Electronics mishaps
Management of the industry is lost, funds are being sprayed, brains are leaking
A meeting of the radio-electronic industry section of the Expert Council on legislative support of the military-industrial complex and military-technical cooperation was held at the Federation Council. The issue of support for domestic electronics manufacturers was discussed.
The long-standing prayer of the industry’s defenders has finally been heard, but not in Russia, but on both sides of the Atlantic. EU states and the United States adopted sanctions that resulted in retaliation - import substitution. This is a lifeline for domestic electronics. It involves a set of measures to protect the Russian manufacturer, which the experts have been saying for many years. But can our electronics in two or three years rise to the level of if not full import substitution, then at least partial, that is, allowing the Russian defense industry to not depend on foreign arbitrariness?
Rehabilitation of the Ministry
First of all, it is worth analyzing two attempts to revive the electronic industry in Russia. In the late nineties, Nobel Prize winner Zhores Alferov tried to build a new foundation for the industry - a microprocessor manufacturing plant in Shuvalov, near St. Petersburg. German academic partners agreed to invest in the construction of about a billion dollars. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko also promised to invest in the plant decent money. It was assumed that the reimbursement of costs to investors will be the supply of electronic products. The project promised to have a good multiplicative effect. In addition to creating the basis for the transfer of the economy, in particular the defense industry complex, to the innovative path of development, it was planned that the plant would become a training and production base for students and graduates of the St. Petersburg Physicotechnical Institute. Ioffe This made it possible to stop the brain drain abroad and into the non-production sphere in Russia. The matter remained for small - to receive state guarantees for investments. But they were not given. Some experts believe that this was the result of the lobbying efforts of Sistema, which has large assets in the electronics industry in Zelenograd. Indeed, why build an electronics center near St. Petersburg, if one already exists near Moscow. Such a logic would be fair for a socialist economy. But in modern conditions the Germans wanted to deal only with Zhores Alferov. As a result, the industry freed from ministerial trusteeship stumbled over vaunted competition, and the state lost the opportunity to insure itself against sectoral sanctions that collapsed against it in 2014. By the way, Zhores Alferov repeatedly warned the country's leadership about the likelihood of such a development.
The second significant attempt to revive the industry is associated with the adoption of the Federal Target Program “Development of the electronic component base and radio electronics for 2008 – 2015 years”. Roskosmos, the Ministry of Education and Science, FSTEC and Rosatom are part of the state customers of the program.
The main conclusion of the auditors of the Accounts Chamber who checked last year, as carried out by the Federal Target Program, is that its implementation in terms of the production of the electronic component base allowed for a revival of production. “The values of the target indicator and indicators of the implementation of the program’s measures, set up for 2010 – 2012 years, have been largely achieved,” said Sergey Agaptsov, reporting on the results of the audit. He explained that the technological level of 2010 nanometers electronics was mastered in 130, and 2011 nanometers in 90. It is assumed that by the year 2015 45 nanometers will be conquered. At the same time, it was noted in the verification materials that the reduction in the gap with world centers, which was 2005 – 18 years in 20, is unacceptably slow.
According to Sergey Agaptsov, the volume of federal budget funds allocated for capital investments for a large number of facilities, which are planned for reconstruction and technical re-equipment, does not allow to replace obsolete equipment with a high degree of wear with modern ones. “In accordance with the program in 2010 – 2012, 114 billion rubles were planned for the reconstruction and technical re-equipment of 15 facilities at the expense of the federal budget. At the same time, the minimum amount of capital investments in a specified period per object is 10 million rubles, and the maximum - 730 million rubles, which on average gives about 130 million rubles, ”Agaptsov said. Thus, as in the case of the first attempt to revive the industry, the main obstacle was the loss of control. “The results of the control measures show the imbalance of the system of planning and coordination of work performed, as well as deficiencies in the project management program. All this creates the risk of failing to achieve the final results, ”concludes the auditor of the Accounts Chamber.
