24 February 2022
Andrey Gurylev: "We have reached the productivity threshold of 300 thousand tons of products per year"
The past year has become a landmark in the history of our Сompany: for the first time in the last six years, Volga JSC has crossed the productivity threshold of 300,000 tons of finished products. The dynamics of paper production growth in 2021 amounted to 9% (+ 27,500 tons) compared to 2020. Andrey Gurylev, Deputy General Director for Production, spoke about this.
– Andrey Viktorovich what results did our production service achieve last year?
– The key achievement in 2021 was that we increased production volumes to over 300,000 tons of products. The sales service sold 40% more newsprint on the Russian market than a year earlier. The increase in sales of Volga JSC of bulky paper in the Russian Federation amounted to 41%. Another significant event of the last year is that the fifth paper-making machine has reached full production capacity. The team has done a lot of work, thanks to which the paper machines have been working continuously during the year. It is worth noting that in 2021, new types of products were mastered: fluting and testliner, including those with normalized absorbency. The Company's product line has expanded and today has up to hundreds of so-called warehouse accounting units. It should also be mentioned that last year we implemented a Quality Management System according to ISO 9001:2015, extended the FSC certificate to all types of products, completed a priority investment project in the field of forest development in Nizhny Novgorod region with investments of RUB 1.5 billion, which allowed creating new jobs.
– The past year has been really busy, but what challenges our production is facing in 2022?
– The production plan for next year is even more ambitious: we have to produce 318,000 tons of products.
In addition, this year serious work on the program of technical re-equipment of the enterprise will be continued as part of the implementation of a strategic project to expand the production of packaging papers and cartons and the repurposing of paper machine No. 6, which previously produced newsprint only.
The main equipment will be delivered to the factory this year, installed according to technological schemes, and the work on laying cables, pipelines and other communications will begin at the end of 2022. This is a huge amount of equipment. But it should actually be installed this year, because, in accordance with the approved schedule, in March 2023 we plan to put into operation the redesigned paper machine No. 6 and complete commissioning works.
– Are there any projects for the current year aimed at expanding the product line and improving product quality?
– In order to load paper machine No. 6, we will need more raw materials. Therefore, in parallel, we are implementing two more major projects: the construction of a waste paper line with a capacity of approximately 400 tons per day and the expansion of the thermomechanical pulp production line. At the end of last year and at the beginning of this year, we were supplied with bearing shafts and a clamping shaft for a longitudinal cutting machine in workshop No. 3. Serious investments were also made into this project. And at the end of February, LS-Group LLC will install the equipment, which will make it possible for us to achieve an acceptable quality of newsprint for the European market.
Press Centre of Volga JSC
