By Vasily Kharitonenko
It uses complete automation to produce boarding, with sales revenue expected to repay the 158m Euros spent on setting up the line (from bank loans, the enterprise’s own resources and budgetary funds). Its boards will be used to supply local furniture manufacturers, satisfying local demand and allowing more exports to be enjoyed. A factory in Ruzhany is to be modernised to join the project, producing several components for furniture within the next two years.
“We need to diversify our economy. Today, we’re using imported raw materials from abroad which need to be replaced by our own resources. We have a wealth of forest, so we’re modernising these enterprises,” notes the President. The contemporary technological modernisation of Ivatsevichdrev JSC is an example to be followed.
The new shop floor is a true production idyll, being almost entirely automated: from the milling, chipping and shredding of wood, to the manufacture of chipboard, covered with textural coatings. Importantly, all components are manufactured on site, which is the major aim of the modernisation of timber processing — as supported by the Belarusian leader back in 2007.
We need to change the structure of the economy while focusing on import-substitution and export-oriented manufacturing, using domestic raw materials. Thank God, there are plentiful woods in Belarus, so we should be using this resource to maximum effect. After examining the new line, Mr. Lukashenko listened to reports regarding the modernisation of eight similar enterprises: FanDok, Borisovdrev, Mogilevdrev, Rechitsadrev, Vitebskdrev, Mozyr Wood Processing Industrial Complex, Mostovdrev and Gomeldrev.
The projects seem sensible and competitive and none of the directors complained about how to achieve sales; chipboard based furniture is found in every home around the world! Where materials were once imported we can now aim to satisfy domestic demand and produce enough to create export revenue.
