Autumn Marathon: Kazan rotor wing

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At first, indistinct, almost weightless, he forced to open his eyes.

At first, I thought I was hallucinating. The next day on the road from Nizhny Novgorod to Kazan, "indulged" with just two hours of sleep-half-life, was left behind. The body quietly rebelled, demanding the rest due. His protest was expressed in passive and therefore insidious sabotage, when, during moments of waiting or calm, something was switched inside and the brain was suddenly de-energized, like a car with a discharged battery.

And this noise. He forced me to open my eyes and remember that I was standing on the edge of the forest, practically in the bush, and I was waiting. I look forward to returning from the test flight of a rotorcraft, with a roar screwed into the dank and bluff sky an hour earlier. Nearby he was telling something funny and Sergey aviator_ru laughed, and Marina fotografersha studied the puddles with an appraising glance. I saw about such a view of taxi drivers, patrolling in front of the airport arrival zone ... Yes, of any capital airport. She, Marina, has her own piercing love for these pools ...

And the noise grew stronger, with every second becoming ever more clearly growing into a chatter. Another moment - and a blurry shadow jumped out from behind the mist and trees, rapidly increasing in size and acquiring the outlines of a helicopter.

A bright beacon on a background of gray haze, clicks of camera shutters ... The dream is gone. And around was Kazan. Kazan rotary wing!

Autumn Marathon: Kazan rotor wing



01. Kazan Helicopter Plant, part of the Russian Helicopters holding, is now located in the city. Probably 70 years ago, when the Leningrad aviation plant number 387, later evacuated to Kazan and merged with the factory of convoy parts No. 169, there was a dense outskirts. Perhaps even a dense forest. But now residential quarters are getting closer and closer.
The Po-2 biplanes were built here; every tenth combat aircraft produced by the aviation industry of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War was assembled here.
And the first Mi-1 helicopter left the KVZ workshops more than 60 years ago - in the 1961 year. The first of more than twelve thousand ...



02. Walk through the shops, which I waited, did not work. It turned out a real immersion in the fascinating world of technology, incredible in its beauty.
Metal shavings wind around ... Probably, like this, floristics fans, sitting in a greenhouse, are watching a rare flower bloom. Bees are buzzing. Buzzing machines ... Why are there buzzing! These machines also drive on rails!



03. The chief of the machining production, Kalyupa Igor Nikolaevich, turned out to be an amazing guide. He talked about production with such fervor, with such gleam in his eyes, that I was afraid to miss at least one word. And this is taking into account the fact that, until now, for some reason I was firmly convinced that I was exclusively interested in airplanes ...



04. Kalyup Igor Nikolaevich:
- The reorganization of the helicopter plant was conceived by us at the end of 90-x. What were the main tasks and problems needed to be solved?
Update outdated fleet of machines. To maintain the existing production in working condition the funds required colossal.
Staff. At the beginning of the century, the system of vocational technical education was destroyed. It was full of accountants, managers and lawyers, but try to find qualified turners and millers ...
Dropped the number of orders from domestic consumers of our products. In the dashing 90, the plant survived by selling helicopters for export.



05. When I came here in the 1987 year, the KVZ was made by helicopter per day. 220 working days are 220 machines. But then the fall began and, when we reached the "bottom", the plant produced about 33 machines a year. The number of personnel with 12.000 people who worked at the end of 80-s declined almost 2 times. And the average age of turners and millers reached 55 years!
That was our background at the start of the reorganization. There were no people and there was a mass of outdated equipment. It is difficult to believe in this, but in terms of personnel, we almost didn’t grow in number after passing the low point. Now about 7.000 people work at the plant. At the same time at the moment you are not releasing 30, but about 110 helicopters per year. This became possible only due to the implementation of the first stage of the reorganization of the machining production.



06. 49 machining centers were purchased. We have chosen products of the Japanese company Mazak. The reorganization began with the localization of individual sections. However, we quickly came to the conclusion that our plans should be adjusted and not be limited to “pinpoint” improvements. Thus, we have begun to reorganize the entire production complex as a whole. The action plan was developed by themselves.



07. I must say that when choosing a supplier of production lines, we compared different manufacturers: from Germany, Italy, and Japan. But the technologies proposed by the “Land of the Rising Sun” fit in well with our strategy. These are amazing machines!



08. We are in the shop turning directions. This does not mean that no milling is performed here. It is also present, but in smaller volumes.
This machine has a robotic "hand". The operator simply oversees the process. When optimizing, the main task is to remove as much of the product from one square meter as possible, reducing the production time of one part and, accordingly, increasing the number of parts produced.

