST 2026 0
is a third-generation member of the family, and two fourth generation family members are employed at senior levels. Hammond employs more than 700 people in a total of 13 global facilities, 11 in Canada, one in the UK and one in the US. Manufacturing space is around 750,000 sq ft globally, and a new 100,000 sq ft facility is currently under construction in Calgary, Canada. There are also subsidiaries in Australia and Taiwan providing local stock holding and technical support. Commercially, as well as dealing directly with OEM customers, primarily
for application-specific modified versions of its standard products, Hammond has close relationships with the major global catalogue distributors and also with numerous specialist enclosure distributors, all of whom stock and supply standard products and, in many cases, also interface with their local customers for modified products.
www.designsolutionsmag.co.uk
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