PROBLEMS OF COMPLEX MECHANIZATION AND AUTOMATION OF PRODUCTION IN USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700260021-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 15, 2011
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: August 30, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

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STAT
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PROIII,1;~ OF CODIPI.FJ( MECIIANTLATION AND AUTOMATION CF PRODUCTION USIN SR
Planovoye Hhoz
va stvo No
Moscow Sep-Oct 1955 5
A. Vovk
The prerequisites now exist in the USSR for widespread development of
complex mechanization, transportationas well as for the automation of several production pro-
Soviet industry machine building industries have made substantial
gains in pro-
dingeand precision Putting into operation new, highly productive machinery, de- instruments. The machine building industry reachedyi Fifth
Year Plan goal 8 months ahead of schedule. Growth ra
exceed those of other branches of industry. Whereas gr tea in this industry
oss industrial output
increased more than threefold over the period 1940-1955, the total output of
the machine building and metal working industry more than doubled between 1950
and 1955, and increased to 4.6 times that of the period 1940-1955. During the
current 5-year plan, production of metal cutting machine tools is to increase
in general by 45,5 percent, while the output of large-scale hea
(unikal 'nyye) machine tools is to increase to 2.4 times output of special, specialized, and aggre-Ite. machine ttoolseiso to rise by.70
The conditions necessary for effecting complex mechanization and automa-
tion of production have been created as the result of the development pre-
cision instrument building and equipment production, as well as the pr
n
of new and im of pre-trol heeadtsproved control aand nd measuring devices based on the most recent
of hypersonic vibrations and radiosctivegisotones' (tra trace er a also properties
of equipment and instruments includes; h i .
hypersonic defectosco a YPersonc de This category
USSR b p developed by S. Ya. Sokolov ofhthe+AcademyhofoSci; ces
y means of which quality control is maintained over concrete, celai
insulators, and automobile tires; high speed, automatic, and electronic machines
used in the solution of porcelain
automated ~ mechanics,
chemistry, statistics, and astronomy, asiwellaaslin thetcontrolsof intricate
production processes which require strict adherence to systems, and
many others.
Much excellent machinery has been produced for the mechanization of heavy
and time-consuming labor in various branches of thr c-conomy. This includes
mechanized rolling mills with automatic control, blooming and slabbing mills
and their electrical equipment, and also walking excavators with btcket capac-of 4.
14 and bases has been creates, asbthe~result of which there are now more thanb1.4ding
million tractors in the possession of the kolkhozes, sovkhozea, and MTS, where-
as in 1940 the number of these (in terms of 15 horsepower units, totaled
684,000. Over the same period, the number of grain coi_oines increaseu rrom
182,000 to 350,000. The stock of other agricultural machinery increased at
about the same rates.
The
resulted isunpaplconsiderablying of
machinery labor equipment t the has
metallurgical, and timber industries, and also in construction, transportation,
and agriculture. In the coal industry, for example, the notching, cutting, and
mining of coal and also the loading of coal aboard cars on the surface has been
mechanized. By the end of 1955, sixty percent of the mines and shafts are to'
have undergone complex mechanization. By 1954 the mechanization of timber haul-
ing had reached 76 percent and timber felling,84 percent.
.Nevertheless, along with these notable achievements serious shortcomings
and unsolved problems still exist. Though basic processes have been mechanized,
several,combined, auxiliary, and preparatory processes have not been mechanized
to any great extent. This fact frequently results in a reduction of total ab-
sorption of the economic efficiency due to mechanization.
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For example, in the coal industry preparatory operations have nct been
satisfactorily machanized; both men and machines are performing the same Kind
o? work. M"hn,ization or auxiliary operations such as the driving of drainage
tunnels, rigging, and other operations has lagged behind.
There are also great shortcomings in the mechanization of constructior.
work, as the consequence of which 69 percent of the workers in this industry
are even now engaged in manual labor. The mechanization of peat extraction
is lagging. The result is that in summer, when agricultural operations are
in full swing, more than a quarter million w,;rkers have to be shifted to peat
production.