This part was previously made in 18 hours. Now we spend already 12 hours. She goes to the swashplate of the new Ansat helicopter. Difficult enough, worth noting. Previously, a very large percentage was a marriage. Why? Partially, the production took place on one machine, then another was involved. Now the entire turning part, milling, drilling are carried out in one cycle. And there are a lot of such details. On average, after the introduction of new equipment, labor productivity increased by 4 times.



09. An important nuance. If earlier in these workshops it was impossible to pass without stumbling several times about the tooling, now you will not see the tooling. We are completely gone from stamping production. Instead of stamping, parts are made of duralumin blanks.



10. From the 4-kilogram blank, an elegant 200-gram detail is obtained. It may seem to someone that the utilization of the material is too small. But you should pay attention to something else. Previously, to get a stamped billet, you had to purchase material, send it to the factory. It was necessary to produce stamps. It was necessary to contain a rather big staff. And now the whole link is excluded from the technological cycle. It saves a lot of time and money. And shavings ... Chips are not sent to landfill, it goes into action again. This, by the way, is nothing more than shavings! But we'll talk about it a little later.



11. By the way, when we carried out reforms, no matter how strange it seemed, we began with toilets. Production culture cannot be separated from general culture and even hygiene.
Each worker has three sets of workwear. One is used, one is clean — hangs in the locker, and another is in the wash, after which it returns clean to the master’s locker. What efforts to maintain the purity of their workwear should make its owner? He should not forget to timely put a dirty kit in a special bin. Everything!

Directly in the workshop posted service chief technologist. Previously, technologists were somewhere in distant buildings and we often only knew that they basically were ... In case of any questions, you had to call and wait for the arrival of specialists. Now they are near. Here is the department of mechanical processing, the department of writing programs. All the programs we write ourselves.

The next in the excursion program was workshop №43. Shop milling direction. 3- and 5-coordinate milling machines process, for example, such blanks.



12. The Integrex 1550 model and two Wortex 815 replaced three lines of 8 machines - in the sum of 24 machines, which were previously processed by the power elements of the helicopter design - frames.



13. The hub of the vibration damper. A vibration absorber is an option, not every customer buys it. But for passenger transport, where comfort is important, it is indispensable. If earlier on the manufacture of this hub took 136 hours, now just 18.



14. Here is the power element for the MI-38 helicopter, which is currently being tested. Previously, a billet weighing about 2 tons was used for the production of this element. Weighing the finished part of the order of 100 kilogram. Imagine how much material went into chips?



15. This line is a MAKAK 4 machine. Each machine is equipped with 120 tools. You can observe the railway and the two-tier system from the 56 pallet, two loading stations for blanks.
Such lines of all 4 in Russia. We are now working to ensure that this line worked fully automatically. There are a number of organizational issues that we solve to achieve this goal.



16. The designer, technologists and quality control service are located here in the workshop.



17. By the way, practice has shown that we do not always have enough 120 shop tools. Therefore, a shop center is installed next to these machines for 240 tool units. When a part is processed by a program and the computer determines that one of the cutters has exhausted the assigned resource, the running carriage replaces the cutter or drill.
In the future, an assessment of the condition of the instrument is made, and a part of it after re-processing goes to other types of production. Why not use it here? After the re-tooling, the tool changes the properties and we came to the conclusion that it is easier for us to use the new tool than to make changes to the software, which is required when using the tool with an extended resource.



18. Chip tool When you need to know history any drill, the adjuster in a few seconds receives all the necessary information, ranging from the angle of the sharpening and ending with the date of production. One shop with a tool (cutters, drills) releases approximately 250 square. m. workshop area, which occupied the same set of tools when using the old technology.
When a tool is consumed, a file is automatically generated that goes to the supply department and the manufacturing company. The program has a fixed balance and the supply department buys a new instrument on time.



19. The observer and, in combination, the night guard. Rats and mice are not threatened by machines! :)



20. Pay attention to these flat details. They are produced on the machine, which is usually used in woodworking. We saw him at one of the international exhibitions and realized that we can use this unit for our purposes. In the cockpit of a helicopter a large number of different consoles and panels. We wrote our program on a mathematical model created by designers. To start the process, the operator simply select the part number and click on the "start" button.



