RUSSIA – Raute Group’ new Service Center has been inaugurated in Kirov, Russia on June 19, 2019.

Kirov Service Center, Raute’s second Service Center in Russia, was opened to ensure Raute’s capability to meet its customers’ needs better and serve the Kirov region plywood mills more effectively by offering shorter delivery times for spare part deliveries and local services.

Kirov Service Center provides maintenance and spare parts warehouse services locally to Raute’s customers. Within a radius of 400 kilometers, there are more than ten plywood mills that will be served in the first stage. Technology services are offered in Russia also by Raute Service LLC, which is a Raute Group company in St. Petersburg, established in 2005. The city of Kirov is located 1,500 kilometers east of St. Petersburg.

“The opening of the new Kirov Service Center marks an important milestone for Raute Service LLC in terms of providing local services to a growing veneer, plywood and LVL industry in the local market,” says Jouni Putkonen, Vice President, Market Area Russia (CIS).

“Raute’s strategy is to establish local service points close to its customers in order to be able to offer fast local service utilizing global knowhow – global presence, local service. The demand for technology services has increased strongly in recent years, which is why Raute Service LLC moved into larger and more professional premises in the beginning of 2017 in order to have more office and warehouse space. 2018 was a year of extensive service growth and this trend looks set to continue in 2019 and 2020,” says Tapani Kiiski, President and CEO, Raute Corporation.

Raute serves the wood products industry with a full-service concept that is based on technology solutions covering the customer’s entire production process and services throughout their life cycle. Raute’s full-service concept includes comprehensive technology services ranging from spare parts deliveries to regular maintenance and equipment modernizations, as well as consulting, training, reconditioned machinery and digital services.

Raute’s Finnish units include the head office and main production unit in Nastola, Lahti and production and development unit specializing in machine vision and moisture analyzing technology in Kajaani. The Group also includes eight subsidiaries. The Group’s other production units are located in the Vancouver area of Canada, the Shanghai area of China and in Pullman, Washington, USA. Additionally, customer and maintenance services are offered by the subsidiaries in St. Petersburg, Russia, Santiago, Chile and Singapore. In addition to the new Service Center in Kirov, Russia, Raute has local service points in Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and Australia.

Raute is the global market leader its largest customer sector, the plywood industry, with a 15 to 20 percent market share. Raute’s position in the LVL industry is also strong, as approximately more than a half of the LVL manufactured in the world is produced with machines supplied by Raute.