Science meets surf: The sustainable future of surfboard manufacturing
Benoit Coudray – Global Business Enablement Director, Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division
Riding the Wave of Innovation: Hexagon's Role in WYVE's sustainable surfboard manufacturing
Dive into WYVE's transformational journey of manufacturing sustainable, high-performance surfboards.
In 2019, two surfer friends and engineers, Sylvain and Léo, decided to combine their athletic experience with their engineering expertise to revolutionise surfboard manufacturing. The two founded WYVE with a simple premise: revolutionising surfboards by taking a scientific approach.
By investing their savings in research and development, they were able to design and build their first prototype: a hexagonally-shaped surfboard optimised for flexibility. Committed to environmentally friendly standards, they used 3D printing technology for their project. This technology offered them greater freedom in selecting bio-sourced materials.
In France, WYVE realised they couldn’t offer competitive prices for their boards. Solving this involved bringing the entire innovation and manufacturing process in-house. That’s how their idea for the ‘micro-factory’ was born: a delicate balance between cutting-edge technology and expert artisan skills.
They set up shop in Anglet, in the heart of the Basque Country, and invested their funds in their first 3D printer. Their ultimate goal was to produce hundreds of customised sustainable boards.
Today, WYVE’s passion for innovation and commitment to excellence stands out within the surfing community. The organisation pushes the boundaries of performance in the field of surfboard design, relying on cutting-edge, environmentally friendly technologies.
Creating a better surfboard through a scientific approach involved making many prototypes and obtaining extensive customer feedback.
To do this, WYVE hired several material and numerical calculation experts and called upon SEATECH, an engineering school based in Toulon, France, to help optimise the manufacturing process.
By investing their savings in research and development, they were able to design and build their first prototype: a hexagonally-shaped surfboard optimised for flexibility. Committed to environmentally friendly standards, they used 3D printing technology for their project. This technology offered them greater freedom in selecting bio-sourced materials.
In France, WYVE realised they couldn’t offer competitive prices for their boards. Solving this involved bringing the entire innovation and manufacturing process in-house. That’s how their idea for the ‘micro-factory’ was born: a delicate balance between cutting-edge technology and expert artisan skills.
They set up shop in Anglet, in the heart of the Basque Country, and invested their funds in their first 3D printer. Their ultimate goal was to produce hundreds of customised sustainable boards.
Pushing the boundaries of peak performance
Today, WYVE’s passion for innovation and commitment to excellence stands out within the surfing community. The organisation pushes the boundaries of performance in the field of surfboard design, relying on cutting-edge, environmentally friendly technologies.
Creating a better surfboard through a scientific approach involved making many prototypes and obtaining extensive customer feedback.
To do this, WYVE hired several material and numerical calculation experts and called upon SEATECH, an engineering school based in Toulon, France, to help optimise the manufacturing process.
Hexagon and WYVE: Working together for sustainability
To create a sustainable surfboard that offered each surfer the best experience, WYVE and SEATECH leveraged Hexagon’s expertise.
The teams used Hexagon’s software solutions throughout their entire workflow. That included everything from capturing real-world data to design and validation, ensuring manufacturability and optimisation, production, and finally, quality and inspection reporting.
Outlined below is the end-to-end workflow used by engineers to create WYVE’s cutting-edge surfboard design, including a breakdown of how the company used Hexagon’s technology at each stage.
Figure 1. Real-world data capture with the Absolute Arm and Absolute Scanner AS1.
Stage 1: Real-world data capture
The process began with transforming real-time data about the initial surfboard design into digital data. The surfboard had tight tolerance requirements, and it required extensive scanning to obtain a good profile for reverse engineering. Given the extensive number of design changes, frequent reprogramming was required.
To obtain the precise data required to meet strict tolerance requirements and perform quality analyses, WYVE used Hexagon’s Absolute Arm. This all-in-one, user-friendly measuring arm enables portable 3D measurement. It can be used for a wide range of tasks in challenging environments, from high-accuracy probing to high-speed 3D scanning. They also used Hexagon’s Absolute Scanner AS1 to scan fine details that require high accuracy.
Stage 2: Design and validation
To ensure the design of each part was as close as possible to the original part, WYVE needed to get a real part into the CAD system.
To do this, the team used Hexagon’s measuring arm in conjunction with DESIGNER REcreate software, which provides a powerful and vital set of capabilities designed to streamline the reverse egineering process. This feature allowed them to integrate real parts into the CAD system while also maintaining the precise design of the surfboards to make sure they remained faithful to the original models.
