Finalists of CASE-IN’s Autumn Cup came up with 63 lean ideas to promote Russia’s development

11 december 2024

On December 9, MSU’s Lomonosov Cluster hosted the finals of CASE-IN’s 12th season’s finals. CASE-IN is an International Engineering Championship that has been conducted with the support of the presidential platform Russia - Land of Opportunity. Experts from Russia’s leading industries examined 63 promising solutions for implementing lean manufacturing principles in key areas of Russia’s manufacturing sector that had been submitted by schoolchildren, students, and young professionals. The finals’ 15 winning and runner-up teams were not just presented with their well-deserved awards that included extra USE score points, paid internships and career advancement opportunities but were also offered a chance to learn valuable professional competencies and exchange experience with the best of their peers from across Russia.

According to Artem Korolev, the founder and co-chair of the organizing committee of the CASE-IN championship, the project has been drawing fast-advancing contestants who are always on the lookout for new development opportunities and are ready to have a career in some of the industry’s top companies for 12 years.

"Over these years, 204 teams of students have emerged as the championship’s winners and runners-up to get their well-deserved awards and opportunities for growth including preferential admission to master's and postgraduate degree programs at 30 universities and paid internships at companies with prospects for subsequent employment there. Thanks to taking part in the championship, 7,900 participants ended up getting employment in key sectors of the nation’s economy," Korolev added.

At the tournament’s Autumn Cup, contestants competing in the School and Student Leagues, as well as in the League of Young Professionals and the League of Workers’ Professions were required to solve multiple cases associated with Lean Manufacturing, the main theme of the 12th season of the CASE-IN championship. The assignment for the contestants that had been prepared by the championship’s partner companies contained hypotheticals that were based on real-life operational circumstances.

According to Gennady Guryanov, Deputy General Director of ANO "Russia –Land of Opportunity", the contest’s final stage had been reached by 63 teams. The finals featured 252 future and present engineers pitching their innovative ideas to the experts’ community.

"I am here for the first time, but I have already had a chance to feel the contest’s incredibly friendly atmosphere. In keeping with the long-standing tradition, each CASE-IN season ends with the Autumn Cup, that brought together some 4,500 talented young men and women this year. Nearly 12 thousand contestants had been given a chance to showcase their best qualities and acquire hard professional skills during the 2024 championship. The contest’s final stage had been reached by 63 teams. The finals featured 252 future and present engineers pitching their innovative ideas to the experts’ community," said Gennady Guryanov, Deputy General Director of ANO "Russia –Land of Opportunity". "Today, the championship’s experts watched presentations of dozens of daring innovative solutions. I am confident that many of them will get implemented in a real-life environment as Russian enterprises continue introducing lean manufacturing technologies at their sites."

The final contest of the Student League, the most populous of all, featured a meetup of 22 teams. The contest had received support from the National Research University MPEI and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. The list of the Student League’s partners includes ALROSA, SIBUR, the United Metallurgical Company and Gazpromneft’s Moscow Refinery.

Alexander Vedekhin, Deputy Director of the Russian Federation Ministry of Science and Higher Education’s Department for Youth Policies and Educational Activities:
"We are trying to make sure that you are able to not just receive your higher or secondary vocational education, but that you can also have the opportunity to strengthen and improve your professional skills," Alexander Vedekhin emphasized. "So that those of you who are just trying to decide on their career path could pick a profession to their liking with greater precision; so that students can later on fill most promising vacancies. I'm confident that many of you have a chance to become outstanding tech entrepreneurs. And those of you who are now in their final years of college or who already work as young professionals could develop their professional skills further, move up the career ladder faster and get to put their professional skills that they have acquired, inter alia, thanks to their participation in the CASE-IN championship, to good use."

Nikolay Rogalev, rector of MPEI, noted the important role that the long-term cooperation between the university and the championship had been playing in developing the younger generation of engineers: "The championship is a great school. You put together a team, learn new technologies, compete, get excited, and, thanks to this tremendous boost of energy that you get as a result, you keep on advancing and moving forward."

The Student League will remember the year 2024 for the launch of a new direction entitled "Space Technologies" providing university students with an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in this area. The 10 teams that had reached the final presented to the experts their concepts for an optimal model of a system capable of controlling multi-satellite orbital constellations using automation and lean manufacturing technologies that are expected to contribute to increasing control efficiency by 2033.

The first to become the winners and the silver medalists of the "space" challange were the students of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University representing the Pulsar and the Flight of Dreams teams, respectively. The third prize went to the Ryskanie team of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

In response to the assignment given to them by ALROSA, 12 best teams competing in the Student League’s general industry category developed a logistics model for delivering fuel to the company based on optimization methods and the use of lean production tools that would ensure achievement of an equilibrium price point and economic efficiency over the period through 2029.

The Kuzbass eXpressO (representing T.F. Gorbachev Kuzbass State Technical University) team was able to prove that it was second to none . The second place was taken by the Resonance Epoch team from the MPEI National Research University, while the bronze medal was awarded to PetroVision (Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University).