Already in 2011, it was clear that the Federal Target Program “Development of the electronic component base and radio electronics on 2008 – 2015 years” was doomed to failure because of the competitiveness principle that was absurd. This prompted Valery Yazev, then the deputy chairman of the State Duma, to hold parliamentary hearings on the theme “On legislative support of the development of the electronic industry”. In particular, he drew the attention of the government to the fact that about 2500 organizations are engaged in the development and production of electronics in Russia. But the products of many of them are simply unable to compete with foreign counterparts. “The main signs of the decline of domestic electronics are obvious: the production activities of most enterprises in the electronics industry are small-scale and focused on“ niche ”segments of the domestic market. Even in newly developed domestic models of weapons, military and special equipment, up to 70 percent of electronic components are foreign, ”said Valery Yazev.
Gulyaypole, into which the industry has turned, left Russian companies without resource and raw material supplies. The market for the extraction and processing of rare earth metals (REM) is actually monopolized by China with its well-structured management system. Prices for rare-earth metals for the Russian electrical industry have recently increased many times over. “It’s not to say that the industry is completely deprived of the state’s attention,” the vice speaker emphasized. - 2008 billion rubles were allocated for the development of electronic component base and radio electronics for 2015 – 187 (including 110 billion rubles from the federal budget). Electronic industry organizations are involved in the implementation of the federal target programs Global Navigation System, Development of Television and Radio Broadcasting in the Russian Federation, etc. However, cash infusions are unable to change the structure of the industry and cope with its main problems.
Management optimization proposals have been under discussion for a decade. The need to recreate the Ministry of Electronic Industry is obvious. But the discussion that unfolded at the Expert Council meeting showed that the competition between departments and large structures for the opportunity to steer the industry and straddle budgetary flows is not over. Arseny Brykin, Deputy General Director of Ruselectronics, on strategic planning and implementation of state programs, tried to resolve the issue at least a decade ago. “We consider it right to define a single body that will coordinate and lead the management process in terms of the state redistribution of resources. This should be the Ministry of Industry and Trade with full authority to this effect, including the development of an electronic component base, ”Brykin said. At the same time, he had to express one more, in general, an obvious idea: the head institute of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the electronic component base - FSUE “MNIIRIP” should develop a program for its creation, linking it with the necessary technologies and materials.
But as it turned out, even at the Expert Council there is no consensus on the determination of the governing body. Thus, the executive secretary of the radio-electronic industry section, professor of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, Svetlana Boshno, suggested lowering the level of decision-making in the field of industry management.
The logic is as follows. The government is a very busy body. It may be limited to a list with specific component names. Manufacturers are guided by such legal acts as government regulations, instructions and rules. These documents are issued by different departments. Svetlana Boshno proposed to write down in a number of norms that decisions are made not by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, but by a federal executive authority authorized by the government.
How much more time will it take for the electronics to find the steering wheel and sail? The answer to this question for most professionals is obvious. Best of all, he was formulated by the economist Mikhail Delyagin: during Soviet times, models for eliminating devastation were invented and tested. They are waiting for their application.
Plus status
The import substitution program cannot be executed without determining the status of the domestic manufacturer of electronic products. It is necessary for two reasons - for obtaining loans and for preferences when participating in competitions. Pavel Kutsko, Deputy Director of the Radioelectronic Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, says that the issue is under consideration. The official has high hopes for a series of consultations that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev plans to conduct with specialists at the Zelenograd “Micron”. A wide range of issues on the development of mechanisms to support domestic producers will be considered. “The possibility of separating the production of microcircuits in a special economic zone and specific preferences to ensure that the domestic market is filled with domestic products is being considered. First of all, we are talking about universal electronic cards, passport, visa and transport documents, ”explained Pavel Kutsko. The representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that import substitution should not be complete and efforts should be focused on creating the minimum required component base range, which will allow to design and create any class of electronic equipment. “Based on the fact that in the next two to three years, the industry will be given the task of ensuring import substitution, a number of proposals have been put forward for additional funding for these works. It may be necessary to accelerate the introduction of the opportunities that are inherent in the existing programs to increase funding in 2015 – 2017, ”says Pavel Kutsko. Great hopes are pinned on the upcoming government decree. The document entitled “The procedure for selecting, evaluating and subsidizing research and production tools” must be approved by the end of the year. It is also planned to form five subprograms in the civilian sector of the radio-electronic industry.
