Last weekend the village of Plavynysche and small town of Romny rejoiced: the Romny construction ceramics plant had never seen so many reporters, purchasers, experts, and TV cameras. With American investments the plant was reborn and got a new name: the privately held Slobozhanska Budivelna Keramika (Slobozhanshchyna Construction Ceramics) Company.
At the opening ceremony of the reanimated enterprise its General Director Ivan Teliushko, President of Western NIS Enterprise Fund (American investor) Scott Carlson, and Romny City Council Chairman Strelchenko unanimously declared that the plant will boost the revival of the Sumy oblast economy and inspire other local enterprises to look for "their investor". They also said it would change the looks of not only northwest but all Ukraine.
From the beginning the plant's history was not a success. Bulgarian experts found layers of clay, which seemed to be good enough. In 1988 they launched the building ceramics plant they had erected close to the clay layer. At that time Bulgarian equipment was better than Ukrainian. As it turned out the clay estimate was incorrect and bricks were of low quality. Plant equipment quickly wore out. As a result the plant was shut down in 1996.
The plant was badly in need of investors. And they found one who invested over $3 million in the plant, arming it with most modern equipment produced by France's Occidental Industries (mass mixing machine, forming complex). They also bought out at scrap cost two mills for clay mass preparation work, then repaired and modernized them. French experts assisted in the reconstruction and modernization of the Bulgarian tunnel oven. Plant experts teamed with engineer Volodymyr Kyrpychenko invited from Kyiv developed French rigging, which would cause multiple defects at the final stage. They also constructed their own rigging. For the first time in the world they installed empty space creators made of titanium and cobalt, the durability of which is 20-30 times higher than of those made of steel. Bricks with square holes instead of round (French model) are 10% more economical than the initial model and more effectively resist heat. The plant's producing capacity is up to 30 million items a year. Bricks are packed in blocks 333 items each on the wooden panel and are covered with polyethylene to prevent them from absorbing water. Such packaging also guarantees waste-free transportation.
The low factory cost of the bricks (the plant sells them at Hr 118 per 1000) enables the plant to compete successfully not only on the Ukrainian market. Incidentally, potential Russian clients attended the opening ceremony.
Thus the first Slobozhanshchyna flagship, as they called this American Ukrainian joint venture at the opening ceremony, went out into the sea. May it always have seven feet under its keel.
Photo:
The cottage of Slobozhanshchyna bricks wound up being attractive, warm, and, most importantly, inexpensive







