Changing The Game: Austria’s Elan Snowboard Factory

Story by Transworld Business

One thing is starkly obvious when driving into Austria from neighboring countries such as Germany and Switzerland, not to mention Italy and Slovenia; as soon as you cross the border, even when it’s not marked, it’s obvious that a shift has taken place. The designs of buildings and roadways are cleaner, everything has a sense of purpose built in, and even the old structures look new. This is a land deeply rooted in design, efficiency, and alpine sports.

Throughout the history of snowboarding, perhaps the single biggest claim to fame of the country is the quality of the boards produced there and the fact that the majority of the best-made boards have come from Austrian factories. One of the biggest reasons for this reputation was shaped and molded in a small town called Furnitz, at the Elan Snowboard Factory.

Drawing on a long history of ski technology, the Elan Snowboard Factory began pressing boards in 1987 and has evolved into the world’s largest OEM, snowboard-only factory, building nearly a quarter of a million decks last season. Partners of the Elan Snowboard Factory currently include Capita, Arbor, Rome, Bataleon, Nitro, Elan, Lobster, Artec, Dinosaurs Will Die, Academy, Allian, and Amplid, amongst other smaller brands.

We recently had the chance to tour the factory with industry veteran, Canadian rock star and head of Elan’s market development John Colvin, along with Arbor Snowboard Product Manager Matt Patti, to see first hand how the Austrian design ethic and passion for shred have been melded seamlessly into a sandwich construction of quality, efficiency, and environmental ethos, creating a finished product that is a work of art.

Run as a separate entity from its ski production parent company in Slovenia, the Elan Snowboard Factory is striking-not just because you could eat Schnitzel off its floors- but also because of its people. The front end of the house is comprised of an international cast that all ride. With two mountains visible on either side of the picturesque Austrian valley they call home, the Elan crew clearly get it. They’re on the snow testing product all winter and take pride in their “Made in the Alps” motto.

Under New Management

Behind the product lies a long story of continual improvement, lean manufacturing, and process overhauls that has taken the company from an economic precipice just a few short years ago to regaining its place as a thriving mainstay of the local economy and the global snowboard community.

Elan’s factory houses a family vibe under its roof-in fact, many of its 160 employees have been with the company for nearly 2 decades, and the company’s father figure is a baby-faced Michael Kollmann, who began his Elan tenure in the maintenance department at 16, became product manager at 23, and is now CEO at 36.

Elan Market Development John Colvin

“Michael saw right away that if he is going to make a run as a serious production he was going to have to change the way the work was being done as far as quality and efficiency,” explains Colvin. “But he was working against guys who had been doing the work longer than he had been alive. He slowly moved things a little at a time. Instead of a guy needing to go across the room to get something, all of a sudden the edges were over here. A couple days later the sidewalls were over here and that guy went from making 48 to 65 boards a day without taking notice”

The factory can now produce as many as 1,900 boards per day using a variety of production methods, including four completely different construction types, on presses, molds, and art production machines dreamed up and built in house. This focus on efficiency, engineering excellence, environmental responsibility, and a build-it-yourself ethos has helped Elan reduce the energy needed to make its boards by 55 percent, and cut down time spent producing a board by more than 50 percent.

Changing The Game

Another huge game changer in Elan’s revitalization, which has helped to spur brands such as Arbor and Bataleon to shift their entire productions to their factory has been the development of its Wood Derivative Technology (WDT). This construction uses a low density composite material that incorporates 20 percent spruce tree sawdust particle that is leftover from the timber production industry to increase the strength and reduce the weight associated with traditional composite constructions. WDT now accounts for nearly forty percent of the boards now produced at Elan.

“What it has allowed us to do is provide a construction technique to the industry at the $329-349 price point that is super flexible and really durable - the absolute perfect technology for jib specific decks,” explains Colvin. “That’s the price point where jib boards need to be. It allows our partners to be competitive in that area but still have a killer construction they can rely on. Mold for mold they’re equivalent to a sandwich construction in terms of durability and weight. It’s given us and our partners a serious contender in the jib style riding category.”

As with all of Elan’s constructions, WDT also offers solid environmental benefits including incorporating sustainably forested woods into the traditional chemical soup of composite constructions. Elan uses Forest Stewardship Council certified woods and doesn’t use epoxy in any of its constructions. It has even developed its own gluing material called Envirobond which is Epoxy Free, comprised of 60% renewable agricultural materials, uses no water and leaves very little waste during it’s production cycle, and produces no waste or greenhouse emissions during the production of snowboards. They also use some bio top sheets, 60% recycled steel edges, and computer controls that standardize the bonding agent amounts to minimize waste and achieve consistency in each board in regards to weight and flex specs.

Elan’s technical developments are far from behind the scenes on the graphics front. A mere five years ago the company bought its first large-format printer, now they boast seven. Perhaps the coolest technology they’ve developed is their  Pure Liquid Technology ( PLT ) that finishes the boards with a high gloss finish, reduces weight by 80% over traditional coating or spraying systems, and eliminates cracking that often accompanies a traditional clear coated board. But even cooler are the applications that are possible because of the PLT  Machine. These can include incorporating materials such as leathers, woods, virtually any fabrics, metals, etc by way of seemless topsheet diecutting.