In the timber industry, although felling and hauling operations have been
mechanized, other work has not. The result is that in this industry 60 percent
of the workers are engaged in manual labor.
In the leather industry more than half the hide processing is done by
hand, and there is a lack of lcading and unloading equipment.
In the cotton procurement centers and in the industries engaged in primary
'processing of flat: and bast fibers more than 50,000 emp_oyces work manually.
Despite the fact that tens of thousand of units of equipment were in+ oduced
into the food industries, a number of labor-consuming processes still have not
been mechanized. In the meat industry, approximately half the work is performed
manually; in butter and cheese plants, 53 percent; and in the separation pl0^+c,
93 percent. Fishing is not more than 70 percent mechanized, while fish p oc-
cssing is 32 percent mechanized.
In the cellulose and paper industry, mechanization of labor is incomplete.
In agriculture, complex mechanization has by no means been completed with
respect to field operations and livestock raising. Systems of machinery designed
for different regions which could ensure the complex mechan' ation of all agri-
cultural operations are being developed with unjustifiable delay.
The same unevenness in the mechanization of part.cular processes of pro-
duction exists in machine building where, as a general rule, all basic technical
processes, as well as auxiliary and preparatory operations, have been mechanized.
But in some instances all operations are still being performed manually. This
is all the more worthy of attention, because in machine building plants ap-
proximately half the employees are engaged in auxiliary and preparatory work.
Poor mechanization of operations of the last-mentioned type and stinted
development of production processes results in the situation where although
enterprises and construction projects have been endowed with enormous quanti-
ties )f machinery, manual labor met:rods are still being widely employed. P-
a result of the use of manual labor for auxiliary and combined op- ions,
inadequate. use is being made of the equipment in the possession of those
sectors which have been mechanized. Thus, the advantage derived from the
growth of worker productivity in the mechanized sect-" is freo" ti' ]nst
because of the great expenditure of labor required in the nor=echanized
sectors.
Complex mechanization means the mechanization of the entire, joint process
of p-4'eary and secondary operations combined, the substitution of machinery for
manual labor in all stages of production, and the achievement thereby of
an over-all increase in worker productivity.
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What complex mechanization can do to increase labor productivity may be
seen from the following example.
In machine building the machine time of metal processing equipment amounts,
on the average, to not mare than 20 to 25 percent'of the total working time
of equipment. Tt' remainder of the time 'is spent on various preparatory and
auxiliarv operations which are performed mainly by hand. These include trans-
porting procured and manufactured goods, setting them up and removing them
from machine tools, changing instruments, measurinL parts, and many other or- a-
tions. Experience shows that mechanization of these operations makes it pos-
sible to increase over-all worker productivity by not less, than 100 percent.
In a number of ministries due attention is not being given to mechanization,
modern machinery is not being created, and the economic importance of complex
mechanization has been underestimated.
This is the case in the coal industry. Work toward the creation of the
equipment necessary for the mechanization of propping and roofing operations,
as well as auxiliary operations above and below ground, is moving, forward
very slowly Production of pr-^--tic machinery for the ventilation of
gaseous horizontal tunnels :s unsatisfactory. Consequently, boring, hauling,
and unloading operations are performed manually. Until now no practical design
has been developed for a coal combine capable of separating coal from rock.
for is a combine available for the extraction of coal from the seams of the
Moscow Basin.
The Ministry of Paper and Wood Processing Industry USSR nc:ri- is the use
of machinery which is being manufactured by th, peat enterprises of the
Ministry of Electric Power Stations. The latter manufactures this
for use in its own machine building enterprises. The lack of such machinery
is explained by the fact that there is no specialized branch of industry to
produce the machines. There is an immediate need for specialized enterprises
of this type.
Serious shortcomings likewise exist in the Ministry of Timber Industry
USSR which has unduly retarded the creation of practical machines for brush
cutting, although n?..h development has been going on for years.
