Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education, discussed the prospects of cooperation between INRTU and Irkutsk Aviation Plant
During a working visit to Irkutsk, Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov visited the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, a branch of Irkut Corporation. The tour to the workshops of the enterprise was conducted by was Alexander Veprev, General Director, Chairman of the Union of Mechanical Engineers of Russia, Irkutsk Regional Dept.
The Minister inspected the assembling line of the MC-21 aircraft, and also visited the workshop of the final assembly.
The meeting was focused on the cooperation between INRTU and the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, including increasing the volume of applied R&D and personnel training for Irkut Corporation.
At present, the company is launching mass production of the MC-21. In 2021, the Irkut Corporation completed the manufacture of a batch of prototype aircrafts. It is planned to increase the rate of production, by 2027 the manufacture is to be 36 aircrafts per year.
Due to the coming increase of production the general director of the plant Alexander Veprev gave INRTU a set of tasks to optimize the processes in the field of high-performance machining of parts, in particular by increasing the durability of cutting tools of own production, sheet stamping, logistics operations and the rhythm of the MC-21 aircraft assembly.
He paid special attention to increasing labor productivity and moving from manual finishing work in the production of aircraft parts to full automation.
The university's readiness to strengthen this direction was confirmed by Mikhail Korniakov, Rector of INTRU.
“The University has a serious technological, human, intellectual potential, formed as a result of long-term cooperation with the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, which will be aimed at the creation of applied aircraft engineering in the interest of IAP,” – emphasized Rector Korniakov.During the discussion, the need was noted for developing the material and technical base of the university to bring it as closer as possible to the level of modern machine-building production.
It is worth mentioning, in 2022-2023 the employees of the INRTU School of Aircraft Construction, Mechanical Engineering and Transport performed R&D for the Irkutsk Aviation Plant on the development of a combined ‘correction and hardening’ technology for low-rigid large-size parts; modernization of the vacuum welding and soldering machine for titanium alloys; also produced the import-substituting polymer lining plates for Eckold kraftformers for sheet parts. At present, INRTU and IAP have joint intellectual property comprising 30 patents and certificates.
To improve the training quality of future aircraft builders, IAP repaired and equipped two training laboratories - Laboratory of Assembly Works and Laboratory of Engineering, investing 7 million rubles for these purposes.
In the near future, the plant will create about 500 new jobs. Today IAP offers INRTU graduates a special motivational package, which includes a salary of over 50,000 rubles and social support measures.
Recall that more than a quarter of the employees of the aviation plant are the graduates of the Irkutsk technical university. Over the past five years, 530 INRTU graduates have joined the engineering staff of the plant.
Currently, INRTU trains 134 Irkutsk Aviation Plant target students, 35 of them majoring in Aircraft and Helicopter Engineering under the Wings of Rostech targeted training program. The industrial partners of the program are United Aircraft Corporation, United Engine Corporation, Helicopters of Russia, Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies, Technodinamika Holding. The education lasts for 5.5 years. The program is financed by Irkutsk Aviation Plant.
Photos of Arseny Chekmariov
