![]() The whole community worked on it, and it's got a ton of info. ![]() ![]() Please, before you ask any questions about your new board, or learning, or etiquette, or whatever, check out the /r/surfing WIKI page. With this loss of quality control they risk their brand, integrity and credibility.Are you a kook?! Check out the /r/Surfing WIKI page! It's full of helpful information and if you ask something covered in it, you may be taunted, hassled, shamed, bullied or given the wrong answer on purpose. Unfortunately they can not be everywhere at once to guarantee their designs are faithfully replicated. The world’s top shapers understand this dilemma which goes hand in hand with scaling their brand by using offshore production. Hence, unfortunately not all boards are a faithful replication of the original designer’s intent. This machining process creates rough shape of the board with a bumpy corrugated surface which then needs to be interpreted and manually finished by what the industry calls a finish shaper a highly skilled process that takes 25 to 45 minutes. Furthermore, the board is manually turned over and re-aligned during the machining process which is extremely difficult to do accurately. These machines have a high ‘step-over’ (distance between machining paths) and large diameter tool. Most boards are first rough cut by a simple 3-axis routers. One of your valued customers, let’s call him Bob, purchases an identical board to his mate, only to find they are not the same? What is going on here? It is estimated that for every ten supposedly identical boards in production, only one or two come out as the designer intended. We utilise innovative technology to ensure faithful replication of the designers intent. Our manufacturing solution has a lower lead time, is therefore more demand reactive and requires less capital. We are investing locally, creating employment opportunities and training our staff in lean manufacturing methodologies. Does the surf community really want to purchase a new surfboard that has been shaped by someone in a far away country and who has possibly never surfed? We believe ‘Locally Made Matters’ This inevitably results in a portion of imported boards having to be discounted to clear eroding margin for everyone.įurthermore, the consumer is getting a lot more savvy about the origin and environmental lifecycle of products. A long lead time means that brands must predict ahead of market demand what models and sizes will sell. There are high working capital requirements given that boards must be paid before shipping. Geographical dislocation makes it difficult for the surf brand to manage quality issues. For example, lower quality, unfaithful replication of designs and long lead times. Consequently many of the brand name surfboards now sold in Australia are imported from Thailand, Vietnam and China.ĭespite low price there are other hidden costs to this model. Over the past decade surfboard production has been steadily moving offshore to low labour cost countries that can offer super low prices.
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