This year, OLIS celebrates its 20th anniversary. It’s quite a long journey, with many interesting things happening. Did you know that they manufactured the largest drum separator? That the company’s founder is a doctor of technical sciences? That OLIS has its own research center? In this article, you will definitely learn more about the company, which has already begun its third decade on the grain market of Ukraine and the world.
Fact 1. The founder of the company came to the industry from science
The founder of the company OLIS, Oleksandr Vereshchynskyi, completed postgraduate studies at the Odessa Institute of Food Industry named after Lomonosov and defended his candidate’s thesis, and later – his doctoral thesis in Kyiv.
“First, I became a mechanical engineer and decided to pursue science at the same university. I was a research intern for two years, then I entered postgraduate studies. I graduated early with a candidate’s thesis on processes and devices, and then, already working at the company OLIS, I defended my doctoral thesis,” says the manager.
After working at the Odessa Institute, Oleksandr Vereshchynskyi decided to conquer the grain industry from a more practical side – manufacturing equipment for processing and other needs of grain growers.
“When we create some successful machine, it works, gives results – I personally fly for two weeks, as if on wings. “We are people who love the process more than its financial result. Anyone who wants to create something should first get pleasure, and only then money,” says the manager.
Fact 2. Have two dozen patents.
According to Oleksandr Vereshchynskyi, today OLIS has about 20 patents with a 20-year protection period for inventions, and these are patents for utility models.
“Copying other models is not a very suitable way for us, because we are creative people, we try to bring something of our own. Although it is clear that some solutions are looked up from each other. But we put a lot of effort into developing something new, and what we do is really new, so we try to protect it somehow,” says Oleksandr Vereshchynskyi, the founder of the company.
Fact 3. The name OLIS is an abbreviation of the first letters of names
Over the years the company has changed its name several times, but the final name has become a symbol of unity. The name OLIS consists of the first letters of the names of the co-founders of the company. So the name is the people behind the company with the values they put into the business.
Fact 4: One of the first employees of the company became the commercial director.
Volodymyr Cheglatoniev is the longest serving commercial director in the company. He recalls that he came in 2005, a month after OLIS was founded, and became a sales manager. At that time there were up to 10 people working in the company. Gradually Volodymyr learnt and after 4 years he became the head of the commercial department.
Fact 5. Have more than 200 items of equipment
OLIS manufactures equipment for various areas of the grain market. Post-harvest grain cleaning – these are separators of different capacities and modifications, which work both at large enterprises and at farmers’ elevators. Another significant direction is processing, for which OLIS manufactures cereal mills for work with wheat, barley, peas, millet, maize, oats, buckwheat and cereal lines. This includes flour and cereal milling equipment – abrasive dehuller, buckwheat / millet dehuller etc. And another significant list of equipment is laboratory instruments.
In total OLIS has about 200 models of equipment. The company grew together with the processing industry, so the equipment appeared in response to the demand of the grain market.
Fact 6. Over the years they have manufactured 70 thousand pieces of equipment
Over the last 20 years OLIS has manufactured and sold more than 70 thousand models of equipment, including laboratory equipment. Of these, for the year 2024, the company as a whole has produced more than 3 thousand pieces of equipment.
Fact 7: The first grinder – ‘Optimatic’
In 2006 the first grinder ‘Optimatic’ was manufactured, which since 2007 started to be shown at the AGRO exhibition on OLIS stands. The company even has a tradition of giving the participants of exhibitions the groats made on the equipment.
Fact 8. The market of drum separators has started in Ukraine
Even twenty years ago, drum separators were not in significant demand in Ukraine, since the majority traditionally used flat-screen models. But in OLIS, they saw the potential in drum separators, developed their own design and patented it – this is how the LUCH model separator appeared.
Fact 9. They developed the largest drum separator in the world
The largest drum separator is the LUCH-300. The separator has six sections, and the drum has a total length of 6 meters and a diameter of 1.9 meters.
“The machine is large, has passed tests and has proven itself very well – it can accept at least 300 tons of grain per time, or even more. Where we installed them, no one was able to fully load them on grain crops,” says the company’s commercial director, Volodymyr Cheglatoniev.
According to the manager, the company is most proud of LUCH. Analogues have not yet been seen in the world.
Fact 10. One of the largest grain cleaning projects is separators for the Kernel SEZ
The largest project of the OLIS company in the line of grain cleaning equipment is the “LUCH-300” separators for the “Starokonstantinovsky OEZ” of the Kernel company. Four separators with a capacity of 300 tons per hour were manufactured for the customer.
Fact 11. We design in 3D
Everything that is produced in the company is designed in 3D. This allows you to fully see the grain processing complex, and the customer will understand what he will get in the end. In addition, such technology facilitates the installation of equipment.
“We have a group of technologists who can provide any type of equipment. Pipes, aspiration, pneumatic transport – everything is visible in the program. Therefore, it is very difficult to mount something incorrectly,” says the commercial director.