As our thoughts turn to skating and surfing here in the States, the folks at Elan are hitting their busiest season of the year, cranking out decks to grace retailers’ floors next season, and after seeing what’s going into and onto these boards, we’re betting it’s going to be the best season yet.

Check out an in-depth look at the Elan construction process on Elan’s Facebook page.

The Best Snowboard Technology of 2011 by Snowboard-Review.com

Every year tons of new technology hits the board racks; some of it is good, and to be frank, some of it isn’t. After a week of heavy testing, the Snowboard-Review test team have compiled a short list of technology which is head and shoulders above the rest, the goods you should be investing your hard earned cash in this coming season.   

Bamboo Cores

There’s no denying that standard rockered snowboards have a place in snowboarding, forgiving landings, buttery smooth takeoffs, catch free run-ins, extra float in powder and lightening quick turn initiation. The problem is, there’s just something missing from rockered boards, namely that juicy pop you get from camber… well that was until some clever fellow decided to trade the standard Poplar / Aspen wood core for Bamboo. Bamboo livens up the ride a treat, ollie pop is increased significantly and you even get tons of feedback and recoil from snappy short radius carves. Not only is Bamboo killer for the ride characteristics of snowboards it’s also incredibly sustainable, a member of the grass family of plants, some varieties can grow by up to 60cm in a day and harvesting does not kill the plant!

We rated the K2 Fastplant, featuring k2’s Bambooyah core. Unlike traditional laminated cores, the Fastplant uses bamboo laminates layered one on top of each other much like a skate deck with a fibreglass torsion box wrap. Even with K2’s jib rocker, tail heavy wash-outs are a thing of the past; the Fastplant has unbelievable pop and flexibility. K2 was so blown-away by the durability of their Bambooyah core, that they’ve slapped a 5 year warranty on it. We’re also digging the Stepchild Headless Horseman, with a board graphic that doesn’t half resemble the storyboard from Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow this board doesn’t just look cool it dominates the park. Our head of testing liked it so much, he was on the phone to the distributor pre-ordering his Headless Horseman for next season as soon as we stepped off the plane, back in Blighty.

Hybrid Rocker Profiles

Last season there were a few manufacturers experimenting with camber and rocker hybrids. Never Summer and Mervin chose rocker between the bindings and camber at the tip and tail, whilst the Nidecker and Rossignol factories went for camber between the feet and rocker at the tip and tail. The most obvious differences between the two schools of thought are that when rocker is used between the feet the majority of the flex comes from between the bindings, meaning that carves can really be worked through the flex of the board and the tail pops you out of carves; where as the Nidecker / Rossi version flexes more at the nose and tail and is more rigid between the feet, meaning that carves feel more like railing turns on a cambered board.

Other brands are now choosing their side. Burton has chosen to follow Never Summer and Mervin and has created the Flying V profile. Jones, Capita, APO and Salomon are backing Rossignol’s and Nidecker’s technology. We were really impressed with the Rossignol One which now combines Amptek with Magne-traction, and APO’s BC Powder Rocker, which held a perfect edge on the morning ice. One thing is for sure, if you want rocker but you don’t want to constrict yourself to the park, you should be looking at a hybrid. All you have to work out now is which side of the fence you’re going to sit on.

Bataleon Triple Base Technology

Bataleon’s Triple Base Technology is a freestyle phenomenon, but have you tried TBT on a stiff freeride gun? I thought not. With stiff boards initiating carves can sometimes be a bit of a chore and working the board into anything other than huge radius carves is impossible. Freeride specific TBT has a narrower flat section under the broadest part of the nose and the tail. The Bataleon Undisputed is as stable as an oil tanker, and almost entirely catch-free. A board that puts you at ease at radical speed, but that also rolls effortlessly into turns, darts between edges in the blink of an eye and works in tighter turns than you’d expect from a board which plainly put is stiff. I’d go as far as to say that Triple Base Technology is even better for freeride boards than it is for park rides. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Atomic’s Pop Rocker Profile

Pop Rocker isn’t confined to Atomic snowboards, but Atomic are certainly pioneering this technology. This year Atomic are expanding their Pop Rocker technology from the Axum into pretty much the remainder of their range. The idea behind Pop Rocker is; when loaded, the point at which the nose and tail start kicking up, moves towards the bindings. This moves steering towards the feet, increases the ease at which turns can be initiated and improves float in un-pisted snow, whilst retaining the majority of pop associated with camber.

One board that certainly benefits from Pop Rocker is the Banger. The Banger literally dives into turns, the nose rides up in anything that resembles deep snow and I was riding a 158 my normal all mountain board size. Because the nose is naturally softer because of the pop rocker profile, heavier glass laminate can be used through the rest of the boards. By using Quadraxial glass, a thin core profile and retaining standard camber in the tail, the Banger works in tight turns but stomps tail skipping pillow lines and slashes powder laden burms with the best of them.

Story by Snowboard-Review.com

Bataleon Project Green Snowboard

Bataleon's Project Green Snowboard (157, 161) sports an FSC wood core, ABS recycled sidewalls and base, and a solvent-free top sheet with a soy wax finish. Bataleon has been manufacturing snowboards in their Austrian factory that has been implementing stringent environmentally policies way before it was cool to be green.

Purchase at Evogear.com $529.95