The Future of Snowmobile Manufacturing

We recently told you all about the changes taking place in the automobile industry, but a similar industry is going through its own changes. The 14th Annual Clean Snowmobile Challenge recently took place at Michigan Tech, and it gave us a great look at how the snowmobile industry is evolving.

At this event engineering students from a selection of different schools are tasked with reengineering a stock snowmobile. They generally focus on reducing noise and emissions, and manufacturing a snowmobile with better fuel economy. They do this while making sure that the fun factor of the popular winter recreational vehicle is retained. This year’s challenge also included a category for zero-emission, battery-powered sleds that are frequently used by researchers during expeditions to the North Pole.

The event’s focus on a cleaner and quieter snowmobile is really indicative of the direction of the snowmobile manufacturing sector as a whole. Much like the auto industry, it seems like the snowmobile manufacturers are placing a bigger emphasis on crafting greener technology. The battery-powered sleds once used only in Arctic locations could be used at resorts or other locations as their range improves. Enterprising engineers will continue to push limits and make machines with better and better fuel economy, and with fewer and fewer emissions. Some snowmobile manufacturers could even buck gasoline entirely and embrace alternative fuels. On that note, the organizer of the Clean Snowmobile Challenge has even mentioned that new twists on the event will arise in the future, such as challenging students to create snowmobiles that could run on new fuels like butanol, which is made from corn waste.

So the snowmobile industry is changing, but no matter what happens Techna-Tool and our top of the line tool detection systems will be there to fulfill any manufacturer’s machining needs.