"The Voronezh region is a leader in terms of introducing the industrial robots": a meeting with Governor Alexander Gusev was held at the National Centre RUSSIA
The cycle of meetings with the heads of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation titled "Platform of the Future: Region 2030. 100 steps" continues at the National Centre RUSSIA. As part of the Voronezh Region's Week, a meeting with Governor Alexander Gusev was held.
Robotization of the Voronezh region
"The economy we are moving into encompasses a digital economy, the sixth technological paradigm, and an economy based on the use of machine work rather than human labor. All this is fine. Even in the darkest predictions, science fiction writers note that we are moving from a carbon civilization — not to be confused with a hydrocarbon civilization — to a silicon civilization, when machines, relatively speaking, will compete with humans. But, perhaps, this is unlikely to happen if we apply the right approaches," the governor stressed.
According to him, the correct approach is to use distributed control systems where there is no centralized device. The Governor is confident that this is applicable both in technology and in public administration processes.
Robotization and automation are an important direction in the production facilities development, because these processes provide a qualitative increase in labor productivity, Alexander Gusev said.
"It also provides an opportunity to free people from their routine work, which hardly brings them pleasure, and thus to free up their personal time so that they can engage in creativity, their own development, or other interesting things. And, of course, these processes need to be supported. We have made a decision for ourselves to develop a regional support programme aimed at achieving a serious effect in terms of labor productivity, based on a robotics and automation system. And we have been working on it. I am sure that many enterprises will want to take advantage of these support measures. The region is moving towards high-tech robots with high performance," he added.
Speaking of the results of the enterprises’ robotization
Vladimir Maslov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of "AGROECO" Group of Companies, LLC, stressed that enterprises in the Voronezh region are already confidently moving towards robotization of production facilities.
"We collected the best technologies from all over the world, and then we ourselves designed and provided our enterprises with such technologies, as well as purchased state-of-the-art equipment. For example, the meat processing plant in the city of Pavlovsk has been operating for only three years, and it is already equipped with five state-of-the-art unique robots that practically take all the hard work off people, increase labor productivity, ensure product quality standardization and shelf life. Butchering meat is a unique automated solution that also allows us to rid the employees of the most physically difficult tasks, and make their labour easier," Vladimir Maslov emphasized.
In addition, the construction of a modern dairy farm is almost completed in the region. According to Vladimir Maslov, the process of production there will also be automated at a state-of-the-art level.
"The Voronezh region is a leader in terms of implementation of such technologies. These are truly unique solutions," he added.
Andrei Borovikov, Director General of Voronezhstalmost JSC, said that the company had purchased one robot manufactured in Tula 10 years ago. At that time, he said, it was a glimpse into the future.
"Four years ago, the company opened a specialized equipment centre. This is an area where we integrate and assemble industrial robots customizing them for performing our tasks. Today, five industrial robots are being used at the plant. For clarity: 350 welders work at the plant, and the main process there is welding. So, these five robots currently process about 10% of the wire, that is, they are already doing 10% of the work, although there are only five of them," Andrei Borovikov explained.
Meetings with heads of the Russian regions are held as part of the large-scale regional programme of the National Centre RUSSIA — "Platform of the Future: Region-2030. 100 Steps". Its implementation is carried out in accordance with Russia’s national development goals, defined by the President, and based on the principle of prioritizing the interests of each individual, their self-realization and improving quality of life.
