A New Model for Russia’s Shipyards
Karelia is becoming a proving ground for Industry 4.0: Russia’s first end-to-end digital shipyard is operating at the Onega Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Yard.
The Onega Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Yard (OSSRY), part of KRO SoyuzMash, in Karelia is developing and already operating Russia’s first shipyard with fully digital management. Its innovative ecosystem brings every stage of ship construction – from drawing development and component supply to launch – into a single digital environment, allowing the yard to monitor the production cycle online. Global-Marine, the project being deployed at the facility, has already gained federal recognition as one of Russia’s particularly significant IT projects.
Digital From Design to Launch
The project’s defining feature is end-to-end digitization of the entire production cycle through an integrated digital manufacturing information system. This overarching system connects machine tools, warehouses and logistics in a single virtual environment, allowing the yard to model “What if?” scenarios and configure business processes flexibly through a visual editor. QR codes and RFID tags provide end-to-end tracking of raw materials, workpieces and assemblies, giving the yard real-time visibility into the status of every production stage. Robots capable of laser-hybrid welding are already operating in upgraded hull fabrication shops covering 25,000 square meters.
The vessel’s information model is created using products from ASCON: the KOMPAS-3D computer-aided design system and LOTSMAN:PLM engineering data management platform. The model is then transferred without data loss into Global-Marine, an industry-specific ERP system developed by Business Technologies on the universal Global ERP platform.
Russia’s Answer to SAP and Oracle
Global ERP is a universal cross-platform system designed to replace foreign enterprise software such as SAP and Oracle. Built on a three-tier architecture using the PostgreSQL database management system and Kubernetes orchestration, the platform supports automatic scaling and fault tolerance. It runs in a browser and is compatible with the Russian Astra Linux and RED OS operating systems. Global-Marine, the industry-specific system built on the platform, covers the full cycle of production, financial and workforce management and can be accessed through a browser, PCs and mobile devices. At the Karelia site, the platform handles functions ranging from MRP-based material requirements planning and budgeting to project management and electronic document management.
Modernization at Scale
The idea for the digital shipyard emerged in 2017, and construction of the plant began in 2022. Crucially, no comparable integrated complex exists elsewhere in the world. Technologically advanced countries have individual solutions with some similar capabilities, including partial developments by Siemens, but no comparable integrated system has been developed specifically for the shipbuilding industry. The Onega yard became the first to put the end-to-end digital shipyard concept into physical operation.
The first phase of OSSRY’s modernization went into operation in January 2025. Investment in the project totaled 6.3 billion rubles (about $74.6 million), equipping the shops with 18 cranes and more than 100 pieces of CNC equipment. The second phase, costing 2.15 billion rubles (about $25.5 million), began in March 2026. Plans call for upgrading the slipway to launch vessels weighing up to 2,600 metric tons and constructing a 4,000-square-meter building for painting, outfitting and electrical work, complete with an automated warehouse using stacker cranes.
The extensive technical upgrade will allow the yard to increase vessel deliveries from three to 10 a year, expand metal processing capacity from 1,000 to 10,000 metric tons and triple labor productivity. More than 500 high-tech jobs will be created.
OSSRY’s current order book includes 13 vessels: two shallow-draft icebreakers, three ice-class tugboats, two oil-spill response vessels and six hopper barges.
A New Shipbuilding Reality
The first deployment of the new import-independent version of Global-Marine began back in 2016 at St. Petersburg’s Severnaya Verf, part of United Shipbuilding Corporation. That flagship project demonstrated that the Russian system could operate in a shipbuilding production environment and laid the groundwork for deployment at other yards across the industry. In February 2022, the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch reported a successful Global-Marine rollout: running on Astra Linux and PostgreSQL, the system automated planning, procurement, inventory management and collaboration with the ship design bureau in a single electronic environment. Global-Marine has now been deployed at seven Russian shipbuilding facilities.
Technologies for the Future
The Karelia project is setting a new standard for the industry. Until recently, other shipbuilders largely purchased licenses for disconnected IT systems; at the Onega yard, by contrast, a full Industry 4.0 model is being put through its paces, with combinations of Russian CAD, PLM and ERP software tested under real operating conditions alongside industrial robotics and machine vision. The experience gained will give software developers a foundation for bringing these technologies to other shipyards. Furthermore, if the combination of ASCON products and Global ERP demonstrates economic efficiency in serial shipbuilding, it could offer an alternative to Western software in friendly countries developing their own shipbuilding industries. There is another potential export benefit: shorter construction times and lower production costs could make Russian civilian vessels themselves more competitive.
