OREANDA-NEWS. May 31, 2012. The professional skill competitions between shop-floor workers, production line managers – supervisors and process engineers working at NPO Saturn have long become a good tradition with the company.

On May, 25th the NPO Saturn training center hosted the final of the professional skill contest between NC turning and milling machine operators.

Ten following workers representing different production workshops of the company were competing in the category ‘The best in profession’ demonstrating their theoretical and practical knowledge of turning and milling operations:

1. Alexander Ershov – 4th category NC milling machine operator.

2. Andrey Savushkin – 4th category NC milling machine operator.

3. Mikhail Goldyrev – 4th category NC milling machine operator.

4. Gleb Yakhontov  – 4th category NC milling machine operator.

5. Maxim Kiselev – 5th category NC turning machine operator.

6. Denis Galyatkin – 4th category NC turning machine operator.

7. Konstantin Burdukov – 5th category NC turning machine operator.

8. Oleg Smirnov – 5th category NC turning machine operator.

9. Alexander Volodin – 3rd category NC turning machine operator.

10.  Andrey Chernyshov – 6th category NC turning machine and manipulator adjuster.

The theoretical part of the professional skill competition consisted of a test on the basics of metal cutting, measuring instruments, parts and sub-assemblies quality assurance in production, fits and tolerances, occupational safety, NC machine servicing and task performance safety, and also of some assignments testing the knowledge of the G and M functions, reading of numerical control data and measuring techniques of the benchmark parts using universal measuring instruments.

The contesters competed in practical machining operations performance following the received drawings and recommended machining process at the NPO Saturn training center’s dedicated area fitted with the state-of-the art metal-cutting equipment. The competition jury evaluated the execution of the practical assignment, taking into consideration the benchmark part measuring technique, quality of measurement, the time spent on performing the assignment in accordance with the adopted time standard as well as the observation of labor safety precautions and operator’s work routine organization.

Based on the competition results, the best NC milling machine operators were: Alexander Ershov (1st place), Mikhail Goldyrev (2nd place). The best NC turning machine operators were: Konstantin Burdukov (1st place), Andrey Chernyshov (2nd place), Alexander Volodin (3rd place).

Mr. Leonid Ivanov, NPO Saturn human resources director:

‘This is the third time that Saturn administers such a competition between NC machine operators, - it is indeed an innovative experience since the machine-building industry is historically used to conducting competitions between general-purpose machine operators only. The new technological outlook of our company requires it to have on its roster specialists skilled in operating high-precision, 5-axis machine tools.

The NC machine operator competition demonstrates the importance of that profession in the modern-day production environment. This is an opportunity to pin-point the best workers, and support those who are willing to hone their workmanship.

Only looking up to the best professionals of their trade, NPO Saturn will be able to increase its production volume while supplying the customers with new high-quality gas-turbine engines’.