Snow sports giant K2 used Onshape to design its latest collection. Gabrielle Brown discovers how the company’s designers take CAD out of the studio and onto the slopes
As a leader in snow sports equipment, K2 was challenged to create a new range of speedy, yet stable skis, but quickly ran into issues – not on the slopes, but back in the studio.
Founded in 1962 and known for pioneering the practice of ditching traditional wood and metal skis in favour of lightweight fibreglass, K2 Snow has always put function at the forefront of its designs. On mountain slopes, the brand has something to offer everyone, from first timers to Olympic gold medallists.
With its Blur XT range, a ski designed for versatility, the company aimed to deliver its most advanced design yet – but its design team initially struggled to bring the idea to fruition, hampered by traditional desktop CAD and disconnected product data management (PDM) capabilities.
Design work was time consuming, communication with global manufacturing partners was inefficient and manual file management led to confusion and delays. “We needed a better solution and a faster way to iterate. Our previous set-up just wasn’t keeping pace with how quickly we wanted to move,” says K2 Skis R&D engineer Jed Yeiser.
Ski challenge
In a competitive market where trends and consumer demand evolve rapidly, K2’s design team was in search of an accelerator for its designs. On top of that, work on K2 skis doesn’t begin and end in the studio. The design team frequently needs to bring CAD out onto the slopes when it tests its designs, in order to make changes in real time.
Onshape’s cloud-native platform enables K2 to move CAD closer to the action, says the company’s design engineer Kyle Evers. “I can pull up designs on different devices like my phone, so when we’re out ski testing on the hill at the ski area, I can check what my designs are and make sure we’re crystal-clear about the decisions we’re making in testing,” he says.
By moving to Onshape, Jed Yeiser forecast time savings in the region of 20%. In fact, the team now feels it’s closer to 25%. Since that team is spread across the US, China and Europe, built-in commenting and version control are a necessity that Onshape delivers.
The team has also incorporated FeatureScript into its workflow. “With a few lines of code, we were able to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes us to import designs from our analysis tool, streamline creating QC documentation for parts, since the FeatureScript analyses a body and spits out a table of QC points, and automate many of our standard processes,” explains Yeiser.
The shift in PDM to Onshape didn’t just eliminate technical barriers; it changed how the team thinks about design collaboration. “In file-based systems, you’re always cautious,” he says.
“You’re waiting for someone to check something in or worrying if the version you’re looking at is the right one. That friction slows everyone down,” he says.
K2’s key partner BOA, a manufacturer of dial-based fasteners, also uses Onshape to design its innovative Fit System ratcheting mechanism for athletic footwear without laces.
Ultimately, time spent in the studio and out on the slopes has paid off for the design team. K2’s Blur XT skis offer an edge-to-edge aluminium alloy H-beam for improved edge contact and control, providing stability at speed and razor-sharp edge hold and smooth, low-effort turn initiation. Unidirectional dampening, thanks to a technology K2 calls Flax Shield, adds suspension and composure, giving a stable ride without feeling sluggish.
So, whether you’re arcing precise carves or navigating variable snow, these skis have got your back.
This article first appeared in DEVELOP3D Magazine
DEVELOP3D is a publication dedicated to product design + development, from concept to manufacture and the technologies behind it all.
To receive the physical publication or digital issue free, as well as exclusive news and offers, subscribe to DEVELOP3D Magazine here
