Cheep ice-cream stick and a million turnover

If someone says - "sticks for ice cream - a cheap problem," he almost guessed on the price sticks. But imagine that Ukrainian domestic market needs nearly 1 billion sticks a year. Then how much cents will it be? I convinced that local entrepreneurs would be interested to save these nearly 10 million hryvna financial turnover annually in Ukraine.

Further we shall try to consider probable variants of this problem decision. Today Ukrainian manufacturers use the sticks made in China, Byelorussia, Germany, and Czech Republic. A stick can be made in Italy or France to use with modern high-efficient equipment. In Ukraine sticks for ice-cream are being made only in insignificant amount.

Thus, we have designated the first and elementary way of "stick problem" decision - import of a stick. For Ukraine it not the most progressive way because is it removes the national manufacturer from Ukrainian market.

The second way of this problem solving, - import of the equipment for stick manufacturing. A majority of Russian manufacturers (in cities of Kaluga, Ioshkar Ola, Rybinsk and others) use this way. This variant includes domestic woodworkers into stick manufacturing process, but excludes machine engineers.

At realization of the third variant - import of technologies, machine engineers have an opportunity to obtain profit, but legal and patent-use collisions can arise between authors of technologies and developers of the equipment.

In our opinion, the fourth way of this problem decision will be the best - the development of own technology and design of the equipment for its realization. This variant demands the certain expenses of time and means, but experts of Research-and-Production Association "MAGR" work on it. Sticks for ice-cream manufacturing in Ukraine with the use of Ukrainian equipment and Ukrainian technology allows both to provide the domestic ice-cream industry with cheap and quality sticks of different configuration and to realize the equipment and sticks export program. The technology developed by RPA "MAGR" experts and patented, provides a full cycle of sticks manufacturing from round wood processing up to finished products packing. The complete set of equipment, produced by Chernihiv machine engineers is offered for the technology realization. The set allows to produce up to 50 000 flat sticks per hour.

Low-grade wood of deciduous kinds (a birch, an alder etc.) of any length is cut to rails with the sizes given on section on band-saw bench СЛП - 6,5 and frame-type multi-blade saw machine СРП-160. Rails are dried on stacks up to humidity of 25-35 % under usual conditions. Further rails are cut on length to workpieces which match the length of a stick with butt-end cross-cutting machine СT-350, during this process sites with lacks (knots, decay) are cut out. Received bar-shaped workpieces 86х14 mm in diameter and 93 or 113 mm length are loaded into cylinder-type rotating drying chamber. In this chamber they are dried up to humidity of 8-14 %. Dry workpieces are supplied to cross-cut five-spindle milling machine СФ 4-5 on which workpieces receive the future stick shapes with rounded ends, "magnum" or another. Next operation - cutting profiled workpiece lengthwise to individual sticks - is carried out on four-spindle milling machine СФ 3-4. Then sticks pass through a polishing cylinder. Final polishing of finished products surfaces is made in a cylinder, after this there is only need to pack them in cartridges (packs) on 50 piece in each. This operation is carried out on stick packing aggregate СУ-50-Н which productivity is up to 150 thousand sticks per shift, or 18,5 thousand per hour. If necessary the set of equipment can be supplemented with the device for drawing a layer of wax or food paraffin on sticks.

Four-spindle milling machine СФ 3-4 equipment with special tool allows to produce a round stick for ice cream or other purposes. The length of the sticks depends only by the length input workpiece.

Minor changes in machine-tools design make them suitable for the production of other small wooden items such as blinds slats, medical spatulas, spoon for spices, etc.

Association designers and engineers continue work to improve the equipment. At the same time is difficult to overestimate the information that comes from factories in Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, which already manufacture sticks for ice cream on the equipment with the brand RPA "GC "MAGR". All the new technical and technological solutions are processed on constantly functioning equipment complex installed at "MAGR".

Now a little bit about the "stick" economy. The average sticks production line costs $ 150,000. It's payback term is 10 to 18 months. Such a discrepancy in time is conditioned by different "start" level of customer, i.e. installation time, start-up and achievement the planned operation mode, raw materials regular supply organization, different interest loans for the line purchase etc. There are no problems with sales, because sticks for ice-cream are imported to Ukraine. In addition to the Russian market, sticks can be exported in the UAE, Syria, Israel, Egypt and other countries that need such products. In our view, in the next 7-10 years, the problem with sales is impossible. Waste can be used, for example, for production of fuel briquettes.

Profitability calculation, made at "MAGR" real figures of production in, gave a value of 95-120%. Producing up to 25 million sticks per month, with an average price of 10 hryvna for a thousand pieces, we get 250,000 hryvna turnover. If profitability is 100% the company earns 125 thousand UAH.

It is also possible to produce other products. For example, wooden blinds slats. Its cost varies in the range from 2500 to 3800 USD per cubic meter from Ukrainian raw materials and 25 000 USD from exotic kinds of wood. Profitability starts with 230%. You can also produce medical spatulas. Its base cost is up to 0,085 UAH a piece, and the wholesale price is 0,5 UAH a piece.