The Company’s CEO Andrey Kalinovsky is moving to the Roscosmos State Corporation to serve as Executive Director in charge of quality and reliability.
Andrey Kalinovsky came to lead Khrunichev Center in August 2014, when the company was found to be facing serious operational and financial problems; in particular, it lacked cash for operations.
December 2014 saw the approval of Khrunichev Center’s Financial Rehabilitation Program (FRP) developed by ORKK and Roscosmos on instructions of the RF Government as part of a systemic reform covering the nation’s rocket and space industry. Under the Program, a package of economic and operational transformations is to be carried out in three phases by 2025. The Program’s overarching goal is to secure long-term development for the Khrunichev Center by way of establishing fundamentally new high-tech operations; by applying new technologies in the areas of engineering, manufacturing, and management; by implementing new forms of workflow arrangements and pay. In fact, fundamentals of a modern, highly efficient operation in the rocket-and-space industry are being laid down as part of this program.
Between 2014 and 2016, the company managed to address the most pressing tasks of the first phase: it stabilized the company’s operations by raising financial investment, significantly reduced overheads by optimizing its structure (the headcount was reduced 17% by laying off administrative and managerial personnel) and reducing its excessive land area (44% of land in Moscow has been cleared). At the same time, the company has managed to significantly improve its employee pay: by 19.3% in 2015 and by 11.4% in 2016. A further pay raise of 15% is scheduled for 2017.
A steady trend has emerged towards a reduction in the workforce age profile. The company has managed to turn around the situation with attrition of specialists below 35 years of age.
The second phase of FRP implementation started in 2017. It includes upgrades to the existing operational facilities. Most extensive transformations are to take place at its two primary sites in Moscow and Omsk. The Moscow-based Rocket and Space Plant is modernizing the facilities that produce the Proton family launch vehicles, Breeze-M upper stages, nose cone fairings, and adaptor systems. The Omsk-based PO Polyot is setting up a new high-tech facility to build the Angara family of launch vehicles.
Sectoral competence centers are being established around company branches to focus on various products.
Under the Program, the company’s operational structure will assume its final form in the end of 2018 or the middle of 2019. Thereafter, the company will embark on a path of steady development, which is the third phase of the FRP.
Product quality has become a company priority. Currently, measures are being actively implemented to increase the level of operational process regulation, standardization, and harmonization. During the first stage, the focus is on hardware controls, that is, automatic recording of all process parameters. This minimizes the potential for errors and omissions, i.e., human factor issues, in the course of operations.
The sales policy with regard to the core product of Khrunichev Center, that is, launch services, has been revised. Nowadays, it focuses on product line extensions and tailor-made approaches to customers. As of now, Khrunichev Center has eight contracts in hand for 15 launches of Proton LV until 2023.
A new model line of commercial variants is being developed for the Proton-M launch vehicle; it includes medium-lift and light rockets. The project to design a family of Proton LV versions calls for active involvement and engagement of entities within the Roscosmos State Corporation; this would secure orders for core enterprises of the RF space industry.
On October 5, 2016, as part of a Strategic Packet Agreement with Eutelsat, the company entered into its first contract whereby a new variant of Proton-M launch vehicles, i.e. medium lift Proton-M, would launch a spacecraft in 2019.
At present, through ILS, Khrunichev Center has been pursuing an active publicity campaign to market the Angara-1.2 launch vehicle. In August 2016, ILS and the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) contracted to launch the Kompsat 6 research probe from the Plesetsk Spaceport in 2020. That would be the first commercial launch of the Angara LV.
At the same time, work is under way to get an Angara-A5M ready for fly from the Vostochny Spaceport in 2021; next, the efforts would be focused on launching the heavy lift Angara-A5V rocket (with a hydrogen-powered stage).
Issued by Khrunichev Communications Department