The hollow shaft direct motor FlexoDrive® in operation

A progress report from the paper mill Vreden

In both machines of the paper mill Vreden 10 special gearboxes for the dryer cylinders FlexoGear® KS 295, one central lubrication unit Lubriflex® MIDI Size III with 2500 litres chamber volume as well as 16 intelligent flow meter FlexoFlow® split into two FlexoFlow® Terminals were installed.

Vreden is very satisfied with the AS solutions, especially with the mounting and the service. The cooperation is characterized by great confidence and mutual respect. Due to the close proximity and the good relationship between both companies it was natural to also install the first hollow shaft direct drive FlexoDrive® in Vreden.

 read the article published in the Professional Papermaking 1

The latest drive and lubrication technology at the fair Zellcheming Expo 2011

Once again the FlexoDrive® will be one of the highlights at the booth of AS. In the meantime the multifunctional hollow shaft motor in a 70 kW-version (size: MIDI) has been in continuous operation in a paper mill and has been driving a dryer group in a paper machine. The installation on the driving side within the dryer hood with a feedthrough of a steam and condensate system is a real novelty. Ask for experiences with this installation of the FlexoDrive®.

In addition to innovative products of the drive and lubrication technology AS also offers the complete service package around the gearbox maintenance. With the help of individual service packages and a specialised team, AS is in a position to repair gearboxes of all manufacturers. In this context AS does not only carry out normal maintenance activities (GearRep), i.e. the refit of the original status. In point of facts AS develops improved concepts together with the customer (GearImprove). This means that e.g. the latest lubrication and bearing technology will be used or the toothing dimensions will be extended while maintaining the same connecting dimensions. AS also offers services with the name “GearClone”. This service includes a clone true to the original which are not offered by the manufacturer any longer or which are cheaper than the original one.

Weiter lesen » The latest drive and lubrication technology at the fair Zellcheming Expo 2011…

AS shows solidarity with Japan

During a spontaneous collection campaign for the victims of the earthquake, the tsunami and the heavy consequences on the power plant in Fukushima, the employees of AS collected a donation amount of 321,21 euros. This money was donated top the “German Red Cross”.

Japan needs all the help they can get in this hard time. We hope that our donation will help to relieve the distress.

Our thoughts are especially with our Japanese sales agents from Matsubo Corporation (Tokyo) and their families. We are in contact with them nearly every day and learn from them the local situation. We hope that the situation will improve soon.

Annual meeting of the VPM and the Zellcheming Nord for the first time at AS

This year the first annual meeting of the VPM and the Zellcheming Nord took place at the AS Group, Reken.

The meeting started with a visit of the workshop of AS, a company which has been growing very fast these days. This company has changed a lot recently and that is still not the end of a positive growing process of this German company.

Focus was the modern maintenance as well as the innovative products of the AS Group. FlexoGear®, Lubriflex®, FlexoFlow® and FlexoDrive® were presented in detail.

The visit of the workshop was followed by a serie of interesting presentations concerning the paper industry.

The start of this serie was made by Dipl-Ing. Mr. Gerd Kaspari (Managing Director of AS) and Dipl.Betriebsw. Mr. Manuel Froncek. Both discovered energy saving potential by choosing the perfect drive- and lubrication technology. The results were impressive and clear. Who does excpect a saving potential of 2.000.000 euros with one papermachine with 6 dryer groups and a lifetime of 10 years? (as-group.eu)

Mr. Bernd Krebs (Sales manager, GapCon GmbH) introduced the topics calander, deflection compensated roll, shoepress and their rebuilds and mondernization as well as repairing and services of the company GapCon. He also talked about the new workshop of GapCon and the test stand for rolls. (GapCon.com)

The presentation of Mr. Dipl.-Ing Reinhold Kühne about electrical multi-motordrives rounded the series off. Continually Mr. Kühne emphasized the efficient concepts of the process automation with practical applications. Furthermore he talked about turnkey-projects of the company Kühne & Vogel, which starts with the pre-engineering to the assambling of the parts and goes until the start up of the machine. (kuehneundvogel.de)

 The meeting ended with an invitation of all participants to the brewery Stephanus (Coesfeld).

AS is now nearly worldwide represented

In October this year the first „Sales Agent Meeting” was held at AS. Agents from 12 different countries came to learn more about the innovative products made by AS. And that were not all of the sales agents from AS. Recently AS has built a nearly worldwide network.

