Pavlovsky woodworking plant: “The main task is to stimulate the Russian furniture and construction market to produce products from domestic raw materials»

On June 25, 2019, the grand opening of Pavlovsky woodworking plant (Pavlovsky DOK) will take place. This is one of the largest plants in Siberia and the Far East for processing low-grade wood into products in demand on the market – MDF and HDF. The combine is included into group of the enterprises of the forest holding company “Altailes”.

For WhatWood agency Ivan Klyuchnikov, CEO of Altailes, answered a few questions about the production, organized at the Pavlovsky plant.

– Ivan Mikhailovich,  MDF is widely used in furniture production. How do you think the furniture market in Russia has changed?

– The furniture sector is in a difficult situation at the moment. But I believe that the governmental furniture and construction industry support programs will yield positive results in the near future, which can improve the condition of the above-mentioned segments of the timber industry.

– The capacity of Pavlovsky DOK is 250 thousand m3 per year and the incoming raw materials about 450-500 thousand m3 of raw materials. Where this raw material is now and how is it disposed of?

– Raw materials at the plant are primarily sawmilled waste – wood chips, bark, and sawdust. Pavlovsky DOK does not to dispose of raw material, and processes it in in-demand product on the market. Raw materials are in warehouses of Pavlovsky DOK and at the enterprises-suppliers.

Whatwood note: As reported in the press release of Altailes dated June 13, 2019, since the launch of production at the plant produced more than 10 thousand m3 of fiberboard. The priority of the company is to sell products on the domestic market. Customers of plates are producers of furniture, doors, floor coverings from Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-don, Izhevsk, Vologda, carpet, Penza, Ulyanovsk, Ryazan, Chelyabinsk, Makhachkala, Chita, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk, etc. The main task is to stimulate the Russian furniture and construction market to produce products from domestic raw materials. As raw materials for wood panels chips (40%) and low-grade wood (60%) are used. The chips come to the plant from two sawmills of the company located in Rubtsovsk and Kamne-na-Obi. Low-grade wood is delivered from the company’s logging companies. Processing of previously unclaimed raw materials will make the production completely waste-free.

– Why will Pavlovsky DOK produce E1 emission class wood-based panels using ureaformaldehyde resins?

– Currently, almost all MDFs are produced using a urea-formaldehyde binder, which allows to ensure the optimal production cost and not to lose in quality.

– Is there a urea-formaldehyde resin production shop at the Pavlovsky DOK? If so, what is its performance?

– Shop for the production of resin is mounted. Its annual capacity is 30 thousand tons. Before the plant is put into operation, Pavlovsky DOK buys resin in the neighboring region.

– There is no railway line in Pavlovsk yet. Shipment of finished products is carried out by road to the nearest railway station or completely by cars?

–Shipment of finished products is carried out by road and rail. The nearest train station is in Barnaul.

– According to our data, forest management of Altailes is not certified by the international systems FSC and PEFC. How will the company address the issue of product distribution to foreign markets? After all, China is increasingly beginning to impose requirements for certification.

–Altailes group of companies is working in this direction. The certification process takes time.

– Are there any additional requirements for certification in the CIS markets?

–There are no additional requirements. A certificate of quality is sufficient.

– Only a few months have passed since the release of the first wood board, which product in the MDF/HDF segment do you think is the most marginal (thin or thick boards)?

–Today thin wood-fiber boards are more demanded. But the market in this respect is unstable, so we carry out adjustment work on the equipment in the entire range of thicknesses.

– In which segment of the company is it more interesting to work in terms of profitability?

– The highest demand we predicted for thin wood boards with a thickness of 2.5 mm to 12 mm. With the launch of the plant, our forecasts were confirmed. In these thicknesses, the maximum performance means that the cost is lower.

–Before the launch of the plant, the company noted that it intends to produce products for new niches: high-density wood panels and thin Asian formats, different from European ones: 40% of the plates will have a thickness of 2.5 mm – 3.2 mm, the remaining volume – 6 mm-30 mm.

– It is too early to talk about the implementation of plans: the adjustment of equipment continues. The launch trend allows us to talk about the readiness to implement our plans.

– Tell us about the difficulties during the construction of the plant.

– There were great difficulties in obtaining technical specifications for connecting electricity and gas. MDF production is energy intensive: gas consumption is over 25 million m3 per year, the estimated power of all electric drives of the plant is over 20 MW. All this requires long-term coordination with IDGCs (Interregional Distribution Grid Companies) and Gazprom. In addition, it was not easy to find qualified employees for the installation of equipment.

– Why did not it work quickly to find installers? Didn’t equipment suppliers provide service support?

– The equipment suppliers provide only installation supervision, i.e. installation control. For our part, we had to find and hire employees who could effect the installation in the time frame we set. Unfortunately, there are few companies on the market that are able to carry out such works with the required quality, but we managed to solve this problem.

– How is Altailes going to improve the wood-based panel production? Will Pavlovsky DOK reach its maximum production capacity by the end of 2019?

– The capacities secured by the contract will be achieved this year, but we know that these are not the maximum possibilities of our lines, so we will work to further increase productivity in the coming years.

Note WhatWood: According to the press service of Altailes, the plant installed equipment from leading manufacturers: Siempelkamp, Holtec, Andritz. It produces plates of formats and thicknesses of the extended range. The press allows to produce plates with a width from 2 100 mm to 2 800 mm, thickness from 2.5 mm to 40 mm. Investments in the project amounted to 6 billion rubles. Design capacity is  250 thousand cubic meters. Products are sold under the new brand as Altaidecor. The plant will operate 330 days a year.

– Can we expect from Altailes any production records in 2019?

– This year it is planned to increase production by 30% in monetary terms. The main growth source is, of course, Pavlovsky DOK. I expect the launch of  the new plant will continue to ensure a significant increase in production in 2020 as well.

Ekaterina Matyushenkova