RUSSIA – As part of its Vyatka Plywood Mill (VPM) Capacity Expansion Project in Kirov, Segezha Group  ordered essential production equipment from the Finnish Raute for a total of approximately EUR 16 million.

Segezha Group has plans to create new production lines and upgrade the ones that already exist, thus increasing the mill’s veneer manufacturing and plywood processing output.

The equipment delivery, assembly, and commissioning is scheduled for the first half of 2022. The new production lines should be ready for operation by the latter half of the same year.

The equipment will be designed and manufactured at Raute’s main facility in Lahti, Finland. Whereas the measurement and analysis tools will be assembled at a different site, in the Finnish town of Kajaani.

Raute has been a reliable partner to Segezha Group for a long time. This company already supplied the VPM with equipment back in 2006 and 2007.

Segezha Group ranks fifth in the world by large-size birch plywood production. With Finnish technology, the Group will be able to improve the efficiency of its raw material consumption and make even more better-quality plywood thanks to the latest innovative inventions. By the end of 2022, Segehza Group’s total plywood production capacity is expected to increase nearly twofold, from today’s 192 thousand cubic metres per year to roughly 380 thousand cubic metres per year.