Aviation Equipment Opens the First Distributed Design Centre for Aircraft Components in Russia

On June 2, Rostec’s Aviation Equipment unveiled a specialized design centre in Moscow.

The facility is unique in being the first Russian design engineering centre which allows for the centralized remote management of regional facilities, located at the holding’s main production plants. All enterprises will switch to a single synchronised engineering process, which will reduce design time for new products by 30% and the cost by 150%. The opening ceremony of the design centre was attended by Sergey Chemezov, Rostec’s CEO, Denis Manturov, the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Boris Alyoshin, CEO of Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodymnamic Institute (TsaGI), Mikhail Pogosyan, President of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Yuri Slyusar, Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade, and Maxim Kuzyuk, the CEO of Aviation Equipment. ‘The opening of the first distributed design centre connecting facilities in Moscow to the rest of the country is an important and breakthrough project which is fully in line with the Rosctec’s development strategy,’ said Sergey Chemezov, the CEO of Rostec State Corporation. ‘The expansion of aircraft system design capabilities will enable Aviation Equipment to enter the global market with competitive products which meet the requirements of global aircraft manufacturers.’

‘To make sure our systems meet the standards of new aircraft, regardless of whether it’s a Russian MS-21 or Boeing, we need to become a systems integrator and make complete aircraft systems,’ said Maxim Kuzyuk, the CEO of Aviation Equipment. ‘The introduction of the single IT platform and new engineering methods in our design centres in Samara, Ufa and Saint-Petersburg will bring our developments under the centralized management of the Moscow design centre. This will allow us to switch from the outdated sequential engineering of systems in several different design centres to simultaneous engineering, where our design teams can work together on a product from different locations at the same time. This new approach will improve the quality of the design while reducing the cost two-fold, bringing the products to the market 150% faster.’

The design centre incorporates the best global standards and practices. All product development stages, from 3D modelling to the designing of control software for CNC devices and control of geometric parameters, can be monitored in real time within the common IT framework. The centre is equipped with digital storage systems for all engineering data, e.g. design specifications, engineering calculations, 3D models and process flow documents, as well as tracking all changes in project and executive documentation.

The centre’s headquarters is located in Moscow. A new branch will be opened in Saint-Petersburg in June, with two more branches to follow in the Ufa and Samara design facilities. In the first stage, the centre will employ around 400 design engineers. The target budget for the design centre in 2014 is 770M roubles. By 2017, the budget will be increased to 2.4B roubles.

Aviation Equipment, UAC and TsAGI presented their achievements at the opening ceremony, unveiling technical solutions for the electric wheel drive developed for the undercarriage of short and medium-range aircraft.

In 2013, Aviaagregat, a part of Aviation Equipment, completed work on the e-model of the electric drive, developed a numerical model of the demonstrator aircraft and finalised preliminary calculations and aircraft configuration.

This innovation will be offered for other aircraft in the future, including the MS-21, a new Russian-made passenger plane.