Upper Peninsula is the true test
Manufacturers flock to old airfield’s eight feet of snow to test their prototype snowblowers
Posted: Jan. 24, 2005
For people who design snowblowers, heaven could be a closed, desolate air base buried under 8 feet of snow, where engineers can engage in hundreds of hours of continuous machine testing.
This week at such a spot, Brillion-based Ariens Co. is putting prototype snowblowers through the equivalent of more than 10 years of average homeowner use in a matter of days.
Testing at the former K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, near Gwinn, Mich., has become an annual ritual for Ariens Co., which measures things like how many tons of snow a machine can move in an hour and what happens when you shift from two-wheel drive to four-wheel drive 13,000 times in very cold temperatures.
“There’s nothing like nature’s test,” said Dan Ariens, company president.
Wisconsin companies that make snow removal equipment, such as Ariens and Simplicity Manufacturing Inc. of Port Washington, have rushed to fill orders as cities from Milwaukee to Boston dig out from last week’s blizzard.
Such a massive storm can drain on this season’s inventory well before winter is over. It can also give manufacturers an early jump on next winter’s sales as homeowners vow not to be caught again without proper equipment.
Ariens might have to begin next year’s production cycle early, which puts more pressure on testing.
“We may have to call the guys in Michigan and tell them to work 15 hours a day instead of 12,” Ariens said.
The former Air Force base that Ariens uses is in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, about 23 miles south of Marquette. It has more than 5,000 acres of open land and miles of runways once used by bomber airplanes.
With more than 8 feet of snow on the runways now, it’s the perfect place to test snowblowers.
“We get the extreme cold so that we can freeze the units overnight and see how they start in the morning,” Ariens said. “You get the true test” of how a machine runs in cold, as well as deep snow.
The human side
A typical homeowner in southeastern Wisconsin runs a snowblower about 15 hours a year, according to Ariens. It’s much higher in some other states, where the machines can easily run 40 or more hours a season.
In field testing, Ariens looks at the human side of operating a snowblower for hours at a time.
“We measure things like the locations of handles and how much stress they put on wrists,” Ariens said. “Ergonomics, vibration, noise and spring tension are important.”
Ariens employees, including engineers and production managers, see for themselves what it’s like to push through the drifts.
Working in shifts that can last several hours, the testers tackle worst-case scenarios, such as running a snowblower off the edge of a road where it picks up gravel, sticks and other debris.
Snowblower technology has come a long way in recent years as the machines have become lighter and easier to use. Some of the biggest changes have been “ease of use” features such as better steering systems, said Troy Blewett, communications manager for Simplicity.
http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/jan05/295904.asp
http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/jan05/295904.asp
Tom 