Ministry of Defense Armaments Department Assistant Vladimir Orlov notes that there is no need to take overlapping documents: “There is a remarkable government decree of the Russian Federation No. 813 from December 26 2006 of the year“ On Additional Requirements for Participants to Place Orders for Defense and Country Security ” There you need to enter the norm that preference is given to enterprises that have the status of a domestic manufacturer. ” However, the question arises: who will assign such a status? “This problem is already 15 years old. Various documents were accepted, but the matter stands still. There are Roskosmos, Rosatom and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Each has its own sector, its own requirements, and there is no universal tool for determining status, ”states Vladimir Orlov. You can, of course, be limited to enterprises of strategic importance. But what then to do, for example, with small and medium business? Its enterprises are not under the jurisdiction of departments and ministries, they have practically no chance of winning contests.
At the Russia Calling Forum, German Gref said that the idea of import substitution was inadequate, as if he had forgotten that, having led the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade for five years, he had done a lot to turn domestic electronics into bedding for imports. In Russia, it was not possible to build a single enterprise of such magnitude as proposed by Zhores Alferov. Note that the Nobel laureate was trying to realize his idea at the very time when German Gref reigned in economic development and trade. Unlike the ex-minister, blinkered by market ideologems, his German colleagues understood that what matters is not what and how, but who. It is unlikely that Zhores Alferov, heading the project in Shuvalov, would have allowed it to spend funds so inefficiently, as this, according to Gref, is being done in the federal program.
Hostages of contests and staff shortages
According to Evgeny Serebrennikov, First Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Federation Committee on Defense and Security, the proposal to give a preference to manufacturers of domestic equipment is generally correct. But there are practical problems. We are talking about regional programs, such as, for example, “Smart and Safe City”. As a rule, for tenders of this level are not exposed to individual elements of the equipment, and integrated integrated solutions, consisting of products of different nomenclature and complexity. And it may happen that, conditionally, the 100 denominations in the lot will be 10 domestic, and 20 or 40 - foreign. “How preferences will work in this design is a big question. And it is unlikely that anyone will refrain from circumventing this preference and pushing through equipment that goes without domestic counterparts, ”says Yevgeny Serebrennikov.
But the main problem of the industry remains training. In all forums devoted to the problems of the development of the defense industry, it is proposed to attract young specialists to enterprises as an alternative to serving in the army. But at the Expert Council meeting it turned out that our best universities prepare specialists not for the domestic defense industry, but for competitors abroad.
Arseny Brykin, Deputy General Director of Ruselectronics, on strategic development and implementation of state programs, believes that even if enterprises manage to deliver imported equipment in some sophisticated way and mount it with the help of foreign experts, there will still be a big problem for its effective use. Most of the domestic electronics engineers were trained in the Soviet period, and they are unable to work with a completely different type of equipment. For young people, this is also a problem, because such equipment did not exist in university laboratories, or it only recently appeared.
“At one of the meetings, I told the head of the Ministry of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov that the idea of achieving the entry of 15 universities in Russia into the best hundred of the world’s is good, but it turns out that graduates of regional institutes work at defense companies. Moscow and St. Petersburg mainly train employees for our foreign competitors. It remains for us to be content with the fact that the children do not complete their education in a systematic way, but through some form of post-graduate education on super-modern equipment that can break if they are not handled properly, ”Arseny Brykin complains. According to him, the planning system, according to which young people come to budget places in order to return to the industry, is stalled. Basic educational standards do not at all take into account the needs of enterprises, which need not a separate group of specialties, but a wide range of professionals. “If we do not make changes to the legislation, this mess will go on and on.” “Brains” will continue to leak, and we will fill our enterprises with mediocrity, ”summarizes Arseny Brykin.
