USC renounced an idea of integrated design bureau

20.09.2010 United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) renounced an idea to establish an integrated design bureau. Instead of that the company will found an organizational unit named USC Engineering which is supposed to coordinate work of design bureaus, writes RBK Daily.

The idea to integrate all design bureaus of USC emerged long ago. Explaining the company's strategy late May 2010, Dmitry Mironenkov who is in charge of USC's civil shipbuilding sector said that a "full-fledged" design bureau would be established in the company's structure and world leading design bureaus would be involved at the first stage.

Now the directors of USC decide that the state company would act as an orderer for its bureaus; they would offer projects to compete in tenders. "So we'll choose a project with best parameters in energy consumption, economy and performance capabilities", said USC representative Igor Ryabov. For instance, such bureaus as Zelenodolsk Design Bureau, Severnoye Design Bureau, Almaz Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering, and Nevskoye Design Bureau will compete with their projects of surface warships; those bureaus are capable to develop the entire line of defense products.

According to Mikhail Barabanov, editor of Moscow Defense Brief, USC ruled not only by intention to build up competition among its designers. "The idea of an integrated design bureau was quite utopian because we have a system of specialized design bureaus which has been formed through 70-80 years; amalgamation of them is highly difficult from all points of view and would most likely led to mass dismissals, aggravating a currently stretching staff situation", says M. Barabanov.

Recently founded USC's structural unit USC Engineering will coordinate activities of both military and civil design bureaus. According to USC experts, this organization will be engaged only in shipbuilding projects, not interfering in other activities of design bureaus.