Digital Plant for engine Manufacturers: Production System, Technologies, Personnel

A project and analytical session was held at Samara University, during which a draft roadmap for the implementation of digital plant technologies at the enterprises of the United Engine Corporation (UEC) was developed.

Among the fifty participants in the session there were researchers, lecturers, graduate students and students of the Advanced Aerospace Engineering School (AAES), managers and leading specialists of UEC and its subsidiaries "UEC-Kuznetsov", "UEC-Saturn", "UEC Engineering", as well as representatives of companies developing solutions in the field of digitalization and robotization of production.

Deputy Rector, Director of the Advanced Aerospace Engineering School Ivan Tkachenko recalled that the United Engine Corporation and its Samara enterprise "UEC-Kuznetsov" are among the key industrial partners of Samara University in the federal project "Advanced Engineering Schools". 

In the interests of industrial partners, a conceptual model of a digital plant was developed at AAES, and then, based on this model, two research and educational sites were created, two cyber-physical factories – small spacecraft and small-sized gas turbine engines. 

In addition to developing technologies for the manufacture of specific products, here the work is going on the creation of intelligent production cells, from which robotic production will then be formed for any task set. Within the framework of the digital plant model, scientists and engineers of AAES are also developing technologies for multi-level management of production complexes consisting of cyber-physical and digital factories. 

"The frontline task of AAES is to develop solutions that will enable the aerospace industry to transit from single-piece production to large-scale and mass one based on digital factory technologies. We need to complete the development of this technology and implement it at UEC enterprises", emphasized Rector Vladimir Bogatyrev, opening the project and analytical session.

The session aims not only to develop unified approaches to the formation of a new production system at enterprises, but also to competently build the process of transferring AAES developments to real production. 

"The key task facing UEC today is high production efficiency and reducing the cost of batch production. For these indicators, the corporation must be competitive against the most efficient foreign companies. Today, when creating workshops and enterprises for the corporation, the main thing is not the new premises and modern equipment installed therein, but modern, promising approaches to organizing the production process. I am confident that the team of specialists formed at AAES, together with its graduates, is the force that will be able to update the production system of UEC", said Yury Shmotin, General Designer of the United Engine Corporation.

Representatives of companies developing solutions in the field of digitalization and robotics spoke about the capabilities of Russian robots, as well as about the experience of production automation, in particular, about the implementation of the Smart Workshop project at one of the leading enterprises of UEC. 

Within the framework of sections, the session participants discussed issues related to the development and implementation of intelligent production cells and flexible production modules, with their unification into a single system at the level of "smart workshop" – "smart plant". They also discussed the structure, functionality and experience of implementing automated process control systems. Then scientists and manufacturers analyzed the functionality of the digital plant and the main technologies necessary for its creation.

At the final stage of the project and analytical session, a draft roadmap "UEC Digital Plant" was presented, the revision of which will continue in the working order. 

Photo: Olesya Orina