On August 21, Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov paid a working visit to Petrozavodsk, during which he assessed the implementation of the federal "Labor Productivity" project in the industrial and social sectors of the Republic of Karelia.
One of the key highlights of the visit was the FR Engineering Centre of Fire Robots Technology.
Together with the Head of the Republic, Artur Parfenchikov, and members of the Karelian Government, the Minister toured the company's production facilities. The guests were shown the key stages of creating robotic fire suppression systems and firefighting equipment, and were also briefed on the results of the project to improve production efficiency.
Having joined the federal "Labor Productivity" project in 2023 and enlisting the support of experts from the Federal Competence Center (FCC), the FR Engineering Centre has achieved significant improvements in its production operations. The plant has optimized its technological processes, implemented the 5S system, and over 70% of its employees have mastered lean manufacturing tools. As a result, production increased by 27%, and process times decreased by 11%. As Vladimir Musiychuk, Executive Director of FR, explained, the plant has now "established a sustainable performance management system: a project office coordinates productivity improvement activities, an efficiency development strategy for each product stream has been developed and is being implemented, and lean manufacturing methods have been integrated into daily operations and rolled out to new areas."
The strong performance of Karelian enterprises is also being recognized at the federal level. According to the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, the Republic of Karelia is demonstrating steady growth: productivity growth rates in the energy, tourism, and outpatient medicine sectors exceed the Russian average.