A meeting of the radio-electronic industry section of the Expert Council on legislative support of the military-industrial complex and military-technical cooperation was held at the Federation Council. The issue of support for domestic electronics manufacturers was discussed.
The long-standing prayer of the industry’s defenders has finally been heard, but not in Russia, but on both sides of the Atlantic. EU states and the United States adopted sanctions that resulted in retaliation - import substitution. This is a lifeline for domestic electronics. It involves a set of measures to protect the Russian manufacturer, which the experts have been saying for many years. But can our electronics in two or three years rise to the level of if not full import substitution, then at least partial, that is, allowing the Russian defense industry to not depend on foreign arbitrariness?
Rehabilitation of the Ministry
First of all, it is worth analyzing two attempts to revive the electronic industry in Russia. In the late nineties, Nobel Prize winner Zhores Alferov tried to build a new foundation for the industry - a microprocessor manufacturing plant in Shuvalov, near St. Petersburg. German academic partners agreed to invest in the construction of about a billion dollars. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko also promised to invest in the plant decent money. It was assumed that the reimbursement of costs to investors will be the supply of electronic products. The project promised to have a good multiplicative effect. In addition to creating the basis for the transfer of the economy, in particular the defense industry complex, to the innovative path of development, it was planned that the plant would become a training and production base for students and graduates of the St. Petersburg Physicotechnical Institute. Ioffe This made it possible to stop the brain drain abroad and into the non-production sphere in Russia. The matter remained for small - to receive state guarantees for investments. But they were not given. Some experts believe that this was the result of the lobbying efforts of Sistema, which has large assets in the electronics industry in Zelenograd. Indeed, why build an electronics center near St. Petersburg, if one already exists near Moscow. Such a logic would be fair for a socialist economy. But in modern conditions the Germans wanted to deal only with Zhores Alferov. As a result, the industry freed from ministerial trusteeship stumbled over vaunted competition, and the state lost the opportunity to insure itself against sectoral sanctions that collapsed against it in 2014. By the way, Zhores Alferov repeatedly warned the country's leadership about the likelihood of such a development.
The second significant attempt to revive the industry is associated with the adoption of the Federal Target Program “Development of the electronic component base and radio electronics for 2008 – 2015 years”. Roskosmos, the Ministry of Education and Science, FSTEC and Rosatom are part of the state customers of the program.
The main conclusion of the auditors of the Accounts Chamber who checked last year, as carried out by the Federal Target Program, is that its implementation in terms of the production of the electronic component base allowed for a revival of production. “The values of the target indicator and indicators of the implementation of the program’s measures, set up for 2010 – 2012 years, have been largely achieved,” said Sergey Agaptsov, reporting on the results of the audit. He explained that the technological level of 2010 nanometers electronics was mastered in 130, and 2011 nanometers in 90. It is assumed that by the year 2015 45 nanometers will be conquered. At the same time, it was noted in the verification materials that the reduction in the gap with world centers, which was 2005 – 18 years in 20, is unacceptably slow.
According to Sergey Agaptsov, the volume of federal budget funds allocated for capital investments for a large number of facilities, which are planned for reconstruction and technical re-equipment, does not allow to replace obsolete equipment with a high degree of wear with modern ones. “In accordance with the program in 2010 – 2012, 114 billion rubles were planned for the reconstruction and technical re-equipment of 15 facilities at the expense of the federal budget. At the same time, the minimum amount of capital investments in a specified period per object is 10 million rubles, and the maximum - 730 million rubles, which on average gives about 130 million rubles, ”Agaptsov said. Thus, as in the case of the first attempt to revive the industry, the main obstacle was the loss of control. “The results of the control measures show the imbalance of the system of planning and coordination of work performed, as well as deficiencies in the project management program. All this creates the risk of failing to achieve the final results, ”concludes the auditor of the Accounts Chamber.
