50 million EUR were invested in the new manufacturing site of UPM Chudovo

50 million EUR were invested in the new manufacturing site of UPM Chudovo

The official start of new production capacities within the investment project of expanding plywood factory UPM Chudovo, which began in autumn 2017, took place on September, 10. The Government of Novgorod region and Novgorod region development agency supported the project on all the stages of its implementation.

Within the project new plywood production lines were installed, including all the needed equipment for producing veneer and plywood. Together with it a new boiler house with the capacity 19 of MW working on biofuel was built. The boiler house, in its turn, will increase the efficiency of using resources and reduce using fossil fuel. Annual production capacity of the factory increased by 45 000 cubic meters and reached 155 000 cubic meters. It is estimated that about 100 workplaces were created as well on the factory itself as by interaction: e.g., in wood supply and logistics. The investments were about 50 million EUR. Deputy chairman of the government Evgeniy Bogdanov in his welcome speech underlined that during implementing the project one of the best practices appeared, when several enterprises united for providing natural resource base. Let us remind that in March, 2019 “UPM Chudovo”, "IKEA Industry Novgorod" and "Hasslacher Norica Timber" signed trilateral memorandum of interaction. “I think that it is a great case for other enterprises, - said Evgeniy Bogdanov, - I would like to thank the investors for confirming favorable investment climate in Novgorod region, for investing money in the region. I thank the owners and the staff of the factory.”

CEO of UPM Chudovo Anatoliy Zhukovets, Consul-General of Finland in Saint-Petersburg Anna Lammila, executive vice-president of UPM Plywood Mika Sillanpää, manufacturing vice-president of UPM Plywood Mika Kekki took part in the opening ceremony.
After the opening ceremony the guests were shown the new manufacturing site and the whole technological process of producing plywood. As the result of the investment project, two new products appeared in the portfolio of UPM Chudovo: longitudinal WISA-Birch LG and WISA-Form Birch MBT with coating based on our new moisture protection technology (MBT) for concrete formwork. MBT controls migration of moisture in veneer’s surface layer thus letting minimize buckling of the panel. “It is important that the company is aimed at constant improving its environmental indicators, - says the director of Novgorod region development agency Alexander Dementyev during the excursion in the factory, - wood waste is used as raw material for pulp and paper enterprises or are burned in the process of producing thermal energy. The company is planning to achieve practically zero-waste production by 2030.”

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