The production complex "Salut" of JSC "UEC" is a large engine-building enterprise, historically located in Moscow, which develops, manufactures, maintains and carries out field supervision of AL-31F engines and their modifications for Russian aircraft of the Su family, as well as AI- 222-25 for Yak-130 combat trainers. The enterprise possesses production capabilities for a full cycle of aircraft engine manufacturing - from blank production to assembly of finished products, and also has a modern experimental base.

But the role of the enterprise in the structure of the United Engine Corporation is not limited to this. As part of cooperation with other enterprises of the Salyut corporation, it participates in the manufacture of parts and assembly units for VK-2500 and TV7-117V helicopter engines, RD-33MK engines for MiG-29, TV7-117ST / SM for Il-112V and Il-114 aircraft and also for PD-14 for MC-21. Also, the enterprise is conducting experimental work on mastering the production of parts and assembly units for new helicopter engines VK-650V, VK-1600V, and promising engines for civil aviation PD-8 and PD-35. However, first things first.

Let's start with what served as the informational occasion of our visit - from the new production site. The importance of this event is not that this is some kind of space where new high-performance equipment is installed. The main thing in this area is the automation of production management. When organizing the site, special attention was paid to modern digital technologies. Monitoring of the equipment and workers is carried out by the electronic system AIS "Dispatcher". In real time, it displays data on its operation, analyzes the reasons for downtime, helps to resolve issues related to maintenance and repair of equipment.

“The production site is built in accordance with the principles of lean manufacturing with the use of digital technologies, which allow monitoring the production cycle in order to exclude from it anything that interferes with the production process. The introduction of such sections will make it possible to reduce the production cycle of products by one and a half to two times due to the fact that we identify and respond in a timely manner to an increase in inventory, to equipment downtime, to a lack of tools, i.e. to those things that are not visible with the traditional approach," - says the head of the Salut production complex JSC "UEC" Alexei Nikolaevich Gromov.

The so-called online visual control concept is implemented here on a digital platform. On the site there is a large information screen, approaching which a manager of any level can see where a particular part is at the moment, what operations are being performed with it, and which of the workers is engaged in this.

“One of our tasks is to maximize equipment utilization. The planning system issues a plan for the site. The worker goes to a special booth, puts his card to it and receives a planned assignment. After he has completed it, he approaches this kiosk with his card in the same way, closes the task, and the system immediately sees that this stage of manufacturing the part has been completed. In this case, the route of the part passing through the section from operation to operation is shown on the large screen. After each operation, the part moves to the next cell (rack), which is located further along the technological process. And, accordingly, the next worker, having received the task, without moving this part to some other end of the workshop, takes it and puts it on the next operation,” - explains Valentin Vladimirovich Galiy, head of the production organization department of UEC JSC.

As an additional control, color coding is used: red - the part is awaiting operation, green - the operation is completed. At the same time, if for some reason a stop of the technological process occurs, the part is not manufactured, you can manually reschedule the tasks, or the system automatically suggests where to move this part according to the plan. This approach allows the equipment to be loaded with maximum efficiency. Moreover, now the worker on the site will not waste time on solving organizational issues of his activities, such as moving the workpiece, receiving the tool, and more, but will deal directly with what he receives money for - processing parts/workpieces on machines. A separate support service will bring the workpiece and pick up the part, the other will track the availability of the tool and provide them with every task.

Head of the Department for Organization of Production of JSC "UEC" Valentin Vladimirovich Galiy.

By the way, an electronic cabinet is installed on the site, in which the worker takes the tool he needs. How does it work? The supply service is responsible for the tool, which keeps an electronic record of the tool and its wear, in fact, controls its resource. This allows you to plan purchases, always provide the site with the necessary tools, while not purchasing for future use. It is determined what tool is needed for the implemented technological process, this set of tools enters the system, and it forms the necessary sets. The worker, approaching the tool cabinet, puts his electronic card and picks up the tool he needs.

“From the point of view of the tool support system, we are moving away from the classical understanding of tool distribution-pantries, when a worker, having received an assignment to manufacture a part, had to go somewhere and wait until he was given a set of tools, then return with it, put it on the machine , then shoot, carry, and again everything is the same for the next detail,” - says Valentin Galiy.

That is, the operations on the machines themselves have not changed, if we do not take into account the new, more productive equipment, the main thing is to reduce organizational losses and increase the time of the real production process during the shift. So, for example, in the course of the analysis it turned out that the distance that the part previously "passed" through the plant during the manufacturing process exceeded 3 km. The commissioning of this section alone will halve this distance.

