Homanit did not escape the pandemic: 100 million plans to build a € 1 million a year plant, 400 workers will look around soon

It has already been announced that Homanit Lietuva has acquired a 77 ha parcel in the village of Pagiriai in the Vilnius district, where it is planned to build a new factory and invest LTL 100 million. and create around 400 jobs.

The director of the company, A. Ostrauskas Delfi, reveals that the ambition is to build the plant in approximately one year, but it will depend largely on the environmental impact assessment procedures. Another challenge is finding and training the necessary personnel, the courses that they will send to factories in Germany and Poland.

Will produce wood fiber boards

The new Homanit Group company in Lithuania will produce components for companies in the furniture, door and parquet industry. The main products of all Homanit companies are medium density (MDF) and high density (HDF) compressed wood fiber boards.

“The Lithuanian plant will be the fourth producer of the Homanit group, we are world leaders in the production of HDF components”, explains Andrius Ostrauskas.

After the acquisition of the plot, the design of technological equipment is currently in progress and the company is also choosing the lead designer in Lithuania.

“In the near future, we will start the complete Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure, which will allow us to develop our activities in a sustainable manner and in compliance with all environmental standards”, says A. Ostrauskas.

He stressed that the process was long and that there were a number of challenges: The large-scale EIA procedure alone would take about a year, during which potential sources of contamination would be analyzed. Only after experience is a building permit obtained, therefore our priority now is the responsible and complete implementation of the EIA procedure.

“We have good examples in Poland: in this country, the two Homanit factories were built very quickly and the factory started operating less than a year later. Our aim is to repeat this also in Lithuania, I think that by acting with determination, it really is real ”, says A. Ostrauskas.

Lithuania was chosen by buyers here.

The German group chose Lithuania for the new plant not by chance: Homanit has been supplying HDF products to local producers from existing plants for several years.

“We have seen a constantly growing furniture manufacturing sector and new investments to expand or even double existing production volumes. To avoid transportation costs and see long-term cooperation opportunities, we made the decision to get closer to the customer. We are happy to contribute to the sustainable growth of companies such as Vakarų medienos grupė, Vilniaus baldai, Freda, SBA and others ”, explains A. Ostrauskas.

According to him, such investments in Lithuania are made when planning the next 20 years.

“This means that in the future, Lithuania’s wood processing industry will have a greater competitive advantage, which will create the conditions for sustainable growth in the sector. Wood will no longer be exported only as raw material to producers in other countries. On the contrary, it will be processed here, which will allow generating greater added value ”, says A. Ostrauskas.

He points out that furniture manufacturers are failing to fulfill orders.

The planned capacity of the Homanit Lietuva plant will reach 260,000 cubic meters. m of panels per year, will represent about 25 percent. The production of this group of German companies, other factories also do not slow down.

“The total capacity of each of the group’s companies will remain the same, and in the future it is expected to increase it by implementing other investments already planned. Currently, we notice a particularly high demand for all furniture raw materials, the entire furniture manufacturing sector does not fulfill orders. It is difficult to evaluate how it will be in the future, but today our main tasks are to optimally plan production and correctly carry out preventive technical maintenance of the equipment ”, says A. Ostrauskas.

Pandemic Courage to Rethink Plans

A. Ostrauskas admits that the global COVID-19 pandemic has adjusted his plans.

“Without a doubt, the first wave of the pandemic lifted everyone off the crayfish and forced us to rethink the next steps. However, within the group, the decision was made to continue the planned investments, both in the existing factories and in the group’s largest project in Lithuania, ”says A. Ostrauskas.

According to him, and in general there are challenges. For example, travel restrictions are currently being communicated remotely in an attempt to adapt to a new reality.

“We will soon start building a local team, which will also require a lot of time and effort. In total, we plan to employ more than 400 employees, we are determined to invest in the preparation and training of employees to work with our technology team ”, says A. Ostrauskas.

Proper employee training, he said, will be one of the most important moments in the successful start-up of the plant, and support from the EU is also expected.

“Long before the factory start, we will organize training for both technical service and shift workers in existing factories in Poland and Germany. We have designated time intervals and preliminary work, in which newly recruited specialists will acquire the qualifications necessary and will be properly prepared to start working in Lithuania ”, says A. Ostrauskas.

The raw material is planned to be imported from Belarus

The future plant intends to import the raw material necessary for the production of wood-based panels from Belarus.

“Most of the raw material for production is planned to be supplied from Belarus. One of the strategic reasons why the plant in Pagiriai is planned is the short distance to the Belarusian border. This will allow us to operate in a more sustainable way. and optimize transport costs ”, explains A. Ostrauskas.

He did not assess how much a new large producer could change the prices of biofuels or other raw materials in the country, but acknowledged that the plant would bring more dynamism to the biofuel market.

Seimas is currently considering initiatives to restrict the importation of biofuels used for heat production from Belarus. Could this affect the operation of the new plant?

“We plan to import most of the raw materials from Belarus, and the adoption of bans would undoubtedly affect the geography of purchasing,” answered A. Ostrauskas.

Will install a solar park

The Homanit Group has a strategy to reduce CO2 as much as possible.

Therefore, in the project we have planned a large solar park on the roof of the production building. We actively support the concept of green energy, we are committed to doing the same with our main customers ”, shared A. Ostrauskas his plans.

The idea of ​​setting up an industrial park arose after difficulties

The new investor has publicly announced that an industrial park will be built next to the future plant. A. Ostrauskas explains that such a plan was born later and after experiencing the difficulties of finding a suitable plot for investment.

One of the challenges faced by Homanit in developing the project was the lack of large areas of ready-made industrial land where the investor could begin preparations for a building permit in the shortest time possible.

“In the initial project, we had planned to acquire only one piece of land for the construction of a future factory. However, considering the time it took to find a suitable plot with all the necessary infrastructure, we decided that the opportunity to find a plot fully prepared for other investors can be very attractive ”, says A. Ostrauskas.

Thus was born the idea of ​​the Homanit Industrial Park. A. Ostrauskas appreciates that the Vilnius region has great potential to create information centers, companies from different industries, the project can become a successful example for other large-scale foreign investments and will contribute to the creation of a suitable investment environment .

Together with “Invest in Lithuania”, we will invite the creation of high added value companies in this park. We hope that together we will generate even more highly qualified jobs for the people of the region and will contribute to the strengthening of the communities ”, says the head of the company.

What to look for when choosing panel furniture?

When purchasing a product, it is always recommended that buyers look at the components and their properties. This also applies to the furniture sector.

“When choosing furniture, it is especially important to pay attention to the CARB2 certificate, which indicates whether a low-formaldehyde adhesive was used in the production of wood panels. The FSC certificate indicates whether the wood was purchased from properly functioning logging sites. More and more companies around the world are realizing and applying the highest ecological standards in the production chain. All the Homanit Group factories have met these requirements for many years, and the Lithuanian factory is no exception, ”explains A. Ostrauskas.