Already in 2011, it was clear that the Federal Target Program “Development of the electronic component base and radio electronics on 2008 – 2015 years” was doomed to failure because of the competitiveness principle that was absurd. This prompted Valery Yazev, then the deputy chairman of the State Duma, to hold parliamentary hearings on the theme “On legislative support of the development of the electronic industry”. In particular, he drew the attention of the government to the fact that about 2500 organizations are engaged in the development and production of electronics in Russia. But the products of many of them are simply unable to compete with foreign counterparts. “The main signs of the decline of domestic electronics are obvious: the production activities of most enterprises in the electronics industry are small-scale and focused on“ niche ”segments of the domestic market. Even in newly developed domestic models of weapons, military and special equipment, up to 70 percent of electronic components are foreign, ”said Valery Yazev.Gulyaypole, into which the industry has turned, left Russian companies without resource and raw material supplies. The market for the extraction and processing of rare earth metals (REM) is actually monopolized by China with its well-structured management system. Prices for rare-earth metals for the Russian electrical industry have recently increased many times over. “It’s not to say that the industry is completely deprived of the state’s attention,” the vice speaker emphasized. - 2008 billion rubles were allocated for the development of electronic component base and radio electronics for 2015 – 187 (including 110 billion rubles from the federal budget). Electronic industry organizations are involved in the implementation of the federal target programs Global Navigation System, Development of Television and Radio Broadcasting in the Russian Federation, etc. However, cash infusions are unable to change the structure of the industry and cope with its main problems.
Management optimization proposals have been under discussion for a decade. The need to recreate the Ministry of Electronic Industry is obvious. But the discussion that unfolded at the Expert Council meeting showed that the competition between departments and large structures for the opportunity to steer the industry and straddle budgetary flows is not over. Arseny Brykin, Deputy General Director of Ruselectronics, on strategic planning and implementation of state programs, tried to resolve the issue at least a decade ago. “We consider it right to define a single body that will coordinate and lead the management process in terms of the state redistribution of resources. This should be the Ministry of Industry and Trade with full authority to this effect, including the development of an electronic component base, ”Brykin said. At the same time, he had to express one more, in general, an obvious idea: the head institute of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the electronic component base - FSUE “MNIIRIP” should develop a program for its creation, linking it with the necessary technologies and materials.
But as it turned out, even at the Expert Council there is no consensus on the determination of the governing body. Thus, the executive secretary of the radio-electronic industry section, professor of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, Svetlana Boshno, suggested lowering the level of decision-making in the field of industry management.
The logic is as follows. The government is a very busy body. It may be limited to a list with specific component names. Manufacturers are guided by such legal acts as government regulations, instructions and rules. These documents are issued by different departments. Svetlana Boshno proposed to write down in a number of norms that decisions are made not by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, but by a federal executive authority authorized by the government.
How much more time will it take for the electronics to find the steering wheel and sail? The answer to this question for most professionals is obvious. Best of all, he was formulated by the economist Mikhail Delyagin: during Soviet times, models for eliminating devastation were invented and tested. They are waiting for their application.
Plus status
The import substitution program cannot be executed without determining the status of the domestic manufacturer of electronic products. It is necessary for two reasons - for obtaining loans and for preferences when participating in competitions. Pavel Kutsko, Deputy Director of the Radioelectronic Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, says that the issue is under consideration. The official has high hopes for a series of consultations that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev plans to conduct with specialists at the Zelenograd “Micron”. A wide range of issues on the development of mechanisms to support domestic producers will be considered. “The possibility of separating the production of microcircuits in a special economic zone and specific preferences to ensure that the domestic market is filled with domestic products is being considered. First of all, we are talking about universal electronic cards, passport, visa and transport documents, ”explained Pavel Kutsko. The representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that import substitution should not be complete and efforts should be focused on creating the minimum required component base range, which will allow to design and create any class of electronic equipment. “Based on the fact that in the next two to three years, the industry will be given the task of ensuring import substitution, a number of proposals have been put forward for additional funding for these works. It may be necessary to accelerate the introduction of the opportunities that are inherent in the existing programs to increase funding in 2015 – 2017, ”says Pavel Kutsko. Great hopes are pinned on the upcoming government decree. The document entitled “The procedure for selecting, evaluating and subsidizing research and production tools” must be approved by the end of the year. It is also planned to form five subprograms in the civilian sector of the radio-electronic industry.