21. Shavings! Earlier, before the reorganization, we sent the loaded KamAZ with chips every day. Now productivity has increased 4 times, respectively, the waste has become 4 times more.
Every 28 seconds, a briquette of duralumin chips falls out and every 32 seconds a briquette of steel chips. The cost of briquette on the market is about 5 times more than non-pressed chips of the same mass. Thus, we save on transportation costs - we don’t take air out of the factory, and we earn more. These briquettes are melted down and used in other types of industry.



22. The hub of the vibration damper, the workpiece of which we saw at the beginning of the excursion, is already assembled.



23. Ready frames.



24. In the DSP (final assembly shop), the information relay was picked up by the marketing and sales director of the Kazan helicopter plant Valery Alexandrovich Pashko ...
At the Kazan Helicopter Plant produce rotary-wing machines, both civilian and military. The customer has the ability, in the literal sense of the word, to “assemble” his helicopter by selecting from the extensive list of options those that he really needs.



25. This concerns, among other things, the equipment of the cockpit.
Of course, it is very convenient when the crew’s workplace is an ultra-modern “glass” cockpit. But, often, a cabin with “alarm clocks” (classic analog instruments) looks preferable. Especially in cases when the equipment is operated in extreme conditions: heat or, on the contrary, the extreme North.
“Digital Cabin” has built-in control in its assets. Often, if an incorrect operation, damage or failure of any system, the departure becomes simply impossible. But there are cases (especially for military equipment) when you need to take off at any cost. The “digital cab” also requires more time to prepare for departure. This is usually at least 10 minutes (gyroscopes spin up, and so on). An “analog” cabin allows you to lift the car into the air 5 times faster.
Each of the equipment options has both advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the choice is made based on the goals that will be set for the crew and the conditions in which the helicopter will be operated.



26. The experience that has been gained over many years of production of rotary-winged machines, at the Kazan Helicopter Plant, is investing in the development of new technology. For example, in Ansat - a light multipurpose helicopter. The Ansat helicopter program is actively developing in two directions: military and civil. Training helicopter "Ansat-U" is purchased by the Ministry of Defense of Russia for flight schools and combat training centers and is supplied serially. With the help of quick-detachable equipment, the Ansat universal helicopter can be quickly re-equipped to perform a wide range of tasks: cargo delivery, passenger transportation, search and rescue operations, patrolling, fire fighting, emergency medical assistance.



27. As part of the program of the holding company “Helicopters of Russia” to create a medium multipurpose helicopter Mi-38, the plant is responsible for building prototype helicopters and organizing its mass production.



28. The blades of the helicopter can be both metal and composite.
These blades are mounted on Mi-17 helicopters (5 units) and Mi-38 (6 units). The use of a kopozitnoy blade on the Mi-17 gives an increase in lifting force on 500 kg. The modern aerodynamic profile of the blade can significantly improve the characteristics of the helicopter.

But the weight of the metal and composite blades practically does not differ from each other. The fact is that the blades should not be too light. Weight characteristics should correspond to the optimal values ​​calculated by the designers. A too light blade will not be able to get into autorotation mode. But the resource of the composite blade is practically 2,5 times higher than that of a metal one.



29. A modern helicopter is no longer a product entirely produced in one country. Often, the customer chooses the chairs from Germany, the emergency escape system made in France, the on-board radar from the USA ...



30. Moreover, the helicopter, in fact, is a piece product. Each machine is assembled for a specific customer and is manufactured in the period from 9 to 12 months. Why such a time scatter? All have different requirements for equipment and equipment.



31. For example, someone may require the installation of cutters to a helicopter just cut them when they collide with power lines, and did not fall to the ground. They are manufactured in Canada and delivered within 6 months. This device is patented by a Canadian manufacturer.



32. Production fascinates and hypnotizes. It seems you can stay here for days, just watching the amazing process of the birth of helicopters ...
This is the Kazan Helicopter Plant. A place where the historical past merges with the present and flows smoothly into the future. The place where the course of time is whimsically twisting, revealing to the gaze romantic landscapes that have become the standards of aviation aesthetics ...

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23 comments
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  1. +11
    22 October 2013 08: 00
    Interesting and most importantly substantial and voluminous material with photographs about the Kazan plant, it seems that he himself visited the plant as a tourist. good
    Mutually present videos on the topic.



