CEDES AG (CEO, Beat De Coi), a Swiss company specializing in elevator and automatic door sensors, recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of its factory (Science Park) in Landquart, Switzerland.

CEDES is an elevator and automatic door sensor company founded in 1986 in Landquart, Switzerland, with the slogan "More than you expect." Today, the company exports more than 85% of its products to more than 60 countries with a global sales network that includes nine offices in Germany, France, the United States, Asia, China, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Taiwan, and 14 distributors in Korea, Japan, Mexico, and Finland.

CEDES, which established a 'Science Park' in the Landquart area of Switzerland 10 years ago, became stable despite the financial crisis in 2009 by expanding the C and D buildings to build a mass production line for sensors and pursuing an aggressive sales strategy using a global network. As a result, sensor production more than doubled from 200,000 sensors in 2005 to 500,000 sensors in 2009, and in 2011, the company produced more than 700,000 sensors.

In response to this explosive increase in sensor production, CEDES held a groundbreaking ceremony in July to expand its production plant, including the expansion of Building E and the expansion of the clean room in Building D. Building E will consist of 1,300 square meters of production lines, storage facilities, and offices for 70 employees, while the clean room in Building D will be expanded by 300 square meters to house an additional SMD line for electronic device fitting.

The existing three SMD lines can fit 25,000 electronic components per hour per line onto the PCBs used in the CEDES sensors, but the new SMD lines will be capable of fitting 60,000 components per hour. The plant expansion is expected to be completed in the second half of next year.

One of the main reasons for CEDES' rapid growth and technological leap is a special chip with TOF (Time of Flight) technology made by its subsidiary ESPROS Photonic.

 

'IMS 100' model with built-in TOF sensor is popular

The TOF sensor, which has a very small size of 40x40μm and won the Grand Prize in the IST-Prize competition in 2004, can measure the distance per pixel, recognize objects at 300,000 kilometers per second, and has a maximum recognition distance of 3 meters. When applied to elevator doors, it can detect where the infrared beam hits and control the door until the moment it closes. Therefore, unlike other products that reduce the detection range as the car closes, the IMS (Intelligent Measure Sensor) 100 model, a 3D door sensor with a built-in TOF sensor, can recognize the same area, which not only ensures the safety of users but also reduces the failure rate and defect rate caused by opening and closing the car door.

Attached to the transom of the car door, the product determines whether the door is open or closed by measuring the distance to the object with an infrared signal through the space between the door and the door until the moment the door is closed. The sensor attachment location varies depending on center-opening and side-opening.

"The IMS 100 product is applied to elevators, automatic doors, and screen doors, and in Korea, it is especially adopted in hospital and freight elevators and forklift lifts," said Yang Joo-young, CEO of CEDES Korea. "It is an intelligent sensor with a compact size that is conveniently used to transport beds for patients in hospitals or to load carts at production sites." Currently, it is installed at Chungmu Hospital in Cheonan, Samsung Electronics in Giheung, and Samsung Medical Center.

CEDES' future plan is to develop a car door sensor that integrates 3D and light curtains into one. The company is in the midst of research and development of innovative sensors with the goal of launching them in the second half of next year.