July 2018

42 43 Dayton, and employs between 75 and 95 individ- uals, depending upon demand.With two satellite locations in Perrysburg, Ohio and Louisville, Ken- tucky, the firm stays busy and available. According to National Sales Manager, David White, “The last four years have been the busiest years in my 38- year history with the company.” White attributes the company’s continued growth and success to innovation and invention, explaining, “We pioneered several things through the years.We were the first company to invent a molten metal trough system. The first one was gas, but within two years we changed to electric for quality.We invented the electric radiant roof melting furnace in 1971, and we’ve been build- ing them ever since.We are the only company that has a working molten metal valve.We were the first company in North America to invent a regenerative burner system for Chrysler. And we were also the first to use three-component refrac- tory linings in our surfaces.” Explaining the company’s drive to innovate and develop,White simply states: “We decided the in- THE SCHAEFER GROUP dustry standard wasn’t enough.” The Schaefer Group is not only raising industry standards, it’s setting the bar for future development, and technology will play a huge role in the company’s next endeavors. White explains a new project: “We are implementing control systems that will allow us to monitor client systems, if they want, and notify them of any issues. Remotely, we will be able to see whether systems are experiencing overcharging, over combustion, etcetera.” He acknowl- edges client privacy and autono- my though, recognizing that, “Not everyone is going to want that, but we are going to offer it as an option on many of our furnaces.” Just as the company is planning to invest in product safety and secu- rity, it is also sourcing another type of technology to ensure employee safety. “We have just started getting into virtual reality for our furnaces,” explains White. “Everyone is con- cerned about safety in the molten metal industry. So, rather than take new guys out on a floor and put them in front of a hot furnace to teach them how to clean it, we can do so using VR.” “We can take a 3-D drawing of a furnace and create a virtual reality of it so someone can put the glass- es on and look at it,” he continues. “If the client has a 2- or 3-D plant layout, we can actually set a furnace AT A GLANCE THE SCHAEFER GROUP WHAT: A furnace manufacturer and service provider WHERE: Dayton, Ohio WEBSITE: www.theschaefergroup.com