Implementation of Technology and Equipment for Manufacturing Shell Parts of Aircraft External Shells on Forming Pulling Punches with Active Collaboration of A Russian Engineering Company and a Leading University of the Country

In 2025, the Russian engineering company Ural Engineering Center (URITZ) will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Over the years, URITZ has established itself as a leading developer of industrial equipment and engineering solutions, many of which have no analogues in the world. The company specializes in the creation of modern systems of electric hydraulic drive and automation of production, which allows to achieve a new level of controllability of industrial equipment. Over the past fi ve years, URITZ has been actively cooperating with Samara University. The purpose of this partnership was to create a highly effi cient automated process control system (APCS) for stretch-tight presses after their technical re-equipment. The results of the modernization of two domestic longitudinal-acting presses RO-630 (2022) and RO-3M (2024), as well as one foreign transverse-acting press FEKD from the French company «АСВ» (2025) at the Kazan Aviation Plant vividly demonstrate the innovative potential of the joint work of URITZ and Samara University. The modernization of the presses was accompanied by the introduction of an industrial computer into the control system, a set of control and measuring devices, feedback in terms of coordinate, speed and force for the main actuators of the press and a complete visualization of the operating parameters at the operator›s automated workplace. Samara University has developed software integrated with the Russian KOMPAS-3D CAD system. This software allows you to work through a graphical interface with virtual models of presses, accurately modeling their kinematics and uploading data to the Russian CAE program QForm to calculate the process of forming a tight fi tting using the fi nite element method. To reproduce the functioning of each virtual press, an independent compiled software module (plug-in) of a variable type, called «AviaForm», was developed. The joint project of URITZ and Samara University «Modernization of a 630-ton stretch-tight press» became the bronze medalist of the 2024 competition in the nomination «Best commercialization of exclusive rights to objects of patent rights». The project was also awarded a laureate diploma at the international exhibition «Metal-Expo 2023». The RO-630 press, upgraded at the Kazan Aviation Plant, became the fi rst domestic stretch-tight equipment with software control, which in some respects surpasses the tight-fi tting FEL press from the French company «ACB». The Ural Engineering Center has successfully completed the modernization of the subsequent stretching presses RO-3M and FEKD. Two joint patents have been obtained for tight-fi tting molding methods and the state registration of the AviaForm plugin. We consider the level of software development to be innovative, comprehensive and timely for the aviation industry and fully consistent with the concept of digital billet and stamping production according to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) scheme used in the construction of computer information systems.