History:

Polotnyanyi Zavod Paper Factory was built in 1720. It was founded by a merchant from Kaluga – Timofey Filatov-Karamyshev.

As early as 1725 the first products were put out: canvas and writing paper.

In 1735 Karamyshev’s companion Afanasiy Goncharov inherited the Paper Mill which by that time had been considered one of the major factories in Europe.

In 1775 the Empress Ekaterina II who was satisfied with the quality of the paper produced allowed to call the factory “Supplier for the Court of Her Majesty”. Therefore, water marks, medals, and the manufacturer’s title of honor appeared on the writing paper produced by Goncharov.

The war of 1812 did not pass by the Polotnyanyi Zavod estate. In it §®. Kutuzov located the headquarters of the Russian army chasing the French enemy troops away from Russia.

The great Russian poet A. Pushkin, as well as Kutuzov, liked these parts very much. After having made acquaintance with Natalya Goncharova, who became his fiancée, he visited this place more than once. This happened in 1830 and 1834. He stayed at the mill for two weeks. The park he liked to walk in and the grove have survived till now.

In the second half of the XIXth century, Polotnyanyi Zavod became a leading trade center of the Kaluga Region; a territorial specialized school was built in it. On the initiative of the manufacturer D. Goncharov a library was opened in the estate.

In the late XIXth century they installed the first self-scooping machine at the factory, expanded the beater room, started trimming machines, as well as ruling-up tables and sewing presses in the sorting room. The factory started to produce special paper sorts: ivory paper, tea paper, match-box paper, cigarette paper, light-up paper; these paper sorts were produced in small batches of approximately 8,000 or 16,000 pounds. At the same time, Goncharov introduces an 8-hour working day at the factory.

In 1917, after the Great October Revolution, the factory became the state ownership, and a little later – in 1923 – it was transferred under the supervision of the Centerbumtrest and became a national enterprise. The reconstruction of the leading units and divisions of the factory went on. In 1926 they put new machines and equipment into operation.

The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 told on the Polotnyanyi Zavod Paper Factory, too. During the years of occupation (1941-1942) the factory was almost ruined, several workshops were burnt down, the dams – blown up, and the paper-making machines and equipment – partially lost.

In 1942, under the guidance of Glavcentrbumprom the OJSC Polotnyanyi Zavod Paper Factory restoration and reconstruction plan was adopted.

In 1944 the first paper-making machine was set in operation.

In 1945 the second paper-making machine was set in operation.

The after-war time was for the factory the time of the performance upturn in the product output, and in 1946 the workers of the factory produced 1,179 tons of paper which exceeded the annual plan.

In 1947 the consumers unit (exercise book unit) was set in operation. It manufactured exercise books from production wastes, the production volume being 4.5 thousands of Rubles.

By 1970 the factory had been operating using six exercise book machines and had produced over 70 000 school exercise books (700,000 per shift).

Currently, the factory manufactures over 60 types of exercise books. The exercise books produced by the factory have won the competition “101 best goods of Kaluga Region”.

In 1997 by the Resolution of the Head of Dzerzhinsky district of Kaluga Region the new edition of the Joint Stock Company’s Charter was registered and the open joint stock company Polotnyanyi Zavod Paper Factory was set up.

Since 1999 the factory management system has been improved, a unit for manufacturing corrugated board and corrugated boxes has been built, paper-making equipment and machines have been purchased, the production capacity has been updated and extended.

January 30, 2000, the Polotnyanyi Zavod Paper Factory celebrated its 280th anniversary.

In 2001 the corrugated board unit was set in operation and the product release began.

In 2002 the new premium-quality exercise book trademark – Magic Lines – was introduced, and in 2004 two automatic lines for school exercise books and writing books were installed. The factory’s motto is “World quality level only!”

In 2005 the factory was ISO 9001:2000 certified for the management quality level compliance.

In 2006 the factory joined the holding “Paper Factories Association", and the reconstruction of two paper-making machines and the corrugated board unit started. The new trademark in the super-premium X-SIVE (exclusive) segment has been introduced to the market. .

In 2007, in order to improve the quality of exercise book storage and customer services, equipment for packaging exercise books in shrink wrapping was installed at the factory.

Currently, the Polotnyanyi Zavod Paper Factory is manufacturing a broad line of white paper products: Exercise books, test-liner, fluting, corrugated board, and corrugated boxes. The product line keeps expanding. It presently manufactures over 150 names of goods.