Volant is a brand of

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...

equipment, currently owned by Amer Sports. It was founded as an independent company in the US, by brothers Hank and Bucky Kashiwa in 1989. The brothers developed the stainless steel "cap" ski, and founded the company with the belief that stainless steel skis would provide better performance than skis made from other materials. In 2001, Volant production was moved from

Wheat Ridge, Colorado The City of Wheat Ridge is a home rule municipality located in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Wheat Ridge is located immediately west of Denver and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The ...

to Atomic's Altenmarkt factory in Austria on an

OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

basis. In 2003, the Volant brand was acquired by Amer Group, LLC (the parent company of Atomic, and several other brands of sporting equipment). Volant purchased

Aggression Snowboards Aggression is overt or covert, often harmful, social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or other harm upon another individual; although it can be channeled into creative and practical outlets for some. It may occur either reacti ...

in 1994, in order to acquire a snowboard manufacturing facility. A steel capped snowboard was introduced to the Aggression line (the Aggression Steel) initially. In the following season, Volant introduced its own line of snowboards and shifted the steel capped boards to the Volant line. Volant purchased Limited Snowboards, bringing their president to Wheat Ridge but continuing to produce the Limited line in Canada. Volant was still not profitable due to continuing problems achieving

economies of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables ...

with the steel top caps. Costs issues were further heightened with the opening of eastern Europe and globalization of the industry. An average of 4.5 hours of labour spent on each pair of skis could not be justified. Meanwhile, the primary investor's stock portfolio was taking a beating due to the Dot Com bust and he no longer desired to keep pumping money into the haemorrhaging company. The doors were ordered closed and the brand sold.

References

* * * Ski equipment manufacturers Companies based in Jefferson County, Colorado Wheat Ridge, Colorado {{US-manufacturing-company-stub