From Specialist Task to Standard Process
Rettenmeier Holzindustrie produces a wide range of solid wood products across multiple production lines. Accurate inline moisture measurement is critical to maintain consistent drying quality and production efficiency across that complexity.
With 15 to 20 active product configurations requiring repeated recalibration on the FMI-5 system, calibration had become a time-consuming specialist task that interrupted production and created dependency on a limited number of experienced operators.
Lukas Friedel, Production Manager at Rettenmeier Holzindustrie, oversees production performance and process stability across the operation.
Calibrook has not only simplified calibration -- it has standardized and stabilized it across all our production lines. Any operator can run the system reliably, configuration errors are eliminated, and from the second year onwards Brookhuis handles the calibration cycle remotely. For me as Production Manager, that is exactly what a production tool should deliver."
The Situation
Before the implementation of Calibrook, calibration on the FMI-5 inline moisture measurement system was highly product-specific. Every wood species, dimension, and sorting combination required its own calibration setup. Each calibration process took approximately four hours and had to be repeated several times per year.
The operational consequences were substantial. Unplanned product changes, such as incoming material variations or mid-run dimension shifts, triggered recalibration processes that interrupted production flow. Calibration expertise was concentrated with a small number of operators, creating dependency risks whenever key personnel were unavailable. Configuration errors caused by incorrect settings under production pressure remained an ongoing concern.
Across a full year, calibration activities alone accounted for approximately 150 to 200 hours of lost production time per line.
The Solution
Brookhuis implemented Calibrook, a managed calibration system designed specifically for the FMI-5 inline moisture measurement platform. The system fundamentally changed the calibration structure at Rettenmeier.
Instead of requiring a separate calibration for every product-dimension combination, Calibrook introduced a species-based calibration model. One scientifically defined calibration profile per wood species and sorting class now covers the full dimensional range within production, provided the density variation remains within defined limits.
Implementation was completed within one week and followed a structured rollout process. Brookhuis performed the initial on-site calibration and dimensional optimization, after which Rettenmeier independently refined the setup during the first operational weeks. Verification and optimization continued during the following months, supported by Brookhuis specialists.
The operational impact was immediate. Operators no longer require specialist calibration expertise. By selecting the correct product, width, thickness, and sorting class, the FMI-5 system automatically applies the correct measurement configuration. Critical parameters are password-protected, eliminating unintended setting changes and significantly reducing the risk of operator-related configuration errors.
From the second year onwards, Brookhuis remotely manages the calibration verification cycle, removing the process almost entirely from Rettenmeier’s internal operational workload.
Alongside Calibrook, Rettenmeier implemented FMI Report WS, the Brookhuis cloud reporting platform connected directly to the FMI-5 systems. The reporting environment provides continuous visibility into moisture measurement data, production speed, cycle counts, and line availability through a centralized dashboard accessible from any location.
Results
The implementation delivered immediate operational and financial impact.
Calibration time per product dropped from approximately four hours to under thirty minutes, because calibration can now run in parallel with production instead of interrupting it. Rettenmeier saves more than 120 production hours per line annually, translating into documented annual cost savings in the range of tens of thousands of euros.
The investment in Calibrook achieved full payback within the first year through time savings alone, before accounting for the additional value of reduced quality deviations, improved process consistency, and elimination of operator dependency.
The structural improvement is equally important. Calibration at Rettenmeier is no longer dependent on specialist knowledge or individual operators. It has become a standardized, auditable production process supported through scheduled remote verification by Brookhuis.
For production management, FMI Report WS adds another layer of operational control. Batch reports that previously required manual data collection are now generated automatically. Deviations in measurement performance become visible immediately, before they develop into production or quality issues.
What changed at Rettenmeier is not incremental optimization. The calibration process moved from fragile and operator-dependent to scalable, standardized, and production-ready.
