The company is run today by joint managing directors Matthias Fuchs and Hauke Kleinschmidt (son of the founder) and employs 36 people. The most recent recruit is Jerald Knauf, who joined the company in September 2012 as sales engineer for this relatively small, but globally-trading, company.
Hans-Peter Kleinschmidt has stepped back from day-to-day control of the business and operates as chief representative of EWS.
He has always believed that there are advantages to being a relatively small and flexible company in a high-tech business and has no desire to see EWS grow too big.
The original premises of EWS provided the office and workshop space for a young company, but it was never intended to be its permanent residence. Hans-Peter had long dreamed of a purpose-designed, eco-friendly home for his company and in January 2012, a larger EWS moved into just such a building on the outskirts of Hameln.
The entire building is of wood frame construction, being made from solid wood posts and beams with OSB panels and wood fibre insulation.
Triple-glazed windows, a wood pellet heating system, LED lighting, rainwater harvesting and landscaping/tree planting complete the eco credentials of this site, while a high-tech BUS electrical system allows remote control of building services from everywhere by computers, iPads or iPhones.
Solar panels will soon be installed on the roof, which will have the dual purpose of shading south-facing windows; expensive climate control systems are thus avoided by the careful design of the building.
The building houses design, sales and administration offices, an expanded R&D department and the production hall where components prepared to EWS’ exacting specifications are assembled.
The site in total covers 7,250m2 and there is space – and plans – for extension of the production area in the next two years to give around 45% more indoor space.
This new extension will be mainly to house the production of what has been EWS’ largest R&D project, spark detection.
After four years of development under the leadership of R&D manager Klaus Oberdorf, the company expects to launch the system in May 2013.
Cable installation with this system will be reduced by 50% compared to existing systems on the market, while the quantity of water used will be reduced by 30%, says EWS.
"This revolutionary new technical concept heralds a new generation of spark detection and extinguishing," said Matthias Fuchs.
The water saving is down to a patenteddesign spring-loaded nozzle which optimises the water spray by spraying the correct-size droplets against the direction of flow of the airstream in a duct, thus creating turbulence to distribute a water mist throughout the duct. There is also a sensor ‘collar’ around the nozzle to detect whether the nozzle is closing and opening completely.
Sensors and nozzles are fitted into the same size holes in the pipe and have a spreading clamp system to hold them in place. The sensors operate on the infra-red principle.
The system was developed using a test rig with a 25m-long pipe containing a high-speed camera. EWS’ engineers were able to vary the position, speed and intensity of an ‘artificial spark’ throughout the pipe.
Electronic Wood Systems is currently obtaining VDS certification in Germany and Factory Mutual approval in the US for this system.
In another recent product development, EWS noticed that the accuracy of the mechanical weigh-scales commonly employed at the end of panel production lines is compromised, especially on thin or lightweight panels, due to their tare weight being up to two tonnes.
Conti-Scale X from EWS is a non-contact system requiring only 1000mm of space. It has two x-ray tubes above the panel and several detectors below, across the width of the line, to give exact weight-per-unit-area measurement. This data, plus the measurements of the finished board, will be converted into the weight of the board. Compared with a mechanical weigh-scale, this system is said to be more accurate and particularly useful for thin or lightweight panels.
When combined with a thickness gauge, the system can also give the operator density distribution data.
If the panel manufacturer wishes to extend his continuous press, he simply has to move the small Conti-Scale X. With the mechanical system, the heavy weigh-scale and the cooling star – and their foundations – have to be moved to extend the press.
Two of these new Conti-Scale X systems have been ordered by Georgia Pacific to be installed at its OSB lines in Hosford, Florida and Brookneal, Arkansas.
A brand new development from EWS is Dimension-Scan to control the exact dimension of a finished board, allowing optimisation of cross-cut saws. It employs lasers to take the panel’s measurements with an accuracy of +/-2mm in the length and +/-0.5mm in the width. The first installation was at Pfleiderer BHT, Germany, in November 2012.
Since 2011, EWS has also put a new series of blow detection systems on the market, with installations at Binder MDF Austria, Kronopol Poland and Kronoply Wittstock and Pfleiderer Gütersloh, Germany, as well as several factories of Georgia Pacific in North America.
The software employed in EWS’ systems is PiperWare and it provides a common structure for all the various measuring systems. It also has the flexibility to be set up for continuous, multi-opening or single-opening press lines. When the software is updated, it is updated for all systems simultaneously.
In 2007, EWS began a collaboration with German OEM Siempelkamp and its SicoScan division.
This collaboration means that EWS sensor technology interfaces with the Siempelkamp line control software for the whole production process in the central control room and provides information to the controllers with a reduced number of computers and screens dedicated to quality measuring equipment – they are all integrated into the overall visualisation system.
The measuring signals are recorded with other production parameters and evaluated by Siempelkamp’s Prod-IQ system, which gathers and coordinates all production information and applies it to the production process, thus optimising control of the entire line and reducing glue and wood usage and material wastage.
In the past five years, 300 EWS measuring systems have been installed in Siempelkamp’s worldwide installations.
"Our two companies continue to discuss further technical developments in measuring technology, and cooperation in R&D, to develop these ideas, while retaining our independence and creativity as separate companies," said Hauke Kleinschmidt.
So, in summary, the EWS scope of supply covers moisture detection, weight-per-unitarea measurement, thickness gauges, blow detection, board weigh-scales, board dimension measurement and laboratory density profile analysers. And, soon, spark detection/extinguishing.
This is a company which has grown from humble beginnings and the ideas of one man into a high-tech provider of technology to the panel industry, employing 36 people in a new, high-tech, building with room to grow a little without losing touch with its roots.
