Site news 3.10.2012
On October, 1st 2012 in the frame of the inauguration of the Rybinsk branch of the Alliance Française, a non-government cultural and linguistic organization, the ambassador of France in Russia Jean de Gliniasty, Snecma president Pierre Fabre, head of Safran operations in Russia Marc Sorel and director of the Alliance Française chain in Russia Elizabeth Brown visited NPO Saturn.
During the visit, the representatives of the French embassy in Russia, the Safran Group and the Alliance Française organization met with the top management of NPO Saturn, visited the Company’s production facilities involved in the manufacturing of the SaM146 engine, a joint Russian-French engine project and also visited VolgAero, a joint venture between Saturn and Snecma, and answered to the questions posed by Russian and foreign journalists. On the same day the French guests attended the inauguration of the Rybinsk-based office of the non-government cultural and linguistic organization, the Alliance Française.
The resolution to found the 12th non-government organization on the territory of the Russian Federation in the city of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region was signed on March, 9th 2012 during the meeting of the administrative board of the Alliance Française Paris. It is remarkable that Georgy Konyukhov, deputy general designer - SaM146 program head of design representing NPO Saturn was elected president of the Alliance Française Rybinsk.
The ambassador of France in Russia, honorary member of the Alliance Française Jean de Gliniasty noted that it is exactly due to the French-Russian SaM146 engine project that Rybinsk was added to the eleven Russian cities having a representation of the Alliance Française non-government cultural and linguistic organization: “The Rybinsk-based Alliance Française is a phenomenon of its own as it materialized thanks to the common willingness of the Rybinsk city hall and a Safran company to develop long-term cultural and educational relations between the city of Rybinsk and France. This long-standing collaboration between NPO Saturn and Snecma, a Safran Group company was initiated in the frame of the SaM146 engine project with the aim to power the Sukhoi Superjet100 aircraft manufactured by the Sukhoi Company.
“It is a very interesting visit for me, - shared his excitement the ambassador after visiting Saturn. – I’m proud to see France and Russia, Safran and Saturn collaborate in the field of such cutting-edge technologies. It is a well-known fact that this engine is one of the world’s best in its class. And, of course, I wish this project unending success”.
A ten-year partnership between Saturn and Snecma cannot be termed as easy, however today when speaking of the SaM146 project development, both stakeholders are most certain that through the past few years they have lived out “a perfect alliance”.
According to Ilya Fedorov, NPO Saturn CEO: “It’s worth saying that the relationship between the Russians and the French has drastically change. We have become absolutely open to our French partners which entailed their changing their attitude towards us as well.
First of all, our production is now certified, and second – it is synchronized. That is to say that both in France and in Russia we produce in a synchronized manner 4-5 engines a month – causing no delays on either side. Next year, according to the request of Sukhoi we shall have to increase by two our engine delivery rate, and there is no doubt that we will be able to cope with this challenge”.
Pierre Fabre, Snecma president: “There is a simple formula embedded in our collaboration principles: it is twice as easy for two partners to solve any arising issues.
We have been able to accomplish a lot, working together in the frame of our joint project. The airlines are now already operating 12 aircraft, and by the end of the year our engine will have take to the sky 20 airplanes. There is still a lot to be done; we have to continue committing all our efforts to the common cause. The world market competition is never in standby, we have to progress in improving the quality level of our product, we have to rid our production capacity of any possible bottlenecks, we have to master the “on-time engine delivery to the customer” approach that is to say, our customer has to always be satisfied with our performance”.
Marc Sorel, head of Safran operations in Russia: “I consider that the relations between the Russian and French partners have reached a very effective level of collaboration. Our companies now work as one team and that begins to yield tangible results already. The production process is approaching the world-class standards, and the volume of production is becoming significant. We can trust each other, and that is something really important to us. The started collaboration between Safran and Saturn can be continued through new joint projects”.
Answering to the questions of the journalists regarding the dynamics of the project development, Mikhail Berdennikov, SaM146 program director noted that: “as of now we have delivered to Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) the required number of engines to power the aircraft manufactured in Komsomolsk-upon-Amur. The total number of engines delivered to Komsomolsk from Rybinsk since the moment NPO Saturn started serial production is 40 SaM146 serial engines. Our goal is to make sure that the assembled aircraft never idle due to the non-availability of engines. So far we have been able to satisfy our customer’s expectations in terms of engine delivery, and it will continue to be like that”.
Our Alliance Française Rybinsk can do a lot of good things for those who work in the SaM146 international program, and for those who will be employed by new Russian-French collaboration programs in the future, - expressed his confidence Georgy Konyukhov, president of Alliance Française Rybinsk, NPO Saturn deputy general designer - SaM146 program head of design. – The decision made by the French embassy in Russia, the administration of the city of Rybinsk, the Safran Group and NPO Saturn was absolutely right and well anticipated. Welcome to the Alliance! Especially now that we have so many reasons to communicate with each other after having paved solid foundation for such profound cultural traditions and having accumulated such a great number of contacts”.
Research and production association Saturn OJSC – an engine-building company specialized in design, manufacture and aftermarket support of gas-turbine engines for military and civil aviation, the Navy boats and power-generation and gas-pumping installations. NPO Saturn OJSC is part of the United engine corporation managing company OJSC.
