Measuring sport equipment properties for customer recommendation and design support

体育用品行业正面临着以更快的速度开发更好产品的持续压力。当前的一个关键趋势是定制设备和个性化推荐的发展。因此，大多数主要制造商都加强了生产符合客户要求的定制运动器材的努力。要做到这一点，制造商不仅必须开发制造大量产品变化的能力，而且必须在其设计过程中包括定量测量。这将使他们能够加快从概念到产品的周期，同时也能够适当地使他们的客户适应他们将提供的越来越多的产品。这个NSERC-PROMPT项目的目标是通过(1)测量滑雪板和曲棍球的重要基本特性，(2)确定这些特性与现场用户体验（即在雪地上、冰上）的关系，以及(3)开发利用这些特性和期望的用户体验的设计工具，进一步取得初步的令人鼓舞的结果。该研究将通过开发测量技术和必要的知识来推动运动器材设计领域的发展，以支持该行业向更加基于数据的设计过程过渡，从而可以生产和推荐满足客户要求的定制设备。本项目将资助4名研究生、1名本科生实习生和3名兼职研究助理。该项目的成果将成为参与该项目的两家加拿大公司Bauer Hockey Ltd和Groupe Rossignol Canada Inc.的战略资产。

The sporting goods industry is facing continuous pressure to develop better products at a faster pace. One key current trend is the development of custom equipment and personalized recommendation. Owing to this, most major manufacturers accentuated their efforts to produce customized sports equipment that meet the customers' requirements. To do so, manufacturers must not only develop the capabilities to build a large number of product variations, but must also include quantitative measurements in their design process. This will allow them to accelerate the concept-to-product cycles, while also being able to properly fit their customers to the ever increasing number of products that they will be offering. The goal of this NSERC-PROMPT project is to further preliminary encouraging results by (1) measuring important fundamental properties of skis and hockey, (2) determining how these properties relate to the in-field user experiences (i.e., on-snow, on-ice) and (3) developing design tools that take advantage of these properties and desired user experiences. The research will advance the field of sport equipment design by developing the measurement techniques and the knowledge necessary to support the transition of this industry toward a more data-based design process that can produce and recommend customized equipment that meet the customers' requirements. This project will support four graduate students, one undergraduate intern and 3 part-time research assistants. The results of this project will become strategic assets for both Bauer Hockey Ltd and Groupe Rossignol Canada Inc., the two Canadian companies involved in this project.