POLOTSK DISTRICT, 9 March (BelTA) – The modernization of the woodworking enterprise OOO KimaBel in Polotsk District, Vitebsk Oblast will continue with the installation of a timber sorting line. As much as €3 million will be spent on the investment project. The plans were mentioned by Director of OOO KimaBel Vadim Vasenkov as Vitebsk Oblast Governor Nikolai Sherstnev visited the enterprise, BelTA has learned.
The company has nearly finished another stage of the retooling campaign. A new wood saw mill with the output capacity of 750,000m3 per annum was commissioned in 2020 in addition to a new drying complex. According to Vadim Vasenkov, the equipment of Finnish, Swedish, Austrian, Canadian, German, Estonian, and Latvian make was bought using credit resources and partially proprietary funds of the company. KimaBel works primarily with pine wood since this kind of timber enjoys strong demand. “We export 99% of the output. Shipments are delivered to Europe, Asia, and North America. We buy raw materials all over Belarus. The new investment project we will begin this year will allow increasing the timber conversion ratio and more efficiently use round timber. We intend to install a new timber sorting line. Its approximate cost will be €3 million,” the KimaBel director said.
Thanks to the commissioning of the new saw mill the company created 14 jobs. The modernization allowed the company to increase the staff by hiring people to work in the drying complex and the boiler house that caters to the drying complex. The boiler house burns bark, which is a byproduct of the timber sawing process. Some of the bark is sold. KimaBel also sells chipped wood, including to cellulose manufacturers in Denmark and Sweden, while sawdust is sold to Baltic countries where it is used to make wood fuel pellets. “Our enterprise produces zero waste,” Vadim Vasenkov noted.
The company employs a total of about 250 people. Most of them work in the wood processing division. They work in three shifts. Plans have been made to add a fourth shift soon. The saw mill operates day and night. Although the timber conversion process is automated, the facility still needs human presence. Those are process engineers that choose appropriate computer programs, equipment operators that keep an eye on proper operation of the equipment, people in charge of sorting and storing the resulting timber.
The sophisticated timber conversion line can process even round wood that has defects. Logs are scanned one by one to determine how each log has to be sawn with as little waste as possible. Special grapples rotate the log in order to saw off a plank of the right size. The line processes about 2,000m2 of timber per day. The resulting boards are sent to the timber drying facility.
The drying facility reduces the board's humidity to 8% if necessary. Such boards can be used by civil engineering companies or furniture manufacturers. If stored properly, the humidity figure will not rise. The drying process makes the boards much stronger and prevents consequent humidity absorption. The first drying complex contains eight chambers and can handle 1,600m3 of timber at a time. The drying time varies depending on the size of the boards. Vadim Vasenkov added that KimaBel boards are used by Belarusian furniture manufacturers and civil engineering companies. Boards account for 54% of KimaBel's total output, with the share of chipped wood at 29% and sawdust at 15%.
Vitebsk Oblast Governor Nikolai Sherstnev remarked that such an enterprise has every chance of achieving good performance indicators promptly. “An enterprise that exports virtually the entire output experiences no factors that deter its growth. Even if it takes out a foreign currency loan, the risks are next to nothing: work with foreign customers ensures steady forex earnings. This is why all the outlined plans can be implemented fast and with benefits both for the company and its workers,” the official made the statement after a tour of the premises.
