Lately, around 200,000 m³/year of Russian log wood were processed in what used to be Hasslacher’s production site in Malaya Vishera © Pavel Moskalev
After having been an Austrian company for more than 30 years (founded in the 1990s by the former Holzindustrie Leitinger and acquired by the Hasslacher Group in 2009), Hasslacher sold its Russian sawmill to the VLP Group in April this year (see Hasslacher to sell its Russian production site).
Lately, the cutting capacity of OOO HasslacherLES was around 200,000 m³ of log wood a year and was supposed to be increased further as part of an expansion project which was already set up in 2018 (see Twofold cutting volume and laminated timber production). The addition of a glued timber plant had already been in the starting blocks, but it was put on hold in 2022 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The new owner, i.e. the Russian VLP Group, wants to take up and implement these expansion plans, which also include switching from a two-shift to a four-shift operation. To this end, new employees are to be hired in addition to the existing 192 by the end of 2024.
Those responsible at VLP expect to have completed the modernization and expansion work by the end of next year. Also, the cutting capacity of currently around 200,000 m³ a year is to be doubled by then. According to VLP, the maximum possible production capacity is up to 24,000 m³ per month.
