Our company is considering entering the manufacturing market for snow Research Paper

Our company is considering entering the manufacturing market for snow skis. You have been asked to examine all material(s) that - Research Paper Example A number of companies mainly in United States and Europe are currently producing Snow skis. Throughout the history, various materials have been used in making of skis and advancement continues to be seen. Skis manufacturing have a long history. Based on archeological studies, a wooden ski was first identified in at Lake Sindor in Russia, the skiing equipment was dated to have been in use between 6300 and 5000 BC.(Burov 393). This is the earliest evidence involving the use of skis. Apart from artifacts of skis, many historical drawings and paintings have shown skiing activities where individuals use the skis. Ski construction started becoming dominant in the end of nineteenth century especially in Austria and Switzerland (Classic skis 1). The architecture of these early alpine skis was simple but they were wide and short. These characteristics enabled the skis to have high agility, hence capable of the ability to penetrate areas with deep snow and elevated areas. Since these early tim es, the designs, shape and the materials used in making skis has continued to diversify. Different types of wood have been used in the construction of the skis, varying from wood, plastics, metals or a blend of the three. The main materials in making of skis have been wood for the better part of the twentieth century. Different wooden materials have been in use depending on the place where the skis are located. Today some companies have retained the use of wood but the technology seems not attract many of the skiers. The initial wooden skis were curved using hands, to make simple skis (Wooden skis 1). In the modern setup, this design has completely changed with the adoption of a torsion box architecture that is more sophisticated and requires additional materials to make. Because of the water-properties of wood, other materials have taken its place. This has created limited use of wood in the modern context. Skis are simple skiing equipment but they are made up several parts. It is important that a ski buyer is familiar with it in order to get the best ski for the desired skiing. The base is the part of a ski that has direct contact with or faces the ground surface. Most of the skis’ bases in the modern times are made of aluminum or fiberglass. The camber is space that is evident at below the centre of the ski. Contact points are the positions of attachment between the ski and the snow without the rider imparting pressure on it. The waist is the part of the ski that is narrowest, usually appearing at the centre of the side cut. Other parts of the ski include the top or otherwise called the deck where the bindings are placed. It also has the effective edge, the tip, the shovel, and the side cut (ABC of Skiing 1). Various categories of the modern day skis are manufactured depending on the material used. The classic wooden skis are curved using hands; they are long and have thin sides, an aberration from the original design. In addition, they have a rectan gular shape but have a curve in one of the ends. Another form of skis was advanced to use steel, these are the so-called edges, and their architecture varies because of the screwed steel at its bottom. Wood and metal laminates have also been developed, the wooden laminate involves pieces of wood that are glued together, and these are flexible, stiff and are lighter. Metal laminates were initially made of aluminum but proved inefficient; they had to blend aluminum with wood. Advancing with the technology the