"Apatit" replaced the imported MES system with a domestic one, preserving the usual interface

2025: "Apatit" replaced the imported MES system with a domestic one, maintaining the usual interface

PhosAgro Group has completed a project to replace the imported PI System with a domestic production management platform at Apatit (Cherepovets Chemical Cluster). The latter is the largest producer of phosphorus-containing fertilizers, phosphoric and sulfuric acids in Europe, as well as one of the leaders in Russia in terms of production of NPK fertilizers, ammonia and ammonium nitrate. The company announced the completion of the implementation on March 20, 2025 at the demodne of the industrial competence center (ICC) "Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals" in Cherepovets, which visited TAdviser.

The need to create a domestic MES system for chemical enterprises arose in connection with the rejection of Western technological solutions that ceased to receive developer support. The project has the status of a particularly significant (WBS). As previously reported, a grant from the Skolkovo Foundation was attracted for its implementation with an amount of 318 million rubles following a competitive selection in 2022. The new system was created on the basis of the ZIIoT solution from the Digital Group Zyfra.

Deputy Director for Economic Security "Apatit"   Sergey Cherkasov on demodna said that the project began in December 2022, and the planned deadline for its completion was February 2025. It was carried out in three stages. At the first two stages, the development and refinement of the system functionality was carried out, and at the third stage, testing and pilot operation were carried out. From February 1, the decision was put into commercial operation.

Pilot production started in August 2024 at the Apatita Cherepovets complex, during which all users of the old system, which was replaced, were connected and collected comments from them - more than 450 comments were received. This made it possible to approach industrial operation with, for the most part, already eliminated shortcomings, due to which the transition was as comfortable as possible for users.

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Фото: TAdviser

Actually, ensuring a comfortable transition of users to a new platform was one of the key tasks of the project. For this, among other things, the usual interfaces were preserved, which made it possible to avoid significant changes in employee workflows.

In parallel, at the stage of pilot operation, data was transferred from the old system to the new one.

Within the framework of the project, large-scale work was done: data collection was organized from 34 APCS, as well as from LIMS, ASKUE and weather stations; More than 80,000 time series (tags) are configured The object model of the Cherepovets complex "Apatit" has been adapted taking into account the business processes of the enterprise. Over 15 thousand calculation operations were launched in the new system, including calculations of technical and economic indicators.

And to speed up data migration, PhosAgro specialists developed specialized converters that made it possible to automate the transfer of reports and mnemonic diagrams from the PI System to the ZIIoT Datalink. As of March, there are more than 270 reports and 1,100 mnemonic diagrams in the system, follows from the presentation of Sergei Cherkasov. A system for monitoring the status of ZIIoT services was also introduced.

We did not just repeat the old import system that had previously worked at the Apatita Cherepovets complex. Innovative solutions were implemented in the project. First of all, we received a common unified platform, - said Sergey Cherkasov.

He explained that now this is no longer a set of separate disparate solutions, but a single complex that works according to the same rules, with single directories, in which a single registration of users is carried out. In addition, the solution works on a microservice architecture, which allows you to scale, connect new objects. It is important that the architecture completely lacks components of proprietary software of foreign production.

And if we talk about other technological functions, the system supports DevOps processes, and it is possible to make changes actually online, if necessary. This primarily applies to tools such as reports and calculations.

Plans have already been identified to further replicate the decision to the Balakovsky and Volkhovsky branches of PhosAgro Group of Companies.

At the same time, in addition to the chemical industry, the solution may be in demand in the pulp and paper, tire, pharmaceutical and cement industries, believes Mikhail Aronson, general director of Zyfra Group of Companies. In the near future, the company expects the start of new implementations based on the developed product.

In total, nine OZPs are being implemented within the framework of the Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals IC, the head of the Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals IC, EuroChem MCC, and the secretary of the Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals IC Kirill Kireev cited TAdviser summary data. The total amount of funds required for the implementation of all OZPs selected as part of the "first wave" of projects is estimated at about 3.5 billion rubles. Of these, only two projects attracted grant funding through the Skolkovo Foundation in the amount of about 450 million rubles: in addition to the MES project, we are also talking about a project to create an APCS, which is also being implemented by Fosagro.

The project of replacing the MES-system at Apatite was the first of all UZPs of the IC Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals, fully implemented both in fact and according to the closing documentation. Two more projects are on the way - they are also already completed, but as of March, there is still a formal closure of reporting.

2022-2024: Development and Implementation

Phosagro, one of the leading producers of mineral fertilizers in Russia, has completed the development of its own autonomous process control system and is implementing it at the Cherepovets complex of Apatit JSC. This became known in October 2024.

The project has been ongoing since December 2022. ASUP was created on the basis of a digital industrial platform ZIIoT from LLC "" Zyfra(GC "Zyfra"). The system is designed to replace the imported PI System solution previously used by the company.

According to Sergei Cherkasov, the new system not only coped with the processing of performance data, but also surpassed its imported counterpart. During the implementation of the project, as of October, more than 800 mnemonic diagrams were deployed and more than 60 thousand indicators were collected from 33 sources. In September 2024, all users who previously worked with the PI System were connected to the system. The pilot operation stage will last until the end of 2024, after which the results and comments will be summed up and analyzed within two months.

The Fosagro project is included in the list of nine particularly significant projects of the IC Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals and is being implemented with grant state support.

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