Following the release of DCS Lilly in August 2013, Signature Plastics has manufactured over 300 custom keysets for enthusiasts worldwide in the mechanical keyboard community. Ten years later, the company is now adjusting to several major changes in the marketplace and in the business.
Interest in group-buys, with their traditional long lead times, is giving way to customers wanting off-the-shelf products delivered to their door the next day, even though lead times for new group-buy keysets are currently only six to eight weeks. The post-COVID era saw the emergence of dozens of small start-ups eager to capitalize on the mechanical keyboard wave. Unfortunately, this resulted in many of the more popular keyset designs being copied, without designer approval, which negatively impacted the creative spirit that once flourished in the enthusiast community. The future of this unique art form is now in jeopardy as fewer designers are willing to have their creations compromised. Even though the market is being flooded with low-quality, inexpensive, keyset clones, interest in high quality double-shot keysets being produced by companies like GMK and Signature Plastics is still very strong.
One of the biggest challenges Signature Plastics will experience in 2024 will be a change in ownership as Bob Guenser prepares for retirement and Melissa Petersen, the Queen of Keycaps, contemplates new opportunities outside the world of keycaps. It’s been a great ride, and it’s not an easy decision, but we both feel the time has come to end this journey and move on. We are currently searching for buyer candidates who appreciate the role the company has played in the evolution of computer keyboards over the past 50 years, and who are also committed to preserving and continuing the legacy tied to that history.
If you are interested in owning/operating a small injection molding company, with a successful track record in the commercial and consumer keycap markets, please contact us. bguenser@solutionsinplastic.com mpetersen@solutionsinplastic.com
I would like to make one other comment regarding sustaining the business that SP and the community has created. This is an appeal to the designers in the community. Melissa and I appreciate the fact that your incentive to create new keyset designs has been severely impacted by companies not respecting your creations and cloning them for their own benefit. This has basically destroyed the group-buy concept which previously was the vehicle that sustained this hobby. But to avoid the past ten years from becoming simply a passing era, we need the designers to reengage and once again share their works of art with the community.
