Research and development in designing new boards is what Walbridge has targeted, said Cary Briggs, company president. Walbridge's 10 employees produced 3,000 snowboards last year, he said, but the company realizes it can't compete with major manufacturers that turn out 50,000 snowboards annually. Bucknell is creating prototype testing equipment for Walbridge to test board designs. Next year, we'll be the ones pushing the envelope. Despite the phenomenal growth of snowboarding in the past two decades, technology has not kept pace in improving the board, said Briggs.
New boards are undertested, and overengineered.
Manufacturers buy expensive fibers, make a new board, then go out and have kids ride it. We didn't get good feedback. It wasn't scientific. Pennsylvania's Ben Franklin Partnerships, which provides funds to new businesses and had already helped the firm improve its factory, suggested last year that Briggs talk to Bucknell engineers about designing the testing system. Then Walbridge wants to address the women's market.