Development (consortium of Russian engineering software developers)

History

2022: A domestic PLM complex for mechanical engineering has been created. By 2025, aircraft and shipbuilders will be able to use it

Russian enterprises massively use foreign engineering software - Siemens, Dassault Systemes, Autodesk, etc., since there are no domestic full-featured analogues of heavy PLM complexes in Russia. Those Russian solutions that are available on the market so far close only part of the functionality of foreign CAD, CAE, CAM, CAPP, MES, PDM, PLM and other engineering systems. Until recently, they could not create complex projects involving millions of parts, for example, turbines, aircraft, sea and river vessels.

In 2015, Russian developers of engineering software joined together in the Development consortium to evolve from separate systems and solutions based on their own geometric core to assemble a full-featured PLM complex that can compete with Western developments. As of 2022, Development includes Ascon, TeSIS, Eremex, ADEM, APM and Sigma Technologiya. Partners of the consortium are Laduga, SeaProject, Digital Manufacturing.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ascon Group of Companies Alexander Golikov said that in 2019 the consortium published a roadmap for the creation of a heavy PLM complex. By April 2022, a solution was created that allows you to design machine-building products of high complexity. It is tested at work, after which it will be finalized. According to him, the Russian PLM-complex can already be used in mechanical engineering.

PLM-solution of the consortium "Development." Photo - "Ascon"

The consortium's end-to-end PLM solution allows you to:

• Plan R&D activities;
• make theoretical calculations;
• Perform sketched design;
• perform detailed design (mechanical part);
• perform detailed design (instrument-making part);
• perform strength calculations;
• design documentation;
• planning of production preparation;
• design manufacturing technology;
• develop control programs for CNC machines;
• process documentation;
• coordinate documents and data;
• register, store, issue and perform subscriber records of documents;
• make changes;
• transfer product data to production;
• manage production;
• record non-conformities in operation.

According to Alexander Golikov, the following are already available to users of the domestic PLM complex created by the companies of the Development consortium:

• System engineering and requirements management;
• Configuration of electronic structures;
• Work with large assemblies (for several tens of millions of parts);
• New finite element types (new simulation models can be built);
• Harmonic analysis;
• Unique methods of calculation of wing icing;
• Simulation of lander driving;
• Fluid-structure interaction
• Algorithms that reduce tool wear during 5x processing;
• Inheritance of developments (import of projects and libraries from foreign CAD electronics), etc.

Using the domestic PLM system, according to Golikov, a Russian mobile complex has already been designed to extract hard-to-recover oil reserves and mass production of high-speed civilian tropospheric communication stations has been established.

Our partners and I have always dreamed that aircraft and ships should be designed on our software, and now we are closer to our dream than ever. We are successfully moving on the road map. And so far we have not encountered a single problem that our specialists could not solve, "said Alexander Golikov.

In accordance with the roadmap, the developers of the Development consortium in 2022-2025 will concentrate on creating functionality for aircraft and shipbuilding, on complex hull design, but new design modules for cavitation of propellers, on calculations of a loose body, hypersonic, etc. According to Alexander Golikov, much attention is paid to expanding the possibilities for the most complex surface modeling, the geometric core and CAD are being finalized for the tasks of designing the strokes of aircraft and ships. The possibility of working with a multiple classification of objects, which is needed to work with super-heavy models, for example, a ship, is also being worked out. This functionality is needed so that you can hire any part of the project, whether it is the compartment or the cable system of the ship. CAM will also be created for printed circuit boards, CAD integrated circuits and other functionality for ECB developers.

Roadmap of the Development consortium. Photo - "Ascon"

In 2025, Russia will have its own heavy PLM-complex, with the help of which it will be possible to solve industry problems not only of mechanical engineering, but also of aircraft and shipbuilding. We did not seek to catch up and overtake Siemens, and in cooperation with industry we concentrated on the most popular functionality. It is important that the system ensures the design of head products of any complexity. And we are able to solve such problems that were previously able only to heavy Western complexes, "Golikov said.