Figure 2. Reverse engineering data analysis in DESIGNER.
Stage 3: Ensuring manufacturability and optimisation
To assess the behaviour of the boards under strain, WYVE used Hexagon’s photogrammetry solutions to measure deformations and track strategic points. This technology offers speed and flexibility across a wide range of measurement-related applications in industrial production. It allowed the team to carry out efficient deformation analyses on components so they could solve measurement tasks with high precision and speed. This non-contact measurement process ensured that the test object was not changed.
Given that the ideal characteristics of surfboards vary depending on the ride scenario, WYVE needed to find a balance between these characteristics on each different section of the surfboard. While tricky to figure out, Hexagon’s Cradle CFD software empowered the team to analyse each section of the board individually, optimising its hydrodynamic characteristics. This data provided a thorough overview of all possible configurations and allowed each section of the board to be optimised separately. As a result, the team’s learning process accelerated, leading to significant efficiency gains.
To validate the flexibility of the boards, WYVE used Hexagon’s Marc software. Doing so allowed the team to conduct virtual static and dynamic structural analysis tests so they could get quick answers to “what if” analyses and extend the tests to other types of loads.
For the final part of this stage, the organisation needed to reduce the mass of the surfboard and build a customised surface. Using Hexagon’s Apex Generative Design software helped WYVE determine the load path while still considering manufacturing constraints. This allowed the organisation to optimise the mass and stiffness of the surfboards and offer innovative shapes to its customers, which helped to cement its reputation for its unique aesthetic.
Figure 3. Deformation simulation using shop-floor photogrammetry.
Figure 4. Computational fluid dynamics analysis in Cradle.
Figure 5. Analysis of individual section contributions to drag and lift forces.
Figure 6. Structural analysis using virtual testing in MSC Marc.
Figure 7. Optimising structures in advance of production with Apex GD.
Stage 4: Production
Printing the surfboard using the fused filament fabrication (FFF) process was a true multi-scale challenge. Process parameters such as temperature, material, and tool-path properties can influence the quality of printed parts, so it was important that everything was calibrated correctly.
WYVE used Hexagon’s Digimat software, an additive manufacturing and simulation solution, to leverage its material usage to its full potential. Doing so helped to increase sustainability by making sure the design was printed right the first time. It also helped the organisation to estimate printing costs and to optimise process parameters to enable lightweight product design and reduce waste.
Finding the right part orientation, developing the right supporting structure, and maximising printing throughout while also maintaining quality were also key challenges for the organisation. Hexagon’s ESPRIT EDGE software allowed the team to optimise orientation based on printing time, material usage, and the risk of distortion. That meant WYVE had a wide choice of supporting structure types and options, so it could meet the most advanced requirements.
Figure 8. Digimat software simulates the additive manufacturing process
Figure 9. ESPRIT EDGE software manages additive manufacturing preparation.
Stage 5: Quality inspection and reporting
For quality control, the WYVE team once again used Hexagon’s Absolute Arm, combined with Hexagon’s Inspire software — a comprehensive solution designed to simplify the process of taking portable measurements to save time and improve productivity.
This solution allowed the team to import and use all native CAD formats with minimal training required so they could compare each printed part to the original design to ensure it met requirements.
Figure 10. Quality inspection with the Absolute Arm and Absolute Scanner AS1.
Reporting was the final step. While many reporting tools available on the market are slow and convoluted and offer limited access to data, Hexagon’s Metrology Reporting software offers a modern user experience. It provides easy, secure access to centrally stored data. That enables faster, more confident decision-making and allows secure access to data at any time, from anywhere, to increase efficiency and reduce errors.
Figure 11. Metrology Reporting provides a wide range of useful measurement report options.
Figure 12. Comprehensive reports support faster and more confident decision making.
Offering superior quality products through collaboration
Collaborating with Hexagon helped WYVE to optimise its surfboard additive manufacturing process and create a unique and sustainable surfboard from a 3D model using 3D printers. This allowed the organisation to offer superior quality products designed to meet the specific needs of the most demanding surfers.
With the integration of advanced scanning, reverse engineering, simulation and additive manufacturing technologies thanks to Hexagon’s solutions, WYVE has pushed the boundaries of innovation by creating an ultra-performing and durable surfboard ideal for expert surfers across the world.
“Thanks to its digital twins, WYVE can recreate exactly the same surfboard when it breaks during a competition, for example. This core technology is unique in the world and at the moment they are the only ones who can offer it. That’s why the company is receiving funding from European institutions.”
Benjamin Ostré
Academic teacher/researcher
SEATECH engineering school