    The main thing would be more such materials.
    1. +8
      22 October 2013 08: 38
      The soul rejoices looking at such reports. Upset one thing - our machine tool industry seems to have gone to the bottom. Not a single report on the re-equipment of factories mentions our machines. Perhaps, along with ready-made machine tools, it is worth negotiating the purchase of a "plant of factories" in order to make machines within the country at least under a license?
      1. +5
        22 October 2013 09: 09
        Today, machines are very expensive and difficult to manufacture. Moreover, not a single country in the world, even the United States, produces all types of machine tools, but prefers to purchase a number of products on foreign markets (from Europe to the PRC, it does not purchase only in the DPRK for obvious reasons, and by the way, they produce good lines there).
      2. +3
        22 October 2013 09: 44
        I agree! Thank! About the machines. This is a common practice, we are still not in a vacuum, and it is necessary to use the achievements of other countries. And by the way, the indicator is that for 50 years we have been looking at Japan and Germany equipment more and more, however ... However, a sight for sore eyes, we can only dream ... We have the newest equipment (chemical industry) - these are Japanese lines from the beginning of 80's. ..
      3. +1
        22 October 2013 15: 51
        Quote: Greyfox
        The soul rejoices looking at such reports. Upset one-our machine tool seems


        The author wrote a review with great love. Thank. Very informative.
  2. avt
    +5
    22 October 2013 09: 38
    good It was nice to see. Thanks +
  3. +13
    22 October 2013 09: 39
    Observer and, concurrently, night guard. Rats and mice do not threaten machine tools! :)


    Tortured what, apparently there is a lot of work, well, is it really impossible to expand the "staff" ...?
    1. +4
      22 October 2013 12: 08
      Cats from factories will certainly not be afraid of a vacuum cleaner laughing
    2. +4
      22 October 2013 15: 50
      Quote: svp67
      Observer and, concurrently, night guard. Rats and mice do not threaten machine tools! :)


      Tortured what, apparently there is a lot of work, well, is it really impossible to expand the "staff" ...?


      Run all night for the rats ... and in the morning also a kitty ... you will not have such a look. : D

      Pomme is not quite an adult, but promising ...
  4. avt
    +6
    22 October 2013 11: 21
    Quote: svp67
    Tortured what, apparently there is a lot of work, well, is it really impossible to expand the "staff" ...?

    After a night shift, they don’t get enough sleep, laughing machine tools include.
    1. +2
      22 October 2013 11: 45
      Quote: avt
      After a night shift, they do not get enough sleep, the machines turn on.

      That is, there are NO conditions where only the trade union looks ... or "animal advocates"
      1. +1
        22 October 2013 12: 10
        Quote: svp67
        That is, there are NO conditions where only the trade union looks ... or "animal advocates"

        svp67why give Greenpeace an occasion to raid the factory .... smile
        1. +2
          22 October 2013 13: 08
          Quote: Russ69
          why give Greenpeace a reason to raid the factory.

          After the "flight" on the oil platform "Greenpies" in Russia and "you can't lure with a roll ..."
          Kittens even give milk "for harm"?
  5. 0
    22 October 2013 12: 12
    Quote: smirnov
    Cats from factories will certainly not be afraid of a vacuum cleaner

    At my place, one cat hearing a vacuum cleaner, pokes as far as possible. And the other, on the contrary, is watching intently ... smile
    1. +3
      22 October 2013 13: 12
      Quote: Russ69
      cat hearing a vacuum cleaner
    2. +3
      22 October 2013 13: 13
      Quote: Russ69
      the other on the contrary is watching ...
  6. +1
    22 October 2013 14: 17
    Well done factory workers! And the helicopters are good! Do not slow down!
    Good luck!
  7. malikszh
    0
    22 October 2013 15: 13
    good old MiG-8 well done, is it possible to change the form or is this the best option?
    1. Alex 241
      +2
      22 October 2013 22: 07
      Quote: malikszh
      MiG-8
      ???????
      Quote: malikszh
      this is the best variant?
      This is the best option.
      1. malikszh
        0
        23 October 2013 06: 55
        I will apologize for the Mi-8, but this is the best option, but the photo is the first old form
  8. +1
    22 October 2013 21: 59
    Very pleased with the photo with modern machining centers, not all rivet on the knee.
  9. +1
    22 October 2013 22: 04
    Interesting stuff. To author +
  10. arcman
    +1
    25 October 2013 10: 39
    Just a masterpiece!
    1) "On average, after the introduction of new equipment, labor productivity increased by 4 times."
    2) 1987 - the number of employees is 12000 people, they made 220 helicopters a year.
    Now 7000 and 110 helicopters per year.

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