League of Young Professionals: the most experienced CASE-IN participants determine the finalists of the Autumn Cup

10 projects on the implementation of the principles of "thrift" in Russia's leading industries were presented by young specialists during the next qualifying stage of the Autumn Cup of the International Engineering Championship. CASE-IN, which is supported by the presidential platform "Russia is a land of Opportunity".  

League of Young Professionals It is aimed at assessing and developing professional knowledge and leadership skills, as well as personal competencies of young employees of companies, identifying leaders among industry youth, attracting participants to solving urgent production tasks facing companies and the entire industry, and helping to transfer the experience gained by management to young employees.

In autumn In 2024, young specialists from companies in the fuel and energy and mineral resource complexes, the nuclear industry and related industries they are working on a case on the main theme of the XII season "Lean manufacturing", which is aimed at introducing the principles of thrift into key sectors of the country.

The third qualifying stage of the League was attended by 10 youth teams consisting of employees of the following companies: Gazpromneft Energosystems LLC, Engineering and Technological Service LLC, OMK JSC, Balakovo branch of Apatit JSC, Slavneft-Krasnoyarsk Oil Company, Kuzbassrazrezugol Management Company, ETS-Project LLC", Arctic LNG 2 LLC, the East Siberian branch of RN-Drilling LLC, ALROSA JSC (PJSC) and ROSSETI North-West PJSC.

The organizers offered specialists to find options to develop the possibilities of applying the principles of "thrift" in the Russian fuel and energy complex and MSC in order to preserve and increase the value of basic products. The contestants had to assess the economic, environmental and social sustainability based on the results of the implementation of the "lean" production system at selected production facilities and sites.

The results of their efforts were presented remotely by the team to an expert commission, which included representatives of Sibur-Kstovo LLC, a branch of the Unified Energy System System Operator JSC of the ODU Center, the National Research University MEI, the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (National Research University), St. Petersburg State University the University of Economics and the Russian University of Biotechnology (ROSBIOTECH).

The jury has determined the three best teams of the qualifying stage who will compete in the final.

Pavel Egoshin (team captain), Kirill Golubin, Elvira Kislova and Nadezhda Kolotova, the young employees of Kuzbassrazrezugol Management Company, who joined the KRU team, had no equal.

At the championship, the finalists learned how to create an evidence base for the effectiveness of a decision, process a large amount of information, make decisions in a short time and confidently speak in public.

"Our team presented a project consisting of two fundamental parts, - noted Pavel Egoshev. – Thanks to the first part, operational load control is carried out at the processing plants of our enterprise, the second part prevents downtime due to the ingress of large pieces of coal and rock on the crusher. All the ideas are based on the development and implementation of digital prompters that process video analytics data from installed instrumentation. This development is unique and is aimed at ensuring the rational use of subsurface resources by stabilizing enrichment processes, as well as improving the safety of human labor."

Pavel Egoshev admits that the most difficult thing in developing a solution was to provide a comprehensive assessment of the idea, as well as to justify economic, social and environmental sustainability.

According to experts, the level of competition at the qualifying stage was quite high, and most of the presented projects are promising and relevant in our time. "The most memorable idea was to mine strontium. It turns out that this is a rare earth metal that is used in the construction of rockets, I personally did not know about it. In general, we learned something new in all projects, got inspired, and with new knowledge we go to the finals.", Pavel Egoshev shared his impressions.

The participants of the KRU team regard the final of the Autumn Cup as a large-scale event in the energy industry. They are pleased to participate in an international project aimed at popularizing engineering professions and increasing employee engagement in production processes. "Our goals are to broaden our horizons, conduct fruitful networking and achieve high results. We wish you all success and interesting projects both at the championship and in your professional activities!", - employees of Kuzbassrazrezugol Management Company shared their expectations.

The second place went to the Northern Lights 2.0 team, which included specialists from PJSC ROSSETI North-West Maxim Mezentsev (team captain), Viktor Wegner, Andrey Akimov, Anastasia Chertkova.

The original idea, high-quality presentation design, as well as the distribution of tasks helped the contestants to get to the finals. They have developed an application for automated processing and submission of applications to improve the processes of PJSC ROSSETI North-West.

"It allows you to speed up and simplify the application process from both the desktop and mobile versions, reduce paperwork and reduce the likelihood of errors. The benefit to society is to increase reliability and reduce the burden on employees. This solution makes the company more flexible and sustainable. It can be replicated to other enterprises, which proves the universality of the idea.", – I told you about the team decision Maxim Mezentsev.

Participation in the championship was a unique opportunity for the team to master key lean production methodologies and learn how to apply them in practice to eliminate losses and improve process efficiency. "We have developed analytical thinking, mastered analysis tools such as SWOT and the Ishikawa diagram, and strengthened project management skills, including stage planning, risk management, and solution implementation. Besides, CASE-IN It allowed us to improve our teamwork and communication skills: we learned how to effectively distribute tasks, take into account different points of view, and confidently present our ideas to an expert audience.", - Maxim Mezentsev emphasized.

In addition to a successful performance, young specialists expect to gain invaluable experience from the final, as well as improve their teamwork skills in project activities. "Our team aims to listen to the feedback of the expert commission and use this information to create a competitive solution. The final in this format will also help to exchange experiences between representatives of different fields of activity.", - the finalists told us.

The bronze medal went to the Oil Grail team. The success was forged by employees of Slavneft-Krasnoyarsk Oil Company Maria Zharnakova (team captain), Egor Boburov, Valery Cheusov and Inna Rukosueva.

The finalsite solution involves the inclusion of an associated process for extracting valuable rare earth metal carbonate into the oil production process. "This is how we turn losses at our company into profits, as well as reduce the risk of accidents., - explains Maria Zharnakova. – This decision has great benefits for the country as well. By producing metal directly from our raw materials, we fully cover the needs of the domestic market for it, and we also have great prospects for entering the global arena."

The most difficult thing at the qualifying competition was to find the optimal solution in a limited time, the participants said. "It always takes a lot of time to develop a project, calculate the economy and risks, design and prepare a defense. To succeed, it is necessary to conduct a total brainstorming and choose a vector for further movement. Despite all the complexity, these processes are extremely exciting. They not only allow you to test yourself for strength, but also develop many of the qualities of the team members.", - Maria Zharnakova shared the nuances of teamwork.

At the championship, employees of Slavneft-Krasnoyarsk Oil & Gas LLC were able to strengthen their teamwork skills and learned how to create a completed promising project in 10 days. Also, during the course of solving the case, skills in time and resource management, public speaking and presentation to the professional industry community were strengthened.

At the final of the Autumn Cup on December 9 in Moscow, young specialists from Kuzbassrazrezugol Management Company JSC, Rosseti North-West PJSC and Slavneft-Krasnoyarsk Oil Company LLC will present their final solutions to the expert community in the competition for the main prizes of the season.

The winners and prize-winners of the League of Young Professionals will have the opportunity to join the managerial personnel reserve of their companies and implement solutions in practice. They will also have trips to industry youth educational forums.

The organizers of the CASE-IN Championship are Reliable Change Foundation, Non-profit Partnership "Youth Forum of Mining Leaders" and AstraLogica LLC.

Championship included in the Science to Win initiative and the plan The Decade of Science and Technology, which takes place in Russia in 2022-2031.