The new site will become the basis for a promising center of specialization for the production of compressor parts and aircraft engine turbines. In the future, it will be used for the manufacture of parts and other aircraft engines of the corporation. “Prior to the commissioning of this section, we successfully coped with the production volumes of AL-31F engines and its modifications, which were assigned to the enterprise, and partially ensured the supply of products, in particular, disks to repair enterprises. With the commissioning of this section, we will no longer be able to partially, but completely cover all the needs of repair plants that are engaged in the restoration of engines of this series. In addition, if necessary, we will be able to provide assistance to other enterprises of the UEC. For example, now we are working to produce compressor discs for the VK-2500 helicopter engine at this site,” - says Alexey Gromov.

The production complex "Salyut" participates in the program "Transformation of the industrial model" of the UEC, which provides for the creation of end-to-end centres of production competence (CPC) for the main standard parts and types of processing. In the future, the CPC will make it possible to optimize the current production and technological activities and ensure effective cooperation in the manufacture of engines and power plants. Centres of production competence are being created at the Salyut production complex and the branches of UEC JSC: "Boxes of drives and assemblies", "Housings, stator assemblies and combustion chamber", "Mono-wheels", "Rotor", "Stator", "Turbine blades" , "Seals", "Graphite", "Tool production".

The very ideology of transforming the industrial model of a corporation is to move from full-cycle factories to a set of centres of specialization that will be managed by the supply chain. Those. in fact, specialization centres will be created, which will become more competent in their field, compact and efficient in terms of organizing production. This reduces costs and increases productivity. That is, in fact, this is a new ideology for building a production system. Such an integrated approach to production management will allow both to improve the quality of products, and to reduce the production cycle by almost a third. And when the site reaches full capacity, it will increase the production of parts by 70%. Moreover, this project is part of the large-scale program "Transformation of the industrial model" of the UEC.

It should be especially noted here that was repeatedly emphasized by our interlocutors: this site is advanced, and this experience, this production organization system will become typical not only for the Salyut production complex, but also for the entire UEC. In other words, a pilot project has been tested here, and the benefits it provides are more than obvious.

And we are moving to other workshops of the enterprise. Department of programmed control machine tools (OSPU). This site is open around the clock, including Saturday and Sunday. The main task of the department is to develop control programs for the entire fleet of machine tools of the Salyut production complex. In fact, this is a pilot production for testing new technologies, software solutions, new tools. Any new product or solution is worked out here on a small number of machines, and then transferred to other workshops. Plus, engineers and machine operators are trained here.

In general, the designers of Salyut are solving a number of promising tasks to improve the design and increase the resource of the AI-222-25 engine. One of the leading scientific and technical projects in the field of digitalization is being implemented at Salyut - the creation of a digital twin of the AI-222-25 aircraft engine, which will confirm and develop the key characteristics of this engine - resource, reliability and maintainability, as well as reduce the cost of its manufacture and service.

AI-222-25 engine

Traditionally, AI-222-25 is one of the main products manufactured by the enterprise. Based on the operating experience of this engine, measures are being developed to improve the design and resource.

“It is very important that the AI-222-25, which is the main engine for training our pilots, is extremely reliable, as easy to use as possible, and we are working in this direction. Now work is underway to improve the design of the hot section, and these are new turbine parts, modernization of the combustion chamber and compressor section. Our goal is to increase engine overhaul life. This direction, so to speak, is design and technological, which is verified by long-term tests of the engine as a whole and special tests of individual parts. These events were carried out by us last year, and will be held this year. We'll get results by the end of the year. For the combustion chamber, special tests on the plant have already been completed. The results obtained gave us data for working out additional measures, and we have already implemented them - the combustion chamber is ready for testing, the turbine units are also almost ready. Now the upgraded units are being tested as part of serial engines, but by the middle of the year all of them will be installed on one technological engine for testing,” - says Aleksey Gromov.

AI-222-25 engine

Of course, while visiting the plant, we could not help but go to the workshop for the final assembly of aircraft engines. There are already ready-made AI-222-25 for the Yak-130 combat training aircraft, for which documentation is currently being drawn up, and then they will be transferred for testing. Previously, these engines were produced in cooperation with the Ukrainian enterprises Motor Sich. Now the "Salyut" has mastered the full production cycle of these engines, together with the Omsk branch, the Voskresensk plant and the "Horizon" enterprise in Dzerzhinsk. In addition, the company is also responsible for ensuring their operation and repair.

