RAMP Factory located in Park City, Utah
Some of the biggest political issues right now all seem to revolve around: “Green” technology, fair wages, USA jobs, and quality products made in the USA. Ramp Sports, manufactured and based out of Park City, Utah has embodied all these concepts that are so hot today. However, despite all of this, RAMP Sports is far from a giant Super-Pact but more of a Grass-Roots organization.
Recently I was fortunate enough to be given a factory tour at RAMP Sports where the employees make more than $200/month, unlike K2 and Burton employees in China and Taiwan. When most people think about a factory their minds begin envisioning: large machinery, loud noises, dirt, dust and filth. I couldn’t have been further from the truth when I met Vanessa Pierce who is RAMPs Communication Director. The production floor was so quite that I hardly realized I had already begun my tour while meeting the office staff who’s open door’ed cubicles are situated in the heart of the operation.
Always the season to be jolly at RAMP
What sets the Riders, Artists, Musicians, Project (RAMP) factory into a league of their own is just as much the highest quality sourced within the USA materials but also their state of the art machinery. Which also happens to be made in the USA. Most ski factories use massive and expensive presses to shape and combine layers in un-natural shapes which results in a loss of each materials natural qualities. At RAMP, the central piece of technology is a large vacuum molding machine. (The same kind of machine used to make helicopter blades.)
I legally can’t show you more than this. Sorry.
Still, even having USA labor and USA materials isn’t enough to create a revolutionary process. Without going in to detail due to the legal obligations of a paper I signed before entering the factory, RAMP has a patent pending, mind blowing, highly flexible process to create their skis. Since RAMP doesn’t use expensive molds with their patent pending process they can make infinite and finite changes to the widths, side-cuts, and lengths etc of the skis with just a few clicks of a mouse. RAMP Sports is the only company in the world that can take a ski from an idea to a working prototype in less than a day. Then by the next day make changes to the shape and have it on the slopes again.
Nearly finished product
In their commitment to being a Green Company, all their skis are made with a pine based resin instead of the traditional and toxic petro-chemical resins. They also use FSC certified bamboo cores in all their skis which is 4x as strong as the industry standard poplar core. Also, instead of shipping using boxes, all skis and snowboards are shipped in reusable ski bags. Also they will buy 300 pounds of carbon offsets with every purchase. And to give the consumer the best possible price, when you order RAMP skis, you order directly from the factory.
Rad company! When are they going to make a snowboard?
Really stoked to see a company take advantage of a local (USA) workforce and partice “green manufacturing”.
They do make snowboards.
Uh, like since inception: http://www.rampsports.com/store/snowboards.html
The snowboards will be made in the Park City factory next year with the same construction as the skis.
200/month sounds pretty impoverished…
Actually that is about standard for a worker in Taiwan.
yea but this is in Utah isn’t it? a bit low for a us worker no?
Sick company. And I would hope they pay there employees way more than $200 a month since that would still be way below the minimum wage
RAMP is a sweet company! They make awesome skis! If you ever have a chance, check out their demo skis or take a tour of the factory!
It would be more of a triumph if they were paying people in China more than $200 a month. Now their just not providing anything for those people.
Pretty keen on a pair from these guys. I seriously dig their values and commitment to green manufacturing. However, wish they would fix their site, their bottom navigation links are all 404′d.
Also the same company that said they “developed” the revolutionary vacuum press a few months ago… you know, the one that has been around for ages.
Ofcourse they did not develop the vacuum bag. They did develop a different way of making skis in the vacuum bag thats obviously very different than a standard press. The advantage is that the ski forms its own shape and conforms to its own materials vs a press where all the materials are just jammed together. Its a interesting process but it makes the manufacturing of the ski much more precise.
vacuuming at 7000 feet and you lose 23% of potential vacuum. which equals 23 inches of mercury (out of 30 at sea level) which equates to 11 psi roughly of pressure. dont presses put out like 100 psi?
I’m not doubting your math, but their skis obviously perform well. The numbers however, RAMP uses 1 bar of pressure evenly across their mold while presses use 4 bars at not a so even pressure.
do they use an autoclave? how does a press do it unevenly?
Super pact? Political action committee TANK!
The production floor was so quite? I couldn’t hear your point.
You’re killing it, man.
I almost made it past the second paragraph.
did you go visit? or did they send you the same press release they sent out to every other outlet
Do you want to visit for a story? Shoot me an email jamies@terrapublicrelations.com
Want to visit for a story? shoot me an email jamies@terrapublicrelations.com
Since you lack the general freshman education to proof read your work I thought that I would do it for you. Here is a list of things that need basic grammar corrections : comma after Park City, Utah; “Super-Pact” does not have a “T”; comma after Vanessa Pierce; remove “who is”; it is spelled “quiet”, no “quite”; remove the “ed” from the end of door; expand FSC; write out “times” after 4; Remove the “and” that starts the sentence. Alright that is just the grammar… If you would like a better worded document that makes both RAMP and your website look official and professional, feel free to reply to this post. Until then I will correct all web posting on a basic level…