Deliveries of plywood from the new production line of UPM Chudovo plant began

The investment project to increase the production capacity of the UPM Chudovo plant, which began at the end of 2017, is on schedule and is at the stage of launches and commissioning. Currently, the first deliveries from the new production line have already been sent to customers in Europe and Africa. 

The official opening of the new line will take place in early September 2019, according to a press release sent to WhatWood agency.

The project to increase the capacity will expand the range of products at the plywood plant UPM Chudovo. One of the new products in Chudovo is WISA-Birch LG, already produced on the new line.

LG (or long Grained) is a long grained plywood, in which the wood fibers on the front veneer layer are located along the long side of the sheet. In the traditional WISA-Birch plywood sheet construction, the fibers are oriented in the transverse direction. Both types are used as structural plywood in construction or as visual interior elements such as walls, floors, ceilings, cabinets.

“Applications for both cross grained and long grained plywood are often the same. However, there are markets such as the Benelux countries, the UK or South Korea, where longitudinal plywood is used more often, and now with the expansion of production capacity and product range at UPM Chudovo it will be possible to increase the company’s share of presence in these markets”, – Vice President of sales of UPM Plywood Youni Teuryas explains. 

In addition to WISA-Birch plywood, UPM Chudovo also produces WISA coated plywood for the transport industry and formwork for concrete work and birch uncoated plywood for insulating elements of tankers carrying liquefied natural gas.

The total investment in the expansion of the plant’s capacity UPM Chudovo is about 50 million euros. The project includes the launch of new plywood production lines, including the purchase and installation of all necessary equipment. The new biofuel boiler house was also built on the territory of the enterprise. The annual production capacity of the plant will increase by 45 thousand m3, to 155 thousand m3 per year, and it is estimated that about 100 new jobs will be created – at the plant and in the areas of timber harvesting and logistics.

UPM Chudovo plant is one of nine plants of UPM Plywood division. The plant employs approximately 630 people, and the annual capacity is about 155 000 m3 of birch plywood. The annual supply of birch plywood ridge to the plant is about 400,000 cubic meters. All wood is supplied from sustainably managed forests. UPM Chudovo has an FSC certificate for controlled wood supply chain.