„Breath of fresh air in the north“

EWES: Bihler technology for the most modern machine pool

To bring together the most modern machine pool in the whole of northern Europe and dramatically increase its manufacturing efficiency – that is the stated aim of the Swedish EWES Group AB. One key element in this strategy is the new GRM-NC. It has practically doubled throughput for existing components and has reduced setup times by three quarters. By using this machine in combination with the LEANTOOL system, this long-established company is also able to manufacture completely new, complex components economically and competitively.

The history of EWES AB began back in 1935 in the southern Swedish city of Bredaryd. Here, metalworking specialist Einar Svensson and his wife Irma decided to start out in business on their own and began to produce metal springs and wire parts in a small shed. They supplied these products to manufacturers of toys, seats and bed parts. As the decades passed, the company continued to grow and the EWES Group is now a globally active group of companies. With its workforce of more than 120 employees, it has production operations in Sweden, Serbia, Bosnia and China, and the manufacture of steel springs continues to be this family-run company’s core business.

All-round investments

At present, a completely new era is dawning at EWES SE: “We have decided to invest very heavily in the most recent systems technology for the metalworking industry. We want to bring together the most modern machine pool in the whole of northern Europe within our walls,” explains CEO Anton Svensson, the grandson of the company’s founder. “With the new machines, we can significantly reduce our energy consumption and improve our environmental footprint. However, at the same time, we are replacing numerous existing systems and winning back valuable space that we need in order to extend our storage facilities. Most importantly, though, the new systems are greatly improving our manufacturing efficiency: We can deliver faster and at lower cost, and that is naturally something our customers appreciate. The list of new acquisitions at EWES SE is extremely impressive. It comprises three spring grinding machines, one tool grinding machine, one high-capacity press, one CNC spring-making machine and – the undisputed highlight – a new GRM-NC servo stamping-and-forming machine. “The Bihler system represents our largest investment,” says Svensson with some pride. “We were placing very high expectations on this new system: In particular, we wanted to use Bihler’s servo technology to manufacture new, complex component geometries in outstanding quality, while also optimizing our material utilization. We also expected to benefit from considerably shorter setup times and increased manufacturing speeds.”

Maximized throughput, minimized setup times

Soon after the system’s arrival in Bredaryd, it became clear that the new GRM-NC would completely meet these high expectations. “After reinforcing the floor and opening up a large hole in the outside wall of our production building, we were able to move the eleven-tonne system into our machine hall in mid-February 2023 – and just a few days later, the system was already up-and-running,” reports Peter Josefsson, Head of Maintenance at EWES. The company started by manufacturing existing EWES products for the automotive sector on it. And then came the discovery: “With the GRM-NC, we were able to increase our average throughput from 80 to 150 parts per minute,” emphasizes Svensson. “In parallel, setup times were reduced from a whole day to approximately two hours and, last but not least, the new machine once again improved the quality of our components.” Initially, manufacturing was performed using tools taken over from existing Bihler systems which EWES’s technical team adapted for use on the new GRM-NC. “The effort involved in adapting the tools is manageable and we have already adapted a good half of our 25 or so existing tools,” reports Josefsson.

Together with LEANTOOL

At the same time, EWES is also able to manufacture completely new components just as planned with the new GRM-NC. The best example is a spring strip that is needed in order to adjust the height of desks. “It is a relatively complex component that we wouldn’t have been able to manufacture in the same way using our existing systems,” explains Svensson. “On our new GRM-NC, by contrast, we can produce the part without any problems and also achieve very high material consumption efficiency.” The radial tool used to perform this task is also completely new. It was constructed by EWES based on the LEANTOOL system, which has been available in the company since the end of 2022 and has also proved to be invaluable: “We have learned that we can manufacture tools up to 70 percent more cost-efficiently using the LEANTOOL concept.”

Enhanced competitiveness

Svensson sums things up as follows: “We are very satisfied with our investment. “It allows us to manufacture existing products much more efficiently and also to produce completely new parts economically. We have therefore become more competitive and are now able to manufacture many components in Sweden. That generates confidence among our customers and boosts our delivery capabilities.” And EWES will continue to follow this course in the future. Consequently, this long-established Swedish company is planning to introduce another GRM-NC in 2026.