Some of the specific problems in the development and wider use of
complex mechanization are given below. .
In the mining industry complex mechanization of mines and pits for
the extraction of ferrous metal ores, as well as considerable development of
pit mechanization in nonferrous metallurgy, should be undertaken, ro that
not less than 85 percent of nonferrous ores will be extracted by this mei.uuu
within the next few years.
In the coal industry, the prime goal is complex mechanizatic of the
operations involved in preparing seam faces, as well as a substantial increase
in the mechanization of coal :accumulation in slanted and tilted seams. Tt 's
most important t.i create and place in operation new machincs for opening
ventilation drifts, for cutting through extremely hard roch formations and
formations of medium hardness, and for the extraction of coal under weak roof
conditions.
Mechanization of labor-consuming subsidiary and auxiliary coal mines
operations both above and below the surface must be completes. as soon as
possible, si^r'e most workers are engaged in this type of work. (The number of
men working on the surface is about 25 percent of the number employed under-
ground.)
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The 'tighly productive and economical method of hydraulic coal mining
placed in operation in the experimental mines of the Kuznets Basin must be
extended to all the principal coal basins and underground extraction of coal
must be increased. In open-pit operations !'; is desirable to remove the
overburden by means of the transport'less system, using powerful excavators
and mobile draglines.
In the peat industry the following measures must be undertaken: mec'ani-
zation of digging, collecting, and loading operations; development of
machinery for drying peat; development of machinery for the extraction anc
simultaneous drying of peat with high moisture content; complex mechanization
of peat bog preparation; an( discovery of new and improved methods of peat
extraction.
In the petroleum industry one of the most important problems involves the
speeding up of experimental and operational drilling. Drilling requires the
expenditure of much time and capital. It may be said without fear of over-
statement that if the speed of drilling is increased and the organi-ation -r
drilling operation is improved; worker productivity can be increased by at
least 100 percent.
The solution of this problem requires the invention and introduction of
new, efficient methods of drilling oil wells -- hitless and vibration drilling,
the creation of new, mobile drilling rigs, and the mechanization of hoisting
and lowering operations.
In the timber industry delays in the production of powerful and efficient
machinery must be eliminated. A stable electrical base for supplying industrial
timber units must be established through the use of powerful, mobile electric
power stations.
It should be noted that instead of showing improvement the use of
mechanical equipment it the timber industry actually lessened during the
course of the Fifth Five-Y,!ar Plan. In 1954 the production goal for limber
per unit of equipment was only 80 percent fulfilled. In January 1955, the
timber hauled by tractor-trailer was only 38 percent of the planned amount,
and thrt hauled by timber trucks was only 54 percent of the planned amount.
The most important tasks in the reconstruction of timber operations
include: complete mechanization of all timber procurrr..r.,. r:- sea; u,,,,e" rve
use of new, more powerful machinery and devices in timber procurement, tunsecrf.
loading, and unloading; and creation of dependable electric pourer stations oper-
ating on the basis of waste forest products.
In the postwar period the USSR cellulose and paper industry Inc-,-
its production of paper and cardboard considerably. New product titre pra3red
for various industries:. Greater use was made of production capacity as the
result of improved technical processes.
Nevertheless, the industry is failing to meet the needs of the economy
for paper products either in qualitative or,qua:titative terms. The level
of technology in this industry is substantially below that of forei n
countries, particularly the US sand Canada. Responsibility for the failure
to produce new types of equipment for the industry must be placed on the
machine building industry, whose job it is to provide such equipment.
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r-
The transition of agriculture to complex mechanization depends largely on
the construction of agricultural machinery for the cultivation of land and
livestock raising. The machinery required for selective harvesting of grain
crops must be put into production as soon as
ossibl
d
i
t
p
e an
ex
s
in;;: combine
designs must be improved. In particular, corn and silage combines Tor sut..urate
harvesting of corn ears and green stalks must be produced. The production of
row crop cultivators, principally for checkrow planting, must be increased.