16 teams from 8 regions had been able to reach the finals of CASE-IN’s School League. The youngest participants of the league’s final had managed not to get eclipsed by their older co-finalists, having come up with a design for the production of printed circuit boards acting on the assignment of Alabuga SEZ, one of the league’s partners.

Irek Faizullin, Russian Federation construction, housing and utilities minister sent the finalist his cordial greetings: "I would like to acknowledge the achievements of the talented school students who had successfully demonstrated not only their remarkable knowledge and skills, but also their ingenuity and commitment for innovation," he noted, "May your ideas and projects become the basis for future innovations and progress in our country!"

The School League’s contest was won by the Kuzbass Energy team from Kemerovo’s UnikUm Center for Children's Scientific and Engineering Creativity operating under the T.F. Gorbachev Kuzbass State Technical University.

The second place was taken by the Innovators from UnikUm, while the third prize was awarded to the members of the Olympia team representing Moscow’s School No. 1317.

As for the League of Workers’ Professions, its finals were once again reached by students representing 10 teams of 9 colleges and vocational schools. The league’s challenges are being implemented thanks to a grant of the President of the Russian Federation provided by the Presidential Grants’ Fund for purposes of advancing science, education and outreach. The 10 teams that had chosen to compete in this field worked to put together a technical device, a model or a prototype with or without the use of digital or analog microelectronic components.

Alexander Bugayev, First Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation welcomed the participants on behalf of the Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov.

"The championship has been drawing all who are fascinated by engineering and who will help propel our country forward," said Alexander Bugaev pointed out.

Participants of the Manufacturing contest used the finals to present their results on addressing pressing issues faced by Russia’s manufacturing sector all the way through 2035. The first prize went to the Sema team representing Multidisciplinary College of Tyumen Industrial University. The silver medal was awarded to Irkutsk Power Engineering College’s Iskra, whereas the third place was taken by the Scientific Committee for Chemistry (Tomsk College of Manufacturing and Humanities).

Participants of the Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles and/or Autonomous Mobile Surveillance Systems contest built a prototype to be used for the development of a new industrial sector associated with the development and use of civilian unmanned and autonomous technologies in Russia over the next five years. The RGB Sh team from Tyumen Industrial University came in first, with the second place going to the Volga Polytechnic College and its Firefly team. The third place was taken by the Mining Coders representing Kemerovo’s V.G. Kozhevin Mining Technical School.

The list of partners of the League of Workers’ Professions includes SIBUR, Alabuga SEZ, Unigreen Energy, and United Metallurgical Company.

The league's media partners are: EVRAZ, Siberian Generating Company, RUSAL, ALROSA, System Operator of the Unified Energy System, Uralchem, YATEC, Tatneft, and NIIturbocompressor.

The League of Young Professionals was open to more seasoned participants who had already gotten some experience working for various industries’ companies. The finals’ 15 teams succeeded in completing the assignment related to incorporating the philosophy and principles of "lean" manufacturing and effectively applying them in the context of sustainable development.

Anastasia Bondarenko, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Energy of Russia, noted that the Autumn Cup is helping young people discover their talents and get involved in addressing their industries’ most pressing challenges while demonstrating their abilities to major employers and making their first steps up a professional career ladder.

"Our fuel and energy sector really needs young blood. Take the example of the electric power industry. It has the lowest percentage of young employees despite being one of the key directions of the CASE-IN competition. Year after year, the championship has been showing the different ways talented young people can use to apply themselves to addressing specific challenges, while providing them with ample opportunities for personal, professional and career growth," Ms. Bondarenko noted.

The contest’s main prize when to the Oil Grail team of Slavneft-Krasnoyarskneftegaz. The silver medal was awarded to Mosenergo’s Carbon Footprint, while the third place was taken by the New Challenge representing Sibur-Kstovo.

The finals of the Autumn Cup were crowned with a ceremony honoring its winners and runners-up that was attended by representatives of respective ministries and agencies.

The winners of the Student League will be offered to enroll in master's and postgraduate degree programs on preferential terms, in addition to an opportunity to do internships and get hands-on experience within partner companies with the prospect of being offered subsequent employment there.

The best of the school students will get extra USE score points that could come in very handy when enrolling in bachelor's degree programs of the championship’s partner universities.

Those behind the best of the ideas presented at the League of Young Professionals’ contest will be provided with new opportunities for career advancement and professional growth, in addition to being included in their companies’ respective succession pools.

On top of that, winners and runners-up will be invited to attend industry-specific educational youth fora and to travel around Russia as part of the More than Just a Trip program.

In addition to taking stock of the challenge’s 2024 results, the final of the Autumn Cup was also used to outline some promising areas for further expansion of the tournament going forward. According to Artem Korolev, the 2025 CASE-IN will be dedicated to "tech innovations".

"This topic will become the championship's common thread and will be incorporated in our challenges’ future cases," he noted. "Implementation of technological innovations in manufacturing is one of the key prerequisites for achieving technological sovereignty and building a strong and competitive national economy."

The 13th season of the CASE-IN International Engineering Championship will be launched on February 1, 2025.

The championship has been included in The Science of Winning initiative and the plan of activities as part of the 2022-2031 Decade of Science and Technology in Russia.

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