Polotsk-Steklovolokno OJSC plans to invest over $43 million in modernization

At the joint-stock company, as emphasized by its General Director Andrey Bunakov, the focus is on continuous improvement of technologies, implementation of modern equipment, and development of new products that meet market quality standards and consumer requirements.

To accelerate these processes, a scientific and practical center has been established at the enterprise. The share of innovative products in the total volume shipped over the last three years has increased from 19.2% to 30.3%. Approximately 29.5 million dollars were invested in development over the past five years. Based on the results of last year's work, JSC "Polotsk-Steklovolokno" was included in the regional Honor Board.

In the future, the team intends to multiply the achieved results. The promising direction here is considered to be the production of electrical insulating fabrics, which are in increasing demand and are widely used in the production of blocks, panels, computer circuits, devices, insulation of electric motors, and electrical machine units.

In the global market for the production of electrical insulating glass fabrics, JSC "Polotsk-Steklovolokno" currently holds a share of: 15% in Europe, 1-2% in America, and about 1% in Southeast Asia. In 2015, the enterprise produced 28.8 million meters of this product, which is approximately 25% of the total production volume. The recent commissioning of glass-melting furnace No. 2, which underwent a large-scale reconstruction, will allow this share to be increased to 30%, and the total annual output of fiberglass at the enterprise will increase by 20% to 57 thousand tons.

According to Andrey Bunakov, the continuation of the work started will be the increase in fiberglass processing capacities in workshops No. 8, 9, and 10. This investment project involves modernization of technological processes and an increase in the capacity for processing "E" glass fiber produced by furnace No. 2. The attracted investments will allow for the purchase of technological equipment, with the help of which an additional approximately 11 million meters of electrical insulating glass fabrics will be produced annually.

In addition, the joint-stock company plans to reconstruct glass melting furnaces No. 4 and No. 9. In 2018-2020, it is planned to invest 2 million dollars in organizing the production of specially treated glass fabrics and another approximately 8 million dollars in the construction and re-equipment of a workshop for the production of thermo-chemically treated electrical insulating materials for laminated dielectrics. With the participation of a foreign investor, it is planned to organize the production of cutting and grinding wheels.

All this will allow the enterprise to improve its economic results and further increase its export potential. Today, Polotsk residents export more than 90% of their products outside of Belarus. Of the total sales volume, about 60% goes to CIS countries, about 30% to Europe, approximately 6% to Southeast Asian countries and the Persian Gulf, and about 4% of products to America and Australia. The task is to maintain and strengthen positions in traditional sales markets, as well as to develop new ones, expanding presence in them.

The annual turnover of JSC "Polotsk-Steklovolokno" is about 100 million dollars, and the number of employees is over 4 thousand people. The modern, dynamically developing industrial complex occupies over 50 hectares of industrial area and has a park of equipment of approximately 5 thousand units. About 900 types of products are manufactured here for almost all industries.

The equipment level of the joint-stock company and the technologies used here are not inferior to those of leading global companies. Operating in highly competitive international markets, "Polotsk-Steklovolokno" has a key advantage – a full cycle of technological processes from the preparation of raw materials to the packaging of finished products.

Larisa Malashenya, "Vitebskiye Vesti", photo by Maria Trutko.