Power of the forest titans

Andrei Yarotsky, “In the next two or three years, we plan to completely replace imports of what we used to buy in unfriendly countries.”

Aleksandr Kulevsky

In November last year, an agreement was signed to provide Belarus with a Russian state financial loan in the amount of about 105 billion Russian rubles. The lists of promising import-substituting investment projects have been specified at the level of the governments of the two countries. Among the largest and most significant are the projects of the Amkodor Holding Company. Director General of Amkodor — Holding Managing Company Andrei Yarotsky talked about how they are being implemented.

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Today, Amkodor enterprises produce 26,700 items of products, of which 145 models and modifications of special machines

Manipulators from Dzerzhinsk

The holding is currently implementing three large-scale import substitution projects. The first is the creation of the production of manipulators on the basis of a plant in Dzerzhinsk. This science-intensive innovative product has never been produced in Russia or Belarus before, says Andrei Yarotsky, “Previously, working equipment was purchased in Finland. Now we do it ourselves. We have designed and put into production a whole line of manipulators — nine models. The most popular ones are already produced in small batches at a pilot plant in Minsk, the rest are at the testing stage. In 2022, we manufactured 76 manipulators that have never been produced in Belarus before. Literally in a year we managed to step from design to a small series.”
The main task for the near future is to scale this project. At the plant in Dzerzhinsk, construction and installation work has been completed by 70 percent.
Director General explains the importance of developing our own skill sets, 
“There are no companies in the world that would produce both working bodies, and a control system, and transmission elements, and a hydraulic system, and an electrical system, and the machine itself. This makes us a unique market player. 
At the same time, we are among the world’s top 3 manufacturers with the widest range of manufactured equipment for the timber industry.”
It is planned to equip the plant in Dzerzhinsk with sufficient technological equipment within a year to launch mass production of manipulators for forestry equipment. 
“We plan to increase the range of manipulators for log trucks. This is a technique for transporting timber from prepared plots to storage sites. These are not our machines, but we know that their manufacturers also need manipulators, which used to be purchased abroad. Moreover, we are ready to close this niche with a domestic product,” the interlocutor shares their plans. 

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Up to 450 vehicles in Logoisk

The second project is an increase in production capacity for the creation of machines for the timber industry complex in Logoisk. Construction work has already begun there.
Own component base brings the production of logging equipment to a fundamentally different level, Andrei Yarotsky says, “This is both service and spare parts... Forestry equipment operates in extremely difficult conditions, which entails a lot of wear on mating parts. Spare parts are required for replacement. Maintenance of the product life cycle is a separate type of business. We have our own distribution network, warranty and service teams. This is additional income that is reinvested in production.”
The line of forest machines of the company includes more than 20 models and modifications. Forwarders, harvesters, skidders, shredders, mulchers, loaders... Light and medium-class logging machines will be produced in Logoisk — for thinning and main cuttings with a 6x6 wheel arrangement. Optimal equipment for Belarusian forests! Logging machines of heavy and super-heavy class with an 8x8 wheel arrangement for work, including in Siberian forests, will be produced at the Amkodor-Onego subsidiary in Petrozavodsk, Russia.
Western companies have left, and today the market for domestic producers is open. Amkodor is ready to take advantage of this moment to increase production volumes and thereby increase our technological sovereignty, Director General emphasised, “Now we can produce about 200–220 vehicles a year in Logoisk. After the reconstruction of the plant, we will be able to double the capacity and produce up to 450 vehicles. These are average numbers.”

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Unique technologies in Minsk

The third project is the most science-intensive one — the creation in Minsk of additional capacities for the production of transmission elements — leading steered and unsteered axles, tandem axles and hydromechanical transmissions. Its implementation will cover all existing and future needs of our equipment in transmission elements, Director General explains, “We have retained these skill sets and developed them significantly. Those products that we have created, albeit in small batches, are already being installed on our machines. Along with the Germans and the Americans, we became the third company in the world to master the production of tandem gear axles. Today, our holding’s demand for these products is covered by 50 percent, and we are ready to consume twice as much. But in general, the project’s capacity will be designed to ensure that at least 30 percent is also exported.”
The cost of the project is $49 million. It will take at least two years to implement it. This project is planned to be implemented as soon as possible, because the main suppliers of such products were Western companies, and without the production of transmission elements, it is impossible to make vehicles.
Over the past year, Amkodor produced about 150 machines and machine kits for logging equipment. However, the capacity of the Belarusian market of machines for the timber industry is about 200 units per year, not counting small equipment for thinning, Andrei Yarotsky calculated, “In February, we presented the first domestic samples of thinning machines. This is a new niche for us. Now they are being tested in Belarusian forestries. This technique is maximally made from its own component base.”
Comprehensive modernisation is underway at almost all the holding’s plants. 
Renovation of fixed assets and expansion of production capacities will allow achieving almost one hundred percent localisation of the production of timber industry machinery within the framework of the Union State, 
Andrei Yarotsky concluded, “All three projects are urgently needed. In the next two or three years, we plan to completely replace imports of what we used to buy in unfriendly countries. Already, the percentage of localisation of key models of equipment within the Union State is 95-98 percent. Moreover, about 80 percent of the components, including transmissions, frame structures, batteries and elements of the machine control system are produced at the holding’s own enterprises.”

By Inna Gorbatenko