In an Unpredictable Economy, Standardized Lighting Controls Are Your Safest Bet

By JEREMY LUDYJAN

In April at LightFair, many attendees noticed an unusual number of empty booths. A range of overseas lighting manufacturers from various countries had decided not to exhibit. The backdrop was likely uncertainty around potential U.S. tariffs, some threatened to reach as high as 145%, that created too much risk for companies already in or considering the U.S. market.

While the specifics may change, the pattern is familiar. The lighting industry is increasingly shaped by forces outside its control: tariffs, inflation, pandemic aftershocks, shipping delays, labor costs, and geopolitical uncertainty.

Together, these forces create a market where stability is scarce. For component makers, luminaire manufacturers, specifiers, building owners, and facility managers, this volatility complicates decision-making and raises the stakes for every investment in lighting systems.

So, how do you plan in an era when the rules keep changing?

A Market Defined by Volatility

The LightFair pullout is just one example of a larger trend. Over the past several years, the lighting industry has been hit from multiple directions.

It started with tariffs. In 2018, steep U.S. duties on many Chinese goods, including lighting components, reshaped costs almost overnight. Manufacturers scrambled, shifting production to Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia, while some leaned into Mexico as a near-shoring option. At LightFair this year, exhibitors even highlighted new manufacturing locations on booth signage to reassure buyers.

In 2020 came the pandemic. Global supply chains ground to a halt as factories closed, ports backed up, and containers became scarce. Projects stalled, not because of design issues, but because product could not move.

As the world reopened, material costs climbed, freight charges spiked, and labor shortages added pressure.

More recently, the industry has faced renewed tariff threats, with some rates proposed at well over 100%.

The Limits of Proprietary Systems

This volatility exposes the risks of proprietary ecosystems. Many lighting projects are still built around single-vendor systems where fixtures, drivers, and controls are locked together.

On paper, it looks neat and simple. In practice, it leaves stakeholders vulnerable.

Relying on a single vendor is always a risk, no matter how established that manufacturer may seem. Economic pressures often drive companies to phase out aging product lines. In a proprietary system, once a product is discontinued, there is no alternative source for compatible components, leaving projects stranded.

Open, standardized systems minimize that risk by allowing multiple manufacturers to support the same functions.

Proprietary systems also magnify the risks tied to component availability. Many luminaire manufacturers depend on a small pool of suppliers for critical drivers, sensors, or chips. When a component maker decides not to sell into the U.S. market, because of tariffs, compliance hurdles, or uncertainty, entire product lines can be at risk. In a proprietary ecosystem, projects are stuck until that supplier resumes shipments.

Open, standardized systems offer a different path. By ensuring interoperability across brands, they give manufacturers, specifiers, and building owners the ability to pivot. If one supplier exits or is delayed, another certified product can take its place. That flexibility is what keeps projects moving even when supply chains do not.

Why Open Standards Matter

Open standards—whether DALI, BACnet, DMX, or others—are designed to provide interoperability across manufacturers. Instead of being tied to a single supplier’s ecosystem, specifiers and facility teams can mix and match components from different brands, confident they will communicate using a common protocol.

The benefits are straightforward. Fixtures, drivers, sensors, and controllers from multiple vendors can be integrated into one system. That means projects are not tied to the fortunes of a single vendor. And it means replacements and upgrades remain available well into the future.

Modern open protocols have also evolved to support advanced features. In lighting, today’s systems support tunable white, color control, integrated sensors, energy monitoring, and asset data reporting. Standards continue to expand to meet the needs of smart buildings and IoT integration.

In practical terms, an open-standard control backbone installed today will support both current needs and tomorrow’s innovations.

Benefits Across the Value Chain

The advantages of open standards extend across the industry:

• Component manufacturers can continue serving the market without forcing customers into one channel, giving them flexibility when regional rules shift.

• Luminaire manufacturers who integrate open protocols into their products can reach a broader market, not just customers tied to one ecosystem.

• Specifiers and designers can plan with confidence, knowing that alternative suppliers will be available if disruptions hit.

• Building owners and facility managers protect their long-term investment, ensuring that upgrades or retrofits can be accomplished without tearing out the backbone.

In short, open standards give every stakeholder something they need most in today’s climate: options.

Designing for Uncertainty

Lighting systems are long-lived assets. While fixtures may last a decade or more, the building itself is expected to serve for many decades, and the lighting control backbone should be expected to last the life of the building, supporting retrofits, expansions, and new features.

Today’s proprietary systems are tied to short product lifecycles. Open, standardized controls provide the continuity needed to bridge that gap. DALI, for example, has supported buildings worldwide for more than 30 years without requiring rewiring or wholesale system replacements. The backbone remains, while products and functions evolve around it.

In the past, the main concern was whether a system could keep up with advancing technology. Now the bigger concern is whether it can adapt to unpredictable economic shifts. Standardized, interoperable controls provide a vendor-neutral foundation that allows a system to evolve gracefully, regardless of market turbulence.

They are not just about interoperability today; they are about ensuring flexibility tomorrow.

When specifiers, owners, and manufacturers choose open systems, they are investing in resilience.

Plan Ahead, Future-Proof, Specify Open

The empty booths at LightFair were a reminder of how quickly circumstances can change. Tariffs, inflation, supply chain shocks, and political uncertainty are not anomalies anymore—they’re the environment we live in.

The right response is resilience: avoiding lock-in, keeping sourcing options open, and choosing technologies that last. Open standards deliver exactly that. Systems like DALI, along with other open protocols, ensure flexibility, vendor choice, and long-term stability.

Turbulence will continue, but your lighting systems don’t have to suffer. Plan ahead. Future-proof. Specify open.

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