FEATURE
curveballs in there with rain and warm weather and so on,
and there’s an incredible amount of pressure on snowmaking
systems to make use of absolutely every single hour that’s
available. In order to do all of that, with the existing teams
that are in place at the resorts, automation becomes something
that management has to consider very closely.
You need to have a way to visually understand and share
with others what is happening with every component of your
snowmaking system; all the pump and compressor motors
and all the snowmaking equipment on the hill. Consolidating
all of that in one place makes things run a lot more efficiently
than if you’re just running blind at night watching pressure
gauges in the pump house and not having any real control
over what’s going on, which is the way things used to run
years ago.
Why is innovation important to HKD Snowmakers?
CS: Research and development is the passion and lifeblood
of HKD Snowmakers. We feel innovation is critical because
the industry is constantly changing and we need to be able
to evolve with that. That’s why we’re continually investing
in R&D each year. If we weren’t doing that, we’d be standing
still and as soon as you’re standing still, you’re just going to
get passed by everyone in the industry. So we’re very focused
on that.
Besides a strong commitment to innovation, what’s
another unique aspect of your company?
CS: We are a fully-integrated company, both backwards and
forwards. We’ve got a wide host of skillsets within HKD that
allows us to continue to develop products, to install them, to
work with our customers to make sure they work and finally,
to make corrections out in the field if something isn’t work-ing
well. Our team is a diverse, talented and fully integrated
group, and we can address anything that needs to be repaired
or modified to meet our customers’ needs.
snowopsmag.com | SnowOps 15
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