One of Latvia's leading wood processing companies, “Stiga RM”, will significantly expand its birch plywood factory this year, adding 2900 square metres of production space, and will continue modernising it with new, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly equipment. Total investment in projects to improve labour productivity and product quality this year will exceed 10.5 million euros.
The office building on the factory site is due to be demolished as early as this spring, with a thermal treatment basin and its equipment built in its place. At the same time, work is under way on the rebuilding and expansion of the production shop, the construction of a further production building, the creation of a repair base for production machinery, as well as the fitting out of new office premises, which will give employees a more comfortable and pleasant working environment. The development projects will make it possible to increase production capacity considerably and to improve energy efficiency, while continuing to introduce sustainable operating principles into the production process.
“The rebuilding of the production building and the expansion of the area set aside for production is planned in two stages, and it is an ambitious project that has been under way since last year. The modernisation work begun last year and the installation of new equipment, using solutions from the world's leading equipment manufacturers, will continue throughout this year and will make the production process even more powerful, more energy-efficient and more environmentally friendly,” emphasises the director of the “Stiga RM” plywood factory, Viesturs Krēvics.
Construction of the boiler house is now in the home straight, with a new Polytechnik 12 MW boiler required by the technological process being installed to produce steam; it allows lower-quality wood chips and bark from production residues to be used. Polytechnik is an Austrian company and a leader in sustainable and CO2-neutral energy solutions.
Alongside the modernisation of the boiler house, the installation of a chipper and conveyors for processing wood residues, as well as a puttying line, is continuing. A conveyor system for internal logistics is being built, and there is also being installed a dryer sorting line equipped with Mecano cameras, a Raute line with computer vision functionality, optimising quality assessment and sorting processes. By the end of the year, modernisation work is also expected on several other machines and production lines.
The total cost of the “Stiga RM” plywood factory development project over two years will exceed 22.4 million euros. It began at the start of last year and will run until the end of this year, substantially increasing production and export volumes.
The factory's development will also create new jobs for highly qualified engineering specialists. The factory currently provides 278 well-paid jobs, and once the expansion projects are completed the number of positions is expected to grow. In 2023, “Stiga RM” was the largest employer and taxpayer in Kuldīga.