Artifex started business as a wholesaler of wood products in Bashkiria (Russia). Company helps small producers of lumber, wood moldings, and joinery products to export. “We found that in Bashkiria there are manufacturers of high-quality wood products that are in demand in foreign markets, but there are no exporters.” says Ruslan Batyrov, CEO of Artifex. “There are no specialists who understand export documentation and can organize supply chains. We decided to do it ourselves, to fill an empty niche. So for the time being, our company provides trading services, we accumulate products from manufacturers, find buyers and supply.”
Artifex sells one thousand cubic meter of lumber per month with the term of delivery up to one month. “Everything is decided individually in each case,” says Mr. Batyrov. “Given the current situation in logistics, the timing may change”. Artifex exports lumber to the Eurasian Economic Union, the CIS and the Middle East countries, as well as to China, India and Vietnam. At the moment, the company develops supplies to the markets of Turkey and Azerbaijan.
For many years there was no large company in the Russian Republic of Bashkiria engaged in the deep processing of wood and the production of export products with high added value certified according to DIN. The Artifex became a resident of the Ufimsky Industrial Park, where a land plot was allocated for the construction of the plant. The necessary infrastructure has already been installed at the plot and construction of the plant has begun. The planned capacity of the plant is up to 12 thousand cubic meters per year. The product portfolio will include more than 250 items. The start of production is scheduled for January 2023. The initial investments amounted to 250 million rubles, but at the moment it has increased by about 40%. The project is currently progressing according to schedule.
The main supplier of machinery and equipment is KAMI Association. The plant will have wood milling, grinding and drying sections. The wood waste will be used for the production of wood pellets for exports to the Middle East and CIS countries, India and China. The pellet production capacity will be 200–250 cubic meters per month. The wood waste will be also used as a fuel for two 2 MW boilers installed at the production site. They will provide all the needs of the wood processing plant in heat and electricity. In summer, only one boiler will operate, and the remaining wood waste will be used to make fuel pellets. In winter, the pellet line will be stopped, and all waste will be burned in boilers.
Artifex plans to work for specific orders of customers on a long-term basis. At the stage of construction, it is possible to complete the plant with equipment for a specific customer. Non-standard products are valued more, but for their production it is necessary to install the appropriate equipment. “We are looking for such clients now,” says Mr. Batyrov. “However, we are not going to refuse mass production!”
Ruslan Batyrov went into business in woodworking not by chance. “My grandfather is an honored forester of Bashkiria,” says Mr. Batyrov. “And this greatly influenced the choice of my job. It seems to me that a product made of wood is alive. Since childhood I have loved and understood the forest. That is why, along with the wood processing plant project, a forest restoration project was also developed”. Along with the wood processing plant, Artifex is building a forest nursery with an annual capacity of up to 12,000 seedlings with an open root system.