Machine systems must be developed for the complex mechanization of cotton
production, sunflower production, and for other industrial crops, also fns irrd
improvement through lime and gypsum and fertilizer application. In developing
machine systems it should be emphasized that the different conditions prevailing
in various zones should be taken intc account. Work in the development of
loading, unloading, and transport equipment for agriculture must be speeded up.
Attention'must be given to the mechanization of loading, and unloading
operations in the case of rail, water, ocean, and motor vehicle transportation,
as well as to the access roads and warehouses of enterprises. Approximately
2 million employes are now engaged in this tape of work.
Despite the fact that tens of thousands of cranes, hundreds of thousands
of.mobile and sf:ationary units of transport equipment, and tens of thousands of
pieces of self-loading, unloading, and stacking equipment have been placed in
the possession of the national economy, a number of the heavy and labor-consuming
operations involved in transportation and loading are-still unmechanized. On
the average, about 75 percent of the people employed in loading and unloading
operations use manual methods.
In the meat and mild industry, 97 percent of the workers emp1""d in
loading and unloading operations are engaged in manual labor; in the food
industry, 96 percent; in the fishing industry, 8, percent; in the construction ,
materials industry, 86 percent; in the chemical industry, 82 percent; and in
the petroleum industry, 75 percent.
In railroad loading, unloading, and warehouse operations productivity in
1954 amounted to 15-18 tons per worker, whereas in certain mechanized depart-
ments of metallurgical plants, it amounted to 250-300 tons per worker per
shift.
The fundamental reason for this unsatisfactory state of affairs is poor
utilization of existing equipment. .,On 1 January 1955, 28 ministries had some
1,400 mobile cranes, if which 723 were new. In the coal industry about 75 per-
cert of the cranes were not being used. In the construction industry many
devices were operating only 180 days during the year.
Much loading and nloading equipment is in need of repair. In the timber
industry, 28 percent. of he hoists (TL-1) and 24 percent of the cranes were out
of order.
One reason for the serious lag in the mechanization of loading and un-
loading work is the lack of a scientific research, planning, and engineering
institution which could be engaged in devising efficient methods of mechr.ni-
zation.
Of equal importance is the tenden':y of ministries and departments to
underestimate the possibility of mechanizing this type of operation by using
simple and economical methods which do not require motors and complicated
mechanisms.
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Inadequate use is being ? made of cheap and dependable devices
such as the pneumatic equipment employed in loading cement, which is readily
adaptable to other bulk commodities.
mechanization of loadi
ng and unloading operations is seriously retarded
by the relatively slow production growth of machinery designed esnecinJly for
such purposes. Thus the production -f rai--road cranes o' 6- and 25-ton
capacities, as well as 4-ton selfloaders, not only failed to increase in 1954,
but actually dropped somewhat. Production of other types of loading and un-
loading machinery increased slightly, by from one to 4 percent.
To eliminate manual labor in these operations, to reduce costs, and to
release a large number of workers for other kinds of employment, it t.A t.rmer-
ative that mechanical equipment of the needed type ')e produced as soon as
possible and that full use be made of such equipment as is now on hand.
Automation of production based on the use of automated machinery (mashin-
avtomaty) and automatic machine. systems which perform all the stepc in the
production process without the direct participation of the individual represents
the highest stage in labor productivity. Under automation the role of the
worker is confined to the control of mechanisms. Fxnerir.-C, with automation
in the chemical industry has shown that in 1953, as the result of the
automation of the Donets Soda Plant, 56,000 additional tons of soda were
obtained, while production cost was reduced by 3.6 million rubles.
In the production of bolts and nuts, automation of lines increases labor
productivity fourfold to fivefold and reduces cost by 20 to 30 percent.
In leading metallurgical enterprises a'-omated regulation of temperature,
pressure, and moistrue raises the productivity of blast and open-hearth furnaces
7 to 10 percent. Automation of existing rolling mils increases productivity
15 percent.