Our reference: PC Salyut is a part of United Engine Corporation JSC and works in close cooperation with UEC branches:

•  Research Institute of Technology and Organization of Engine Production (NIID);
• Omsk engine building association named after P.I. Baranov (OMO named after PI Baranov)
• Voskresensk Machine-Building Plant "Salyut" (VMZ "Salyut"),
• Machine-building design bureau "Gorizont" (MKB "Gorizont").

The production complex "Salyut" includes large engine-building design bureaus:

•  Advanced Design Bureau (KBPR),
• Machine-building design bureau "Granit" (MKB "Granit"),
• Experimental modular design bureau "Temp" (OJSCB "Temp").

Head of the production complex "Salut" JSC "UEC" Alexey Nikolaevich Gromov

“We are working with those engines, the material part of which was previously manufactured at the Motor Sich enterprise, - explains Gromov. - For the operator, it is not important who launched the engine, he needs to fly, the planes need to be in service, and this is the most important task. Everything is now provided by us as the successive developer of this engine. Those engines that were produced at the beginning were more expensive both from a financial point of view and from a resource point of view. But we take responsibility and ensure their operation. We will not disregard a single engine”.

“One of the directions that we are currently developing for this product is its modular repair. AI-222-25 has a modular design, which helps us to timely eliminate those shortcomings that appear in its operation, regardless of whether they are structural and production or associated with violation of operating conditions. And now we are expanding work to create a service center. There we will replace the damaged engine modules, which will allow us not to send the entire engine to the factory for repair. This will significantly save time - it will increase the efficiency of equipment restoration, and the life cycle cost will be significantly reduced. The first modules have already been replaced, the experience turned out to be successful, everything was confirmed,” - says Alexey Gromov.

But the main product of the enterprise is still the AL-31F engines and their modifications. We saw this engine both in the final assembly shop and at the test station, where one of the serial such engines was "driven" in different modes.

In addition to serial engines, today Salyut is mastering the production of other units for aircraft created by Rostec - gearboxes and drives for the PD-14 engine for MС-21, drive boxes and gearboxes for the TV7-117-ST engine for IL-114, TV7- 117-CM for the transport Il-112. Now the development of such products for advanced machines is underway, and some have already been mastered. In fact, 80% of the gearboxes manufactured by the corporation should go to the Salut specialization center. That is, all drives for new machines that are being developed and will be developed will be produced here.

“Along with serial products, we are doing a lot of work on the development of new material. This month we have to deliver the first sets of the central drive box for the PD-35 demonstrator. We are also working on the gearbox and central drive for PD-8. That is, all units associated with drives will be manufactured by the Salyut production complex. We traditionally have high competencies in this area - specialists and equipment - and the corporation assigns tasks to enterprises taking into account their strengths. Therefore, it was decided to build a new building for the center of specialization "Boxes of drives and units", taking into account the fact that in the future we will master the production of these products for PD-35, PD-8, TV7-117 of all three modifications, VK-650V and VK- 1600 ", - explains Alexey Gromov.

At the end of the meeting, the head of the enterprise spoke about how the enterprise survived the pandemic and related restrictions. But special and very warm words were spoken to the employees of the enterprise, who, despite the risks, not under duress and not for the sake of a salary, but exclusively rooting for a common cause, came to the plant and did more than was required of them. “The factory workers are a special, time-raised group of people with incredible self-discipline and responsibility. This helped us survive the spring peak of the pandemic…. I am sincerely grateful to our entire team, thanks to which we did not break any of our obligations."

And we just have to note that the planned transformations indicate not only the focus on improving the production performance of the enterprise, but also on the creation of new jobs, and for qualified specialists. Salut is traditionally a major employer in the capital: the company employs over 7 thousand people, of which more than 2 thousand are designers and engineers. Graduates of the Moscow Aviation Institute, Moscow State Technical University named after N.E. Bauman and other leading technical universities of the capital: every fourth employee of the enterprise is a young specialist. To attract personnel, the company operates a targeted recruitment program, within which schoolchildren, students, as well as employees of the enterprise themselves have a unique opportunity to receive free higher education in specialized universities in Moscow with subsequent guaranteed employment at the production complex.