Invested for the future! Using co-financing from EU funds, a new birch plywood production plant has been built in Kuldīga. Birch plywood manufacturer "Stiga RM" built the new production facility with the support of the European Regional Development Fund, thus expanding its operations.
The company plans to increase both export volumes and productivity with the new facility. Regarding the idea, the preparation and the implementation of the project - what is the recipe for doing it quickly and efficiently? Andris Ramoliņš, owner of STIGA RM, explains it briefly.
Before applying for EU funds, we had already decided that it was necessary to expand production and purchase a new laminating line. We did not have adequate buildings for the installation of such a large production line, so we decided to build a new production building!
This coincided with the launch of the programme for the construction of industrial buildings, and we realised that there was an opportunity to apply for EU co-financing for our project.
The project preparation process was not difficult and the appraisal process was quick. But we started construction immediately after submitting the project, without even waiting for a decision on whether the project would be approved. That's how we got the result so quickly.
What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs?
In our experience, you cannot expect a specific programme to provide support to build a production building or buy fixed assets. Time and money will be wasted waiting for the right programme. But if you have a lucky coincidence like we did, I definitely recommend you give it a try. Prepare projects, submit, implement, build! I think there could be more such EU funding programmes to build or buy new production lines, and there would certainly be no shortage of applications.
Turning to future plans, our investment plan for the plant is very clear: by the end of this year, all old equipment and production lines will be replaced with new ones. But we have even bigger investment plans for the future - starting year 2018. And we would be delighted if, at some stage in this project, we could once again attract EU co-financing.
For reference:
The EU funds project is implemented under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme for investment in the creation or reconstruction of production facilities and infrastructure. Stiga RM Ltd is a birch plywood producer which has built a brand new production building with ERDF support, thus expanding its operations and introducing a new product - laminated birch plywood. The production facility was completed in record time: within seven months of project submission.