Automation of production, like mechanization, produces best results when
it is of the complex type. For example, in machine building the substitution
of automatic lathes for the usual type results in an approximately fourfold
increase in labor productivity. Complex mechanization of continuous flow lines,
in turn, increases labor productivity at least 100 percent. In the petroleum
industry complex mechanization of oil wells reduces labor requirements h" 25 to
33 percent and makes it possible for a single dispatcher to control `.he
operation of dozens of wells.
The level of science and technology which has been attained, as well as
automation of specific types of production, indicates the possibility of wide-
spread development of automation in industry. At the same time it should be
noted that the proportion and scale of auto-ated production processes in
industry are still insignificant. This is especially true with respect to
complexlI hanizations. The basic shops of electric power stations are not
undergoing.; satisfactory complex mechanization. Automated rolling and tube
rolling mills are being introduced slowly. In the cellulose and hydrolytic
industry complex automation of control and regulation of boiling and hydrolytic
processes is unsatisfactory.
Automation of chemical processes is absolutely inadequate. Thus, of all
the existing superphosphate plants only the Vinnitsa Plant has been partially
automated. The rest show practically no automation of production processes.
In the production of sulfuric acid, in general, only the control operations have
been automated; in the hydrolytic plants the degree of automation ranges from
15 to 46 percent of operations as a whole.
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gal ana radio engineering industr, and
Jsati }meat. building industry, in y in the machine
transport machine buildinbg,
number of other industrs work in the direction of automation
and in a
satisfactory, 'a
is un-
In the
deve7_o?m development of automation the most
ent of precision enni?,,~ent and instruments. Complete automation of
he control and direction of chemical processes in all
development, plants is one of the
In the field of electric power it is necessary within a few
complete the telemechanization of the primary power systems, to te7.e^~en_
al.l. the substations years to
aortthe of the included in the unified power system f the eanize
teemon Ofithe USSR. It is also necessary to effect a transition from the
zation of re individual electric power stations toheelemechani-
gional power nets.
The new electric substations now under construction must in
outfitted with teledirectional equipment. All thermoelectric statinnn the
co ;truction of which was begun general be
automation devices and central conduring trol of power must be equipped with co
aoe. power shops and stations as alex
Scientific research, planning, and engineering work must be undertaken
to create a practical block of boiler turbines, fully mechanized and automated
with a capacity of about 300,000 kilowatts and steam parameters of
pheres and 650 degrees centigrade. Such a block shouldbe put
within the next 5 years. 300 atmos-
into operation
In the area of petroleum extraction automation an,' disnatchi-
operations must be completed, and automata,. discharging of
products from all all
Pump Pipes must be introduced. Paraffinic
In ferrous metallurgy automation of rolling and tube rolling mills must
be undertaken on a wide scale; in nonferrous metallurgy, automatic control of
technical mining processes, beneficiation, and metallurgical plants must be
effected.
About 8 percent of all workers employed in underground mining of coal are
now operating mechanisms and machines. Work in effecting remote automatic
control of machinery in all basic underground and surface operations must be
speeded up. in the primary coal mines centralized control and block signal
systems must be introduced for underground transportation as well as com
dispatching and automatic control of mine sectors and machinery.
Alex
Automation and uninterrupted methods of operation must be introduced in
the cellulose and paper industry. cing the neededThfore
automation ninhalllbranches of productive the equip
economy rests on the machine building industry.
A1on, with he necessity for continuing replacement of old by new equipment
and the modernization of existing equipment on a wide scale, work in the
went of modern press, forge, This is necessary because forges andfoundry
fou equpment must h n n?velop-
indu priority.
necks, now constitute industria? bottle-
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serious handicap to mechanization andautomation,o equires~consas it iderab lose
effort on the part of scientists desi la greater
Partic.pation of all machine building ente
er., and rpris st`rhichcproducesthis kindtof
equipment. In addition, it is necessary to create and to supply the newest
types of equipment to those enterprises which are row being constructed.
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