Privately-owned IPT AS in Estonia was founded eight years ago, since when it has been involved in running a sawmill, and trading logs and finished and premanufactured goods.

A couple of years ago the owners decided to concentrate on value-added products and this led them to buy an existing plant near Haapsalu on the west coast of Estonia.

Company spokesperson Jaak Puskar said that since then several investments have been made at the plant to increase efficiency and widen the range of products that can be manufactured there.

Today IPT owns a three hectare site, on which there is a 3,000m² production plant. The remainder is storage and loading space.

The plant’s two main machines are planers – a six-head Jonsered and a seven-head Weinig. Other machines include a Canali splitsaw with tilting table, ripsaws, drilling machinery, packing machinery, a glue press, double end profilers and precision trimmers.

The machinery is situated in two separate buildings, allowing the company to have two different production units.

Mr Puskar said: ‘In the first, which contains a short production line, simple planing and mass production is carried out, while in the other – the long line – value-added products are manufactured.’

IPT’s current product range is divided into two groups, depending on the production unit in which they are made. Products such as shiplap, decking and roof battens are made on the short line while castor and corner blocks, mitred and drilled bedslats and finished items for DIY such as bookshelves, stands and special orders are made on the longer production line.

IPT uses a treatment plant close to its factory but the company has its own kilns, heated by its own heating centre, which enables it to buy unseasoned raw materials and dry goods to customers’ individual requirements.

With its current operation, IPT can process 2,500m³ of raw timber a month in two shifts.

In the main, raw material is still bought from within Estonia, but the supply base is changing and this year 20-25% of raw material has been bought from Russia. Mr Puskar anticipates this will grow to about 50% next year. ‘This will balance possible shortages in Estonia and will increase the average quality as well, because most Russian raw material is sourced from the northern regions. Species most regularly used are whitewood and birch, with some redwood,’ he said.

In terms of quality, IPT uses mainly Scandinavian grading, but says customers are becoming more demanding.

The majority of products are exported to the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands and new markets such as Japan and the US are now being targeted, mainly with value-added products.

Mr Puskar said: ‘We consider our main strength to be in production flexibility. We can take orders for difficult jobs which require operations such as mitreing, drilling, precision trimming and sanding. The changes from one operation to another happen smoothly without big breaks in production.

‘As we believe this to be our major development area for the next few years we are planning several additional investments in the near future.’