The company’s first own patent is the highlight of the year
CoreHW’s year was overshadowed by two global challenges: the coronavirus and the capacity issues of semiconductor manufacturers. The coronavirus restrictions put foreign travel and international trade fairs on hold far into the fall, which made CoreHW’s sales even more difficult. Availability issues with semiconductors, on the other hand, resulted in the product manufacturing plans of customers’ projects having to be postponed. For these reasons, CoreHW’s net sales dropped by 24% compared to 2020.
There were also successes with new deals being closed remotely and CoreHW’s productivity remaining solid despite the need for remote work arrangements. However, the most important success of the year was the first patent granted to a CoreHW product. In product business, two new product prototypes were tested with excellent results. In 2021, CoreHW also completed a minor organizational update, which increased the emphasis on the components business. In addition to this, some recruitment took place over the course of the year, but the number of employees did not increase as much as in the previous year.
Trade fairs and travel resume
In the fall, the incremental lifting of the coronavirus restrictions manifested itself at CoreHW as resumed customer meetings and a general opening up of opportunities: plans for trade fairs and travel could finally be made. The year 2022 seems partially uncertain, especially due to the capacity shortage of semiconductors, as mentioned above. On the other hand, this can open up new opportunities for a technology company. Another positive sign is that the demand for design services looks to recover to a good level in 2022.