Alexander Golikov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ascon Group of Companies. Photo - "Ascon"

In 2020, the consortium adjusted the concept of product development. A course was taken on import independence and information security and it was decided in the development to abandon MS Windows and proprietary DBMS Microsoft and. Oracle At the same time, the new strategy involved the creation of native Linux versions of development tools and cross-platform versions of information systems without reducing the pace of development. Accordingly, the project to create PLM for domestic Linux branches was to be completed in 2025. At the same time, the Development consortium has already provided support for the DBMS PostgreSQL Postgres Pro and the possibility of launching the Compass-3D CAD using the domestic Wine emulator from under Etersoft the Alt OS and Astra Linux.

Maxim Bogdanov, General Director of Ascon Group of Companies, says that the consortium members, due to sanctions pressure and the risks of blocking engineering software of foreign production, are working on the possibility of accelerating the process of creating a heavy domestic PLM complex. According to him, the development of measures to intensify development should be completed by the end of April 2022.

At the same time, the head of special projects of Ascon Group of Companies Pavel Shcherbinin noted that due to the resources that the consortium has, it is impossible to accelerate the development of a heavy domestic PLM complex for the Linux operating environment without postponing the delivery of a number of significant functional modules. He explained that it is possible to accelerate the development of Compass-3D CAD and the Lotsman: PLM product lifecycle management system for open source OS by six months. However, at the same time, it will be necessary to postpone by a year or two the delivery of a number of modules that are extremely important for the market, for example, the function of multiple classification of product components, support for direct editing of complex imported models, the ability to model elements of complex bypass surfaces of aircraft and ships, etc.

It is impossible to accelerate the development of a heavy domestic PLM complex for the Linux operating environment without postponing the delivery of a number of significant functional modules. Photo - "Ascon"

Oleg Bochkarev, deputy chairman of the board of the military-industrial commission under the government of the Russian Federation, believes that developers should not sacrifice the functionality of engineering systems, trying to speed up the development process. In his opinion, the members of the Development consortium should bring development tools and information systems to the level of development that will satisfy civilian customers, and after that offer a full-featured PLM complex to defense complex companies.

Maxim Bogdanov believes that it would be possible to accelerate the development of the PLM complex by attracting third-party companies, but existing state support measures do not provide for such an opportunity.

Measures to support domestic developers are focused on expanding the staff of the companies themselves and do not allow us to spend money on attracting outsourcing teams, which does not allow us to attract external specialists for individual projects. And without outsourcing, accelerating development is impossible. Therefore, we prepared and sent proposals to the Ministry of Digital Affairs for additional measures to support the industry, which include support for attracting outsourcing development, "said Maxim Bogdanov.

Roman Sobolev, head of the Department of Design of the UAC, commented that it is necessary to harmonize the work of decisions of various domestic vendors. In addition, it is important that the engineering software being created can interact with the existing IT landscape of enterprises, including those already used by foreign-made systems. At the same time, according to him, there should be no monopolism in the domestic market, the customer should be able to choose between the decisions of various vendors.

According to OSCDmitriy Lebedev, Director of IT and Digital Transformation, there is no need to rush to the development of the PLM complex for Linux, especially due to the postponement of the development of functional modules.

Even for themselves, customers cannot yet formulate what functionality of engineering software they need, and which is not. For example, we decided that we needed Russian CAD, however, when we began to discuss this within the corporation, we realized that even representatives of various areas of shipbuilding were difficult to agree with each other. It turned out that the requirements of surface and underwater shipbuilding do not coincide. Therefore, it is necessary to create sites where customers could put forward their requirements for engineering software, "said Dmitry Lebedev, director of IT and digital transformation at USC.

Dmitry Yeliseyev, deputy director for IT UEC is sure that domestic developers cannot approach the solution of problems in the conditions of sanctions, as they did a year ago. In his opinion, companies that create engineering software should restructure their processes, formulate their needs and come up with proposals to the state. At the same time, the representative of the UEC is also sure that you should not rush to transfer engineering software to Linux, since most of the computers still work under Windows in production, and the transition to open source is gradual.

We install Linux only on new computers, those that worked under Windows, under it and work like that. The complete transition process will take several years. Therefore, the functionality of engineering software is more important for us. There is no point in rushing to develop a native version for Linux, since your systems already work on this OS using domestic emulators, "said Dmitry Yeliseyev.