Progress Arsenyev Aviation Company (Arsenyev)

 aircraft manufacturer, aircraft maintenance / repair / inspection

Progress Arsenyev Aviation Company is the largest manufacturer in the Primorye region in Russia’s Far East. The company produces the latest aviation technology for civilian and military purposes — the Ka-52 Alligator combat attack helicopter and lightweight Yak-54 sports aircraft. It is also preparing to produce a new medium Ka-62 helicopter with Ardiden 3G engines manufactured by the French company Turbomeca.

Today, Progress Arsenyev Aviation Company is a powerful and dynamically developing production platform at Russian Helicopters. The face of production is changing, manufacturing operations are being modernised and new plant and equipment is being purchased. Considerable attention is paid to the implementation of lean manufacturing practices at the enterprise. The company is also concerned about staff development and to this end has had its own training centre certified. The factory covers a territory of about 290,000 square meters. As of August 2011, there were approximately 6,000 employees.

As part of the modernisation of production at Progress Arsenyev Aviation Company, up to RUB 6 billion could be invested to re-equip the enterprise by 2015. Innovative production technologies are being developed and introduced as part of the federal target programme «Development of the Military-Industrial Complex for 2010–2020.»

The first phase of the programme to modernise manufacturing operations at Progress Arsenyev Aviation Company will involve technical upgrading of foundry production. The second phase will involve reconstruction and modernisation of composite and mechanical production, the introduction of digital and IT programmes, as well as the implementation of energy-saving programmes at the company.

In 2010, a new casting complex manufactured by the Italian firm IMF was commissioned, and the quality of the castings improved significantly. There are no other such facilities in Russia. Progress Arsenyev Aviation Company receives orders for foundry work fr om other companies in the Russian Helicopters Group, which strengthens cooperation between the group’s plants. The outfitting of the software-driven part-cutting shop with modern equipment has almost been finalised. Equipment has been installed, and commissioning is taking place at the machining centre, which is designed to handle larger basic parts. In the near future, the company plans to install a tubular digester.

A fundamentally new direction is being taken at the company, which involves a single information field wh ere the status of parts can be monitored online at any stage of production. The company has introduced a modern system of quality management