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460 Part Three Key System Applications for the Digital Age

INTERACTIVE SESSION: TECHNOLOGY

FIREWIRE SURFBOARDS LIGHTS UP WITH CAD

Nev Hyman had been building surfboards in According to Price, who became Firewire’s CEO,
Australia for 35 years. In 2005, he teamed up with there are 29 time-consuming and labor-intensive
Mark Price and a group of longtime surfing friends steps in the surfboard manufacturing process.
in Carlsbad, California, to form Firewire Surfboards. Initially, the multifaceted manufacturing process
This company thrives on innovation and was made it impossible to offer personalized CAD to the
responsible for the first major change in surfboard average consumer. Customized boards could only
composition and assembly methods in 40 years. be produced for elite competitive customers. There
Rather than polyurethane resin and polyurethane was no way to offer customization to a wider market
foam, Firewire’s boards were composed of expanded without overburdening Firewire’s CAD system.
polystyrene (EPS) foam and epoxy resins. Hyman Moreover, most custom boards had to be ordered by
and Price believed that this composition for the filling out a piece of paper with various dimensions
surfboard core, along with aerospace composites for the requested changes. There was no way to
for the deck skin and balsa wood rails (the out- see a visual representation of these adjustments or
side edge),created a more flexible and maneuver- assess their impact on the board’s volume, which
able product that would attract top surfers and set directly affects buoyancy, paddling ability, and
Firewire apart from its competitors. performance.
Firewire is competing in a crowded field that Firewire needed a system that would allow
includes Isle Surfboards, Surftech, Aviso Surf, Board customers to experiment with established designs,
works Surf, Channel Island, and Lost Enterprises. feed the CAD process, and integrate it with its
Firewire is alone in the reintroduction of balsa wood computer numerical control (CNC) manufacturing
to the board rails for added flex response time and process. Enter ShapeLogic Design-to-Order Live! For
the ability to maintain speed during precarious NX, which provides an online customization system
maneuvers. Firewire believes it can compete success- with a Web-based user interface and advanced 3-D
fully because its surfboards are far lighter, stronger, CAD tools.
and more flexible than those of its competitors. An Firewire started working with the ShapeLogic
additional selling point is the reduced environmen- NX software in 2009 to develop its own Firewire
tal impact: Firewire’s materials emit only 2 percent Surfboards’ Custom Board Design (CBD) system,
of the harmful compounds of traditional boards which allows users to easily manipulate board dimen-
and recycling excess expanded polystyrene (EPS) sions of established models within design param-
foam has earned Firewire international awards and eters. Any registered customer can choose a standard
acclaim. Firewire model and use drag-and-drop tools to adjust
But that isn’t enough. To make sure it stays ahead the board’s length, midpoint width, nose width, tail
of the competition, Firewire decided to start making width, and thickness, as long as these changes don’t
custom surfboards instead of just the usual off-the-rack degrade the board’s design integrity. CBD generates a
sizes. For the everyday surfer, the durability and flex- precise three-dimensional model of the stock model
ibility of Firewire’s materials was a key selling point. used as the base design along with a 3-D portable
However, custom boards made to surfer specifications document format (PDF) file of the customized board.
are critical in the elite surfboard market, and the abil- The PDF file documents the board’s dimensions and
ity to claim top-level competitive surfers as customers volume. A customer can manipulate the model from
drives the broader surfboard market as well. all angles and compare the customized board to the
Traditionally, skilled craftsman, called shapers, standard board to fully understand the design before
designed and built surfboards by hand, but Firewire placing an order. When the customer uses the system
started doing some of this work using computer- to order a custom board, CBD generates a precise solid
aided designs (CAD) sent to cutting facilities. The CAD model of the board that is transmitted directly
company’s computer-aided manufacturing process to the Firewire factory for driving the CNC machines
returned to the shaper a board that was 85 to 90 that manufacture the board.
percent complete, leaving the artisan to complete the This combination of technologies results in a
customization and the lamination process. board that is 97 percent complete, minimizing the

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