Ministry of Defense Armaments Department Assistant Vladimir Orlov notes that there is no need to take overlapping documents: “There is a remarkable government decree of the Russian Federation No. 813 from December 26 2006 of the year“ On Additional Requirements for Participants to Place Orders for Defense and Country Security ” There you need to enter the norm that preference is given to enterprises that have the status of a domestic manufacturer. ” However, the question arises: who will assign such a status? “This problem is already 15 years old. Various documents were accepted, but the matter stands still. There are Roskosmos, Rosatom and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Each has its own sector, its own requirements, and there is no universal tool for determining status, ”states Vladimir Orlov. You can, of course, be limited to enterprises of strategic importance. But what then to do, for example, with small and medium business? Its enterprises are not under the jurisdiction of departments and ministries, they have practically no chance of winning contests.At the Russia Calling Forum, German Gref said that the idea of import substitution was inadequate, as if he had forgotten that, having led the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade for five years, he had done a lot to turn domestic electronics into bedding for imports. In Russia, it was not possible to build a single enterprise of such magnitude as proposed by Zhores Alferov. Note that the Nobel laureate was trying to realize his idea at the very time when German Gref reigned in economic development and trade. Unlike the ex-minister, blinkered by market ideologems, his German colleagues understood that what matters is not what and how, but who. It is unlikely that Zhores Alferov, heading the project in Shuvalov, would have allowed it to spend funds so inefficiently, as this, according to Gref, is being done in the federal program.
Hostages of contests and staff shortages
According to Evgeny Serebrennikov, First Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Federation Committee on Defense and Security, the proposal to give a preference to manufacturers of domestic equipment is generally correct. But there are practical problems. We are talking about regional programs, such as, for example, “Smart and Safe City”. As a rule, for tenders of this level are not exposed to individual elements of the equipment, and integrated integrated solutions, consisting of products of different nomenclature and complexity. And it may happen that, conditionally, the 100 denominations in the lot will be 10 domestic, and 20 or 40 - foreign. “How preferences will work in this design is a big question. And it is unlikely that anyone will refrain from circumventing this preference and pushing through equipment that goes without domestic counterparts, ”says Yevgeny Serebrennikov.
But the main problem of the industry remains training. In all forums devoted to the problems of the development of the defense industry, it is proposed to attract young specialists to enterprises as an alternative to serving in the army. But at the Expert Council meeting it turned out that our best universities prepare specialists not for the domestic defense industry, but for competitors abroad.
Arseny Brykin, Deputy General Director of Ruselectronics, on strategic development and implementation of state programs, believes that even if enterprises manage to deliver imported equipment in some sophisticated way and mount it with the help of foreign experts, there will still be a big problem for its effective use. Most of the domestic electronics engineers were trained in the Soviet period, and they are unable to work with a completely different type of equipment. For young people, this is also a problem, because such equipment did not exist in university laboratories, or it only recently appeared.
“At one of the meetings, I told the head of the Ministry of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov that the idea of achieving the entry of 15 universities in Russia into the best hundred of the world’s is good, but it turns out that graduates of regional institutes work at defense companies. Moscow and St. Petersburg mainly train employees for our foreign competitors. It remains for us to be content with the fact that the children do not complete their education in a systematic way, but through some form of post-graduate education on super-modern equipment that can break if they are not handled properly, ”Arseny Brykin complains. According to him, the planning system, according to which young people come to budget places in order to return to the industry, is stalled. Basic educational standards do not at all take into account the needs of enterprises, which need not a separate group of specialties, but a wide range of professionals. “If we do not make changes to the legislation, this mess will go on and on.” “Brains” will continue to leak, and we will fill our enterprises with mediocrity, ”summarizes Arseny Brykin.
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