Russian trade minister Anton Alikhanov is confident that new technology will enable the Tupolev Tu-214 fuselage production timescale to be cut to less than two weeks.

Serial assembly of the twinjet is being reinvigorated as part of a government plan to hike civil aircraft capacity.

Alikhanov spoke during a high-level visit to the Kazan aerospace plant which manufactures the Tu-214.

He says a “large-scale” upgrade of production assets, the construction of new buildings, automation, and implementation of lean manufacturing will enable the fuselage assembly cycle to be reduced to 12 days.

This will allow the plant to produce up to 20 Tu-214s annually.

Along with the installation of high-performance equipment, the facility is engaged in digital modelling to analyse production processes and identify bottlenecks as part of the transition to new work systems.

United Aircraft states that the Kazan plant’s enhancement is a pilot project, the strategic benefits of which “will be replicated” at all the company’s other enterprises.

“Improving production efficiency is crucial for United Aircraft to achieve [its] goals for the serial production of civil aircraft,” says chief executive Vadim Badekha.

Russian economic development minister Maxim Reshetnikov, who was part of the delegation, says other industrial sectors in the country could take advantage of similar measures.

“It’s important that, using the aircraft industry as an example, our colleagues are integrating robotics and automation projects and testing the end-to-end flow format,” he says.

“This involves building a unified chain from manufacturer to supplier, ensuring all components reach the factory on time and in the required quantity.”