- BASIC PROPERTY: 75 000 EUR
- TURNOVER: 3,5 mil. EUR
- NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 50
- VAT: 150 36 740
- YEARLY LOG CUT: 24 000 m3/year
- EXPORTS: 70 %
Certificates
Company history
It was in 1898 when František Pražan bought a piece of land opposite a railway station and built a sawmill which included two frame saws. In 1902, the mill burnt to the ground but a loan was granted to the founder, thanks to his trustworthiness, to build up a new sawmill that started to operate within one year after the fire. In order to save on transportation, another three-frame sawmill was built in Borová, a village near Polička, in the year 1911.
In spite of economic difficulties that occurred during World War I, the company was able to increase its production. In 1919, after the founder’s death, his son Ladislav took over the company management. As a result of the extensive windbreaks over surrounding woodland and economic slump between 1930-1931, the production had to be partially limited and adapted to manufacturing of wooden ammunition crates, barrels and vats. At the time of World War II, the production assortment had expanded in manufacturing of heels and crates for glass panes.
The end of the World War II and the invasion of the Soviet Army meant complete plundering of the company. Between the post-war years 1945-1948, after the Soviet Army had left the plant and the owner returned, the plant was being renovated. In February 1948, the mill was nationalized and under the state plan influence, a program on other sawn timber processing, was restricted exclusively to the production of military cases.
In February 1989, a fire in paint shop and store had caused extensive damages to the buildings and therefore the main course was to rebuild these devastated buildings. The state enterprise Dřevozávod Polička, that was in operation for two more years, was restored to the original owners and passed into the ownership of the family’s limited company under the leadership of the founder’s grandson Dr Petr Pražan.
Between 1992 and 1996 a new production facility was re-tooled to the production of transport crates, central maintenance of tools and instruments was set, production line for small diameter logs cutting was installed, technology for log debarking and waste chipper was put in operation, storage hall for dried timber was built and sorting facility for sideboards and center yields timber was completed.
Between 1997 and 2008 a log sorting truck was purchased and the handling of logs subsequently modernized. The timber treatment hall was significantly expanded and a multi-blade crosscut saw installed.
In the company’s modern history, the largest investment event was an installation of a new boiler for bark and complete modernization of the heating system. Moreover, an automatic panel sizing saw was bought and on newly acquired land was built a new storehouse of 1000 square metres, two new timber drying kilns and another timber yard. Throughout the year 2016 the company has extended its production by purchasing and installing 15 new machines which are to be used in the process of manufacturing wooden house. This new branch is called KLIMADUM.
In the year 1997 the plant has obtained an international quality certificate ISO 9001 from a prestigious British company BSI. Also, Dr Petr Pražan became a chairman of the Wood-Processing Enterprise Association in the Czech Republic.
In 1997 the company was listed in NATO codifying system as a subcontractor of containers to the PEFC Standard which proves that the wood used in products comes from sustainable managed forests. At the same time, the company received a certificate approving the packaging material according to the IPPC (ISPM 15) regulations. In 2016 the company has obtained certification allowing it to sort structural timber and produce building kits for manufacturing wooden houses.
More than 100-years long firm history, modernization and development guarantee vitality of timber production and prosperity in years to come.
