Elan, the Slovenian ski company, started manufacturing kiteboards at its Austrian plant in Fürnitz a few months ago, targeting a volume of between 30,000 and 40,000 boards in three years' time. All of them will be made for unspecified other brands, at the medium to higher end of the market. Elan has no intention of launching kiteboards under its own brand but is diversifying its production to make more efficient use of its Austrian facilities. Employing 145 people, it made about 210,000 snowboards there in 2010, down from 215,000 the previous year, only a small share of them under the Elan brand. Five more employees were added for the kiteboards, with shapers coming from Australia and graphic designers from Canada. The targeted volume would turn Elan into a significant manufacturer of kiteboards, since the global market is estimated at between 110,000 and 130,000 units.