Learn more about:
Increase of line speed with the help of
FlexoGear® - the flexible gearbox concept
Lubriflex® - the variable oil-lubrication unit
FlexoFlow® - the intelligent oil-flow meter
FlexoDrive® - the versatile hollow shaft motor
This was the topic of the sales agent meeting.

The participants described the program as a very good mixture of product training, product presentation and time for discussions. And there was enough time for experience exchange between the sales agents. The agents could test everything by themselves. They programmed a FlexoPad and carried out an endoscopy - “learning by doing” is the best way to understand how everything works.

Weiter lesen » AS is now nearly worldwide represented…

FlexoDrive® - „ready to install”

The company AS Drives & Services GmbH (AS) from Reken in Germany is a competent, flexible and above all innovative maintenance company, particularly for industrial gearboxes. The main target groups are the paper industry, the energy sector and other industries.

In addition to gearboxes, AS develops and manufactures oil lubrication systems and intelligent oil flow meter systems primarily for the paper industry. These units have been installed in numerous reconstruction projects.

Well-known AS products for paper machines are:

• The gearbox concept “FlexoGearSystem®” for dryer cylinder drives
• The oil lubrication system “Lubriflex®” 
• The flow meter control and adjustment system „FlexoFlow®-Terminal” (formerly Transfuser System) with the intelligent flow meters „FlexoFlow®”

Trigger for the development of innovative products in the past were often the customers’ problems with their existing systems (gear wheel drives, enclosed wheelhouses, etc.) or e.g. overflows of bearings after standstills when using “simple, non-intelligent” lubrication systems.

At the fair “Zellcheming” in Wiesbaden in the year 2005, AS had the idea to develop its own hollow shaft direct motor to round out the drive portfolio. Now it is finally „ready to install”.

   Weiter lesen » FlexoDrive® - „ready to install”…

AS accelerates further on

Written by: Frank Liebetanz

The AS Group has planned the next growth phase: At the location in Reken the hall space of 1660 square meters will be nearly doubled; instead of 400 square meters of office space there will be 600 square meters in the future. The Managing Director Gerd Kaspari wants to employ 100 employees in the next 5 years in Reken - and perhaps also abroad.

Kaspari (50 years old), who has been working for AS for nearly 10 years, plans the first cut of the spade on the 1 July 2011 for the expansion on site. He refers to six million euros turnover made in the last three years. The capacity is fully stretched up to 120 per cent and now the existing space is not sufficient any longer. But due to the rural structure, Bahnhof Reken has got an enormous locational advantage.

Weiter lesen » AS accelerates further on…

Letter of reference

In the last days we received a letter from our house bank which we would like to present here.

We are so glad that there exist such banks like the Spar- and Darlehnskasse Reken!

Weiter lesen » Letter of reference…

„Your machine drives us on”, AS inspires the papermaker exhibition in Wiesbaden with a host of novelties

The employees of AS come up with something new every time. This was also obvious at the fair Zellcheming in Wiesbaden this year. The stand of the AS Drives & Services GmbH always had a crowd and a crowd of people attracts even more people. 

 The stand concept of the previous year was extraordinary. But Gerd Kaspari, Managing Director of AS, wanted to top it and announced: “We want to have the most attractive stand and with the top team present the most innovative products!” Then he set off a firework of ideas. “After all, we want to take full advantage of the new location of the stand directly left of the entrance in the first hall.”

Weiter lesen » „Your machine drives us on”, AS inspires the papermaker exhibition in Wiesbaden with a host of novelties…

AS Group again awarded!

Within the Innovationspreis of the network ZENIT e. V. the Minister of Innovation of the country North Rhine-Westphalia, Prof. Andreas Pinkwart, honored the 1st of December 2009 the AS Group for its latest innovation - the FlexoDrive^®.
The new development - the FlexoDrive^® - stands for a quantum leap for AS. Based on the company size and the budget for research and development, which is only a fractional amount of that which the “bigger” competitors have on their disposal, it was very brave to handle such a complex subject like this with the direct drive.
“For this project it was important for us to develop the complete direct drive by ourselves”, explained Gerd Kaspari, Managing Director of the AS Group. “That is the only way to create a motor which meets the demands and the requirements of the customers.”

The FlexoDrive^® has a special design which allows to conduct a steam- and condensate-system. Due to that it is possible to mount the motor on the operating side as well as on the driving side. Compared to common direct drive solutions the FlexoDrive^® does not disturb the operation process. Furthermore a special flat design allows the installation within the insulation cover, without any complex modifications.

Weiter lesen » AS Group again awarded!…