For the first time, the Superjet 100 was introduced to the public in September 2007. After 8 months, its maiden flight took place, and commercial operation began after the testing and certification of the aircraft in spring of 2011. As of May 2018, 127 SSJ100 aircraft are in operation. In total, the aircraft carried more than 275,000 commercial flights lasting over 420,000 flight hours. To date, the Superjet 100 is operated by Russian airlines and government agencies: Aeroflot, Gazprom Avia, Yakutia, Yamal, IrAero, Azimut, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Special Flight Squad "Russia", RusJet, as well as in foreign countries: Interjet (Mexico), CityJet (Ireland) Royal Air Force of Thailand.

At the first stages of the project implementation, a comprehensive program of technical re-equipment of the plants in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Novosibirsk was carried out. In its production, previously unused technologies were used in Russian civil aircraft construction, such as unmounted assembly, automatic docking of airframe units, automatic riveting and a number of others. This is the first Russian aircraft completely designed using digital technologies.

All models of the Superjet 100 family (RRJ-95B and RRJ-95LR-100) are equipped with two SaM146 turbofan engines manufactured by PowerJet, a joint venture Snecma and Scientific and Production Association Saturn. Improved take-off and landing characteristics, high cruising speed, operation in a wide range of climatic conditions allow aircraft operators to flexibly plan the route network, increasing the number of directions, and also to use the aircraft on both regional and a number of main routes. The SSJ100's maximum cruising speed of 0.81 Mach (871 km / h) allows the SSJ100 to fly at the same levels as the most common types of short-range aircraft, thus optimising not only the airline's fuel costs, but also the time costs for the flight.

The version of the Long Range / LR aircraft differs from the basic (Basic / B) range of the flight, reaching 4320 km, the increased take-off weight to 49,45 tons and the reinforced wing, as well as the 5% take-off thrust of the SaM146 base engine. SSJ100 is certified in a wide range of temperatures - from minus 54 to plus 45 degrees Celsius, which allows it to operate under various climatic and extreme conditions, from the Russian Far North to the hot countries of Southeast Asia or the high mountain regions of Mexico.

Especially for the implementation of this project, in 2000, the company was created JSC "Sukhoi Civil Aircraft" (SCA). Today, the company, within the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), is one of the key enterprises of the UAC-Commercial Aircraft business unit, which develops, certifies and manufactures civil airplanes, as well as their marketing, sales and after-sales service. The final assembly of the SSJ100 aircraft is carried out at the SCA Branch in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

In 2005, for the creation of the Superjet 100 aircraft in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a branch of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft JSC (Komsomolsk-on-Amur Branch of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft JSC) was formed. It was there that the first experienced Superjet 100 was first introduced to the public, and a year later completed its maiden flight. Thus, from the moment of the organisation of production to the release of the aircraft in the series, only 5 years have passed.

Now in the Komsomol branch there are: Technocomplex - the distribution center of components for the production sites of the branch; The fuselage assembly shop (FAS), the final assembly assembly (FAA) of the aircraft and the flight-testing station (FTS). In the final assembly shop, work is simultaneously carried out at seven production sites, five at the fuselage assembly shop and ground tests of the produced aircraft are carried out in two sections of the flight test station.

The branch takes full advantage of lean technology. Their application is aimed at increasing the efficiency of production and its planning. At the heart of lean-technologies lie modern techniques, optimisation of the process of purchasing equipment, minimising labor and time costs. So, for example, in order to achieve the goals of increasing labor productivity, in production, among other solutions, implement the principles of Japanese philosophy Kaizen, which focuses on the continuous improvement of production processes, development, supportive business processes and management.

As for the technical side of the solutions, these are various design solutions that allow to reduce the complexity of assembly, improve the quality of the aircraft. Improving the quality of the conveyor is considered as one of the elements of increasing the productivity of labor: the more qualitative the product is obtained, the fewer losses for repairing the marriage.

