Tucked into the hills east of Sparks, Duraflex is among manufacturing plants in Northern Nevada that are making a difference in the world. That's right - in the world. The plant employs 25 people and has grown since it began nearly 50 years ago, with refinement on its diving boards. But it is still all based on the design its founder came up with in the 1960's.Â
"The story is that Ray Rude, who worked for Lockheed Martin back then was an idea man," says current Chief Operations Officer, Doug Bowman. "A friend of his apparently needed a diving board and the company was late delivering it. That friend asked Ray to help and he had a hunch that a piece of airplane wing just might do the trick. It did."
And it's been working since the day it was tried. In fact, Duraflex is the only diving board used in competitions worldwide. And it's even the only board used in the Olympics since 1960.Â
"It's all about the lift. You have one meter to work with. And you have to get the most lift you can so that the divers have more time for acrobatics between the board and hitting the water," Bowman says.
They have quite a process that turns corrugated aluminum panels into regulation diving boards. There are holes specifically placed to lessen wind-resistance and a patented non-slip coating to help divers maintain control. They turn out 1,600 boards and more than 500 stands a year.
And yes...company officials go to a lot of the diving competitions here, across the country and around the world to see their boards in action.
