Segezha Group Creates Pulp-and-Paper Industry Center of Competence in St. Petersburg
The Company has completed the transaction to acquire controlling interest in Giprobum CJSC

Segezha Group (part of Sistema JSFC) has completed the transaction to acquire controlling interest in Giprobum CJSC, a St. Petersburg-based engineering company that designs pulp-and-paper industry facilities.

The new asset will receive the status of the Center of Competence in the field of capital construction and reconstruction project management, cost setting and improvement of operational efficiency of currently operating enterprises. The new Center employs more than 40 experienced staff members, and the number of employees is expected to grow considerably in the near future.

'All key sites of the company must begin working more expediently than ever before on our projects, and we are now required to react immediately to various unconventional situations. In these conditions we can hardly overestimate the importance of acquiring a project subdivision with all the necessary competencies. We are looking forward to breakthrough and well-grounded solutions,' said Evgeny Bogomolsky, Director for Capital Projects of Segezha Group.

The projects designed by Giprobum R&D Institute were used in more than 70% of all pulp-and-paper capacities in Russia and CIS countries, including the following sites: Ilim Group, Mondi SLPK, International Paper, Arkhangelsky PPM, Ustyansky Forest Industry Enterprise, Segezha Group and other large players of forest industry. As part of Segezha Group, in the near future Giprobum will work on improving the efficiency of large-scale investment projects in Karelia, Vologda Region and Krasnoyarsk Krai.

'The production program has been formed for several years ahead. Our goal is to assess correctly and provide all the required resources, motivate our staff, establish quality control measures and monitor deadlines for all parts of the project. Some busy work is ahead, and to accommodate this challenge we will reinforce our current team, equipping them with cutting-edge technical innovations, including a state-of-the-art capital construction project management system,' said Zakhar Orlov, Financial Director of Giprobum CJSC.

At present the Institute team is working on the projects of technical re-equipment of the currently operating facilities and construction of new production capacities on Segezha PPM, on technical appraisal of projects of modernizing and constructing a new paper-making machine, installation of the lignosulfonate drying unit at Sokol PPM, as well as on project of building a glulam manufacturing plant in Segezha, a boiler house and a pellet production facility at Sokol Integrated Woodworking Plant.

Speaking before the general public in Segezha single-profile city, President of Segezha Group Mikhail Shamolin noted that over the past 40 years not a single pulp-and-paper mill had been built in Russia, therefore the competencies in the sphere of PPM construction and design have been mostly lost.

'We have acquired one of the very few remaining project institutes in Russia. Any technological improvements, better efficiency of decision-making, including those in the sphere of ecology, begin with design,' Head of the Company said.

Источник: Segezha Group