Since the very first days of work in 2005, the branch has been thinking about how to assemble airplanes safely and effectively. To organise such a system of work, the leadership of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft attracted both foreign consultants in the field of lean manufacturing with world-wide names and domestic ones, actively got acquainted with the best practices of Russian and foreign enterprises. In 2010, in the Komsomolsk-on-Amur branch of SCA, a technical and economic council began to work, which collected proposals for improvements in production to improve the efficiency of the production system. Rationalisers were paid cash prizes.

For three years of work in the period from 2010 to 2012, rationalisers were offered 40 changes, of which ultimately implemented 10. Each proposal was a scientific work with a mandatory economic justification. The company's management was tasked with covering the "epidemic of lean production" with the maximum number of employees. So in 2015, to the staff of Komsomolsk-on-Amur branch of SCA JSC offered to use non-monetary methods of encouragement for the submission and implementation of Kaizen proposals, in addition to traditional monetary bonuses.

Thus, since February 2015, when the Kaizen program started, up to date, 2,499 offers have been submitted, of which 2521, this is almost 90% of the interest, has been introduced. At present, almost 60% of engineering and technical workers of production sites and warehouse staff of the branch are involved in the process of continuous improvements.

Today, the production in the Komsomolsk-on-Amur branch of the SCA is markedly different from most industrial enterprises in Russia. From the first minute, even a visitor unfamiliar with aircraft assembly technology can understand how the technological process is arranged and determine the current production status in the shop - the visualisation system makes everything clear.

The final assembly of the aircraft in Komsomolsk-on-Amur is carried out thanks to the participation in the project of a number of other factories on the territory of Russia where the components of the Superjet 100 are manufactured. So, at the branch of PJSC Sukhoi Company Komsomolsk-on-Amur aviation plant named after Yu. A. Gagarin produced a detachable part of the wing with mechanisation and pylon, the center wing and fuselage compartments F2, F3, F4, in the Novosibirsk branch of PJSC Sukhoi Company Novosibirsk Aircraft Plant named after V.P.Chkalov produced tail fins, fuselage compartments F1, F5, F6, in Voronezh PAS Voronezh Joint-Stock Aircraft Building Society manufactures products of polymer composite materials, Ulyanovsk Aviastar-SP JSC is responsible for interior installation, and PJSC Spectr-Avia for painting, in the suburban Zhukovsky located Flight Test Complex of JSC "SCA" and the Supply Center.

 The customisation and delivery center for foreign customers is located in Venice, for which in July 2007, the company SuperJet International (SJI) was founded in Italy. The company provides support for flight testing, EASA certification, production and supply of interiors, aircraft customisation and sales support.

The Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company consistently implements the Superjet 100 improvement program to expand its sales markets, the number of customers, increase the satisfaction of operators and maintain a high level of its competitiveness. So in December 2017, the first test flight of the Superjet 100 aircraft with the wing tips installed was held. Based on the results of calculation and experimental work, it was revealed that the installation of saber-like tips allows simultaneously improving the takeoff and landing characteristics and reducing fuel consumption by at least 3%.

Work is underway to create an updated version of the SSJ100R, which is being created as part of the import substitution program for the SSJ100 components. Russian developers and manufacturers are invited to participate in this project. The result of work will be the update of a number of aircraft systems. The number of American components will be reduced several times, including the inertial system, an auxiliary power unit, and an interior. The goals set for the development of the new version of the SSJ100R aircraft are to reduce its cost, operating costs, increase flexibility in the after-sales service of aircraft systems due to the availability of alternative suppliers, which will help expand the aircraft sales markets. The delivery of SSJ100R to the first customers is scheduled for 2020.

At the same time, this year it was decided to start working on the issue of creating another, shorter version of the aircraft in the version for 75 seats. Changes in the creation of SSJ on 75 seats can touch the wing, fuselage, engine and aircraft systems. This project is implemented by SCA jointly with the leading scientific aviation centres: FSUE Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, FSUE All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Aviation Materials and the National Institute of Aviation Technologies. The aircraft can enter the market tentatively in late 2022 - early 2023.

photo by Yulia Kuzmina