It sounds like you view automation and final output as the end objective. In that metric, the big names will win every time.
Those systems are impressive but they don’t get, what I would guess is, many people on this site going. The care, passion, and performance are what I care about. You, also, mentioned you don’t like bamboo skis in another thread and mentioned it’s like a kitchen cutting board. Bamboo is an amazing grass. It’s extremely tough, naturally hydrophobic, has amazing rebound.
I think we just have a difference of opinion for what we value. I don’t value edges that weren’t pre-formed and glued as it leads to more of a risk of edge blowout due to the edge potentially being unnaturally stressed. If you’ve ever forced edges by hand, you would understand what I mean. That’s just one example.
By Swiss, I assume you mean Stöckli, as i remember them advertising a 35 step (or maybe it was 70) quality control process. Stöckli makes quality skis. I demoed the stormrider 88. It carved hard and their racers do well. But in my mind, nothing stood out about it and I find it all rather soulless. As for niche builders, do you mean bomber or who?
I follow a lot of ski companies and I always like to keep my finger on the pulse of the ski scene. The Swiss Indy builders don’t strike me as anymore advanced than their neighbors.
I am surprised you haven’t brought up the Capita Mothership or Åre Skidfabrik.
ajbskidont get me wrong, 50 pair is great for a company that has 5-20 employees. i think im way off base here too. i think the 50 pair estimate is really high.
i worked for no manufacturer, nor would i want to, there is not much money in the niche ski industry. im an engineer. i design automation systems for many industries. as a skier, i think about ski manufacturing very very often. i kind of get off on factory videos tbh. the swiss are just on another level compared to n.a. even their niche/custom builders. im talking cnc presses where the "mold" is actually numerically controlled for every 50 mm of length on the ski. im talking chemical base treatments before pressing. even their flash removal and ski grinding is fully automated.
the quality and production rate of skis from micro brew depends on how the operators/laborers feel that day, pros got robots for everything and anything a person might make a mistake doing.
tldr;
i can enjoy a small town IPA.
but to say they can compete with stella in terms of consistency is kind of funny.
@Biffbarf you were right about on3p and possibly even k2. but thats not the way most manufacturers go about it. i also didnt appreciate the autism comment. just cause your name is gold doesnt give you the right to be a prick. its obvious that you are not intelligent enough to fight your own fight and need to rope in people to help you prove a point. i would like to know what life has done to you to make you act the way you do
**This post was edited on Mar 23rd 2022 at 5:27:25pm 
