UK mill shipped to Ukraine

Until very recently the machinery was the property of Saint Gobain company, BPB but for the last three years has been standing idle since Davidson Mill, founded more than two centuries earlier by local dyer John Davidson, was closed. Once the world’s largest manufacturer of paper bags, before the mill was shut down in 2005, it was able to produce up to 225,000 tonnes of paper a year. Measuring 500m in length and weighing in at 6,500 tonnes, the machinery and associated plant were dispatched to the Ukraine via 480 vehicles. Now, the Ukraine’s leading producer of corrugated packaging is tasked with putting the pieces of its new purchase together, to create a fully-operational paper mill and sundry associated plant. It is due to start production by Spring 2009. Ipswich-based consulting engineers RVA Group spent the last 13 months as planning supervisor for the dismantling of the machinery, having been appointed in March 2007 by RKTK and BPB to co-ordinate the safe dismantling of the machinery and equipment. After visiting RKTK, to observe its working methods and safety compliance in the Ukraine, RVA also familiarised the Czech dismantling team, and a team of about 28 from RKTK, with UK safety culture and legislative requirements. Pictured: A section of Davidson Mill from where the machinery was removed