On the way to automated ski service machines

Franz Klammer in front of the Micro Center

The development of our first automated ski service machine at the beginning of the 1990s was a highly promising project.

 

The Micro Center, one of the first automated stone grinding machines, was introduced to the market in 1990, followed by the first fully automated ski servicing center Micro Jet Center – a huge plant with 10 processing steps – in 1991. It was spectacularly presented to the public at Skiservice Corvatsch, owned by Curdin Conrad, in St. Moritz. After the machines were unveiled and switched on, the guests looked on gripped with anticipation – only for nothing at all to happen for a full two minutes. Unfortunately the warm-up time needed by the waxing module had been overlooked during the event planning...

 

All the processing modules had been newly developed for the Micro Jet Center. and formed the basis for many other successful ski service machines. Only eight Micro Jet Centers were built in total; the time was not yet ripe for ski servicing systems on this scale. The next step in the evolution of automation solutions came in 1996 with the Shuttle 3C, a modular ski service station. 

However, the big breakthrough in automated ski service came with the development of the Discovery in 2005. Unique selling points such as the patented feed system, which works without any binding bridges, the "Paternoster" ski magazine with a previously unheard of storage capacity in such a compact space, the high throughput and the modular construction formed the basis for its success. This period saw many customers switch to WINTERSTEIGER from competitors, resulting in the sale of 48 Discovery in its very first year.

 

Today, WINTERSTEIGER can look back on more than 30 years of experience in automated ski service solutions and has delivered more than 1,500 automated machines since then.

Micro Center

Launch in 1990: Micro Center, simple automated stone grinding machine

Micro Jet Center

Sensation in 1991: Micro Jet Center with 10 processing steps

Shuttle 3C

Further development in 1996: Finish Shuttle 3C 

Discovery

Breakthrough in 2005: Discovery

Jupiter

Revolution 2021: Jupiter