When determination turns into solutions

At EWES, our values are not just words on paper. They shape how we work, how we collaborate and how we take on both our own challenges and those of our customers.

One conversation can change everything

In the 1980s, spring calculations were carried out using slide rules and mechanical calculators. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it did not.
   At the time, brothers Kjell and Klas Svensson were the driving force behind the company. Armed with drawings, suitcases and curiosity, they travelled the world to demonstrate what engineering expertise and determination could achieve.
   One day, at Gardermoen Airport, they ran into two engineers from Garphyttan, a spring steel manufacturer. They were long-standing business contacts and like-minded problem solvers. The conversation quickly turned to springs, and the brothers mentioned their need for a computer capable of performing accurate spring calculations. The engineers replied without hesitation: we can make that happen.
   A few days later, one of them called back. The agreement was as simple as it was ingenious: he would develop the software, and EWES would be granted exclusive rights for one year. The contract was signed, and the program was written in BASIC.

EWES first in the world

With the new computer and the in-house developed software, EWES was able to digitalise its spring calculations for the first time. A pioneering achievement that made the company the first in the world to implement such a solution.
   Shortly afterwards, Kjell and Klas travelled to Rank Xerox in the United States, the company that had transformed the office landscape with its photocopiers and was now facing an unexpected problem: paper jams. The spring responsible for controlling the paper feed was incorrectly dimensioned.
   Using the new computer, Klas analysed the issue and quickly identified the cause. The spring had been taken from a standard catalogue and was not designed for the application. With precise calculations from EWES, the problem was corrected, the machines functioned as intended, and the collaboration grew.
   Rank Xerox was so impressed that they invited Klas over for further work. During three intensive weeks on site, he developed new spring calculations for the company’s entire design catalogue. The assignment marked the beginning of a new, digital era in EWES’ history.

The story of the BASIC program is ultimately not about technology. It is about mindset. About the courage to recognise a problem, the willingness to take responsibility for it, and the ability to create a solution even when one does not yet exist. This is what today is captured in one of EWES’ core values: Enabler. Being an Enabler means not settling for standard solutions, but using knowledge, experience and collaboration to solve both our own challenges and those of our customers. Then, as now.

Klas Svensson passed away in 1994 following complications from cancer.