Fact 12. Every Ukrainian elevator has OLIS laboratory equipment
Another line of OLIS is laboratory equipment for determining the quality of grain, flour and groats. As the commercial director said, the company’s first device in this sector was a laboratory mill, which is now called Olislab 2100.
“We looked at what the market needs, what are the problems in the laboratory, what equipment is already outdated and there is a sense to improve it. Should new devices be created? This gave us the basis for developing a line of laboratory equipment,” explained the commercial director.
Fact 13. The Center for Standardization and Certification uses OLIS equipment
Volodymyr Cheglatoniev gives an example of obsolete SESH-3M drying cabinets, which had low accuracy and did not meet modern requirements. OLIS developed a new drying oven OlisLab 4100 (later Olislab 4100). To do this, they introduced new methods of temperature adjustment and created their own device for measuring the temperature inside the chamber. The new model is more accurate and reliable than the previous one.
“Even the Center for Standardization and Certification, which makes verifications of drying cabinets, purchased our devices for their own measurements. Before that, they used old methods – special thermometers, which had a significant error. Our solution made it possible to bring accuracy control to a new level,” says the commercial director.
Fact 14. Remotely installed two processing plants in Kazakhstan
In 2020, the company produced processing complexes for customers in Kazakhstan. It was the time of covid quarantines, so the factories for the production of buckwheat groats and the processing of oats into flakes were installed remotely. Thanks to the 3D design, it was possible to assemble the plants without any problems.
Fact 15. They have experience supplying a line of oatmeal to Turkey
In 2021, Cooker’s Gida Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., an oat flakes production plant, which was manufactured in OLIS, was launched in Turkey.
“Before that, we sent the client several samples of flakes. We liked the samples received at the large enterprise of the company “Stas and K” in Dnipro, for which we manufactured the equipment. Then Turkish customers came to inspect the plant, and as a result, they ordered a production line,” recalls the commercial director.
Then OLIS experts developed engineering and produced a set of equipment for the production of grain flakes with a capacity of 32 tons/day. Start-up and adjustment work was carried out online – it was a plant that was started remotely.
Fact 16. Equipment is delivered to other continents
The company manufactured 10 LUCH separators for a customer who built elevators in East Africa – in Tanzania. Equipment was purchased for cleaning corn and wheat.
OLIS has clients in North America, – in the USA and Canada – PSO sieve separators and LUCH-ZSO drum separators work there.
“I remember the first PSO was earned, and they sent us photos – from Alaska,” says Volodymyr Cheglatoniev.
A flake production line was delivered to Canada. Experts from OLIS did engineering, the technological part and designed everything in 3D.
“Our partner works in North America, which buys equipment and adapts it to the market of the United States and Canada. There are other needs for electricity, other engines, so there are nuances,” explains the commercial director.
Fact 17. They created their own research center
The plant has its own experimental research center, where equipment is modeled and tested in conditions close to real production.
A mini-elevator complex was created at the plant: there is a dump pit, nori, grain bunkers – inventors can supply raw materials to the equipment and experiment. Machines of small capacity are tested here.
Fact 18. They test their own developments at working enterprises
Large-sized equipment is tested in operating production.
“There are two flagships of grain processing in Ukraine. These are “Belotserkovhleboprodukt” and “Skyrskiy kombinat hleboproduktov”, – there we conduct almost all production tests of large-sized equipment”, – says the founder of the company Oleksandr Vereshchynskyi.
Fact 19. They constantly learn and share experience
The company employs specialists with experience in grain factories and mills, so they are well versed in grain processing technology, but they are still continuing their education.
“We try to train within our enterprise and send them to other factories for this. We trained welders in the winter. And literally a week ago, the head of the production came from Germany, where he had an internship with German machine builders,” says Oleksandr Vereshchynskyi.
At the OLIS plant, they conduct tours and take students on internships. The teachers of the Odesa National University of Technology also come to study the experience of machine builders.
“After all, we are closer to the real sector of the economy than the institute. New challenges and various tasks are constantly appearing. That’s why we have a lot of experience and try to share it so that our knowledge can be passed on to students,” OLIS says.
Fact 20. Rest together
Over many years of work, the OLIS team has developed a tradition of spending time together. Usually, by the sea, necessarily in the warm period of the year. It was a good time when colleagues socialized, played beach games and ate something delicious. Unfortunately, after the start of a full-scale war, the team does not gather for such a vacation, but OLIS hopes that they will definitely resume their tradition already under a peaceful sky in order to enjoy company, catch up and celebrate.
So, the first 20 years are just the beginning. OLIS has the ambitions, experience and team to continue growing and writing its history in its third decade of operation.
Prepared by Elena Hajduk, Elevatorist.com
https://elevatorist.com/spetsproekt/228-20-faktiv-pro-kompaniyu-olis
