Could you please introduce yourself?
Hello, I am Ömer Bostan. I graduated from Mechanical Engineering of Yildiz Technical University in 2001. I did English MBA in Marmara University. I have been working for DEKA Elektroteknik A.Ş. since 2003. In my 14 years of working life, I served to the company as the R&D Engineer, Production Manager, and Quality System Manager. Now I am the R&D Manager.

Could you inform us about Deka and its operations? Which sectors do you serve?
DEKA Elektroteknik San. ve Tic. A.Ş. was founded in 1993 to produce electromechanical components for the White Goods sector. The company has adopted a professional management style, customer-oriented thinking, and total quality management approach. DEKA has today become the leading producer of the domestic and foreign sector.

We serve to our customers in our two production facilities in 10.000m² in Cayirova/Kocaeli and 5.000m² in Manisa Organized Industrial Zone. Our company gives service to global white appliances producers of cables, plug-in cables and cable grouping and has a capacity of producing 65 million plug-in cables per year. We produce PVC granules and cables needed for plug-in cable production.

Our investments continue for technology and capacity in the plug-in cable and cable grouping areas.

If you have not replied above already, could you tell us about your export rates and which country do you export most?
Our main market for export is Europe (Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, Hungary, Switzerland, etc.). We also export to South Africa, Israel, Australia, Argentina, etc.

What distinguishes you from your competitors?
The core of our business is innovation. Innovation is an integral part of the daily operations of DEKA. The most important feature that distinguishes us from our competitors is our dedication to produce innovative products to contribute in the sustainable future of the White Goods and Small House Appliances industry to help with change.

And what do we do differently? Innovation is not limited to research and development laboratories. An innovative culture spans the whole company. We encourage our employees in all of our departments to always lead innovations for the future and to challenge the status-quo. This perspective lies in the core of the innovative technologies we create, the services we render and the processes we follow while we design and develop new products.

We have a number of principles to prove our innovativeness, e.g.;

• 1993 – The first foreign certificates on electric components obtained in Turkey (VDE, ENEC, UL, ASTA, etc.)
• 1996 – The first ISO 9000 Quality Management System and 14001 Environment Management Certificates obtained in Turkey
• 1999-  The first TSE-HAR Brand (CENELEC Harmonized Document) in cables obtained in Turkey
•  2012-  The first Turkish brand that became a leader in Europe
• 2017-  The first plug-in cable producer laboratory accredited as per the CB norms
• 2017 – The first R&D Center in the sector

Could you tell us about your new investments and operations for R&D? Do you have a R&D Strategy?
We are aware that to achieve a persistent existence and success in the global competition, we have to be innovative and achieve a technological competence. Therefore, we carry out our R&D operations and technological investments in line with our target to become a leading company in innovation with a high competitive power in the globe. 

Our investments in a full-automatic production line that provides for the requirements of our customers and the market. We conduct research on the integration and communication of the robotic systems and the lines in our business and the integrated functioning of the product imaging systems and programs with our automatic production lines. Besides these projects, we become the solution partners of our consumers and we share our most competitive product designs and R&D center outputs with them to meet their needs.

In very recent history, your R&D Center has been approved by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology. We congratulate you and we would like to ask you questions about this process, since we think you would be a good example for our other members.

What was your motive to make this decision?
By founding an R&D center, we aimed to develop an R&D and innovativeness culture in our company, to create a project management culture, and to coordinate operations among the units. The gains we aim to get from the R&D center include taking DEKA forward, increasing and maintaining our competitive power, increasing our reputation and attractiveness and working with our customers to develop products in the long run.

We aim to contribute in growing our company and achieving sustainable and permanent successes in Europe with the projects and operations we carry out.

Where did you start to achieve this success?
Before companies can apply for an R&D Center, they are required to review and learn the entire legal requirements as per the Law on Supporting Research and Development Operations no. 5746, analyze to what extent they already meet these legal requirements, and prepare a business plan to complete what they lack. 

Companies that meet the requirements to apply for an R&D Center and prepare their application file can hand in their files directly to the Directorate General for Science and Technology or submit their application via e-mail or the R&D Web portal.

What is the required company background? Can any entity that says “I would like to become an R&D Center” be accepted and succeed?
The Ministry’s definition of R&D Center is a center organized as a separate unit within the physical organizational structure of equity companies in Turkey, has a defined subject, time, budget and personnel need, conducts research and development activities, employs minimum 15 full-time equivalent R&D personnel, and has experience and skills for R&D.

The business to apply for an R&D Center is required to have an adequate R&D management and technological entities, R&D human resources, intellectual properties, projects and information resources management skills and capacity.

Companies can have more information on the subject by filling out the short survey of the Ministry called “Can I become an R&D Center?” on the following website. https://agtm.sanayi.gov.tr/Agm/ArgeDetay

Which incentive mechanisms have you benefited from and at which rates?
The ever increasing number of R&D centers is promising in terms of having an R&D culture in place. I believe that our government supports R&D activities via incentives, exceptions and donations will provide positive consequences. We think that these supports should continue and increase in an encouraging and motivation way based on our national targets for 2023.

Moreover, a company cannot have all the required resources and infrastructure to maintain R&D and innovation operations and it is not required and cannot be expected to. It should cooperate with public research institutions, universities or other companies on the right axis in order to make its operations more effective and enhance its competences. Therefore, building the right cooperation is a must.

In order to achieve a sound and stable growth, we need R&D operations and incentives. Financing, incentives, qualified personnel and right cooperation are critical. DEKA has so far benefited from 1507- TÜBİTAK SME R&D start support program, KOSGEB R&D, innovation and industrial application support program, KOSGEB SME project support programs and various Ministry of Economy incentives. In the upcoming periods, we plan to benefit from the TÜBİTAK project incentives as well as incentive mechanisms supported by the Ministry of Science and Industry.

Still very early, but how have you benefited so far? What do you expect in the short- and long-run?
In this regard, I think there are two main advantages: financial and cultural. Financial advantages include first of all SSI employer’s share incentive, R&D discount, as well as income tax and stoppage tax discounts. While the cultural advantages of an R&D Center are creating, spreading and improving an R&D culture in the institution, creating a system of R&D projects and also, benefiting from the advantages and donation programs provided by the public industry.

Our company that keeps up its innovation- and technology-centered operations is one step closer to its objectives after establishing an R&D center.

How was the first half of 2017 for your sector and what do you foresee for the end of 2017?
2016 was a good year for us and 2017 started fast. We achieved a sales rate beyond our expectations with the effect of the SCT discount at home and after gaining new customers. We aim to sustain this trend during the rest of the year and grow above 15%.

How do you assess the development of Industry 4.0 in Turkey? Does Deka have related operations and measures?
The near future of production in Industry 4.0 and DEKA wishes to play a leading role in developing innovative products and production technologies to shape the future of the sector.

Following the principles of I4.0, we engage new production lines and monitor and follow our production processes online (MES). We consider the MES approach a transition to enable architectural and procedural standardization on the way to I4.0. With the help of the sensors and control systems to be integrated to our existing structure, we plan to perform preventive maintenance.

With our current and new investments, we review the complicated and failed issues we encountered so far through the Industry 4.0 techniques. We especially work on the integration of visual control and processing systems to our existing production practices.

What do you think about BEYSAD and what do you expect of BEYSAD?
Nowadays R&D and innovation have become integral parts of competition. Countries that have industries supported by effective R&D incentives are at the top of the World Competition Ranking.

I think BEYSAD holds an important position in terms of bringing companies together and enabling them to share their experiences regarding the best R&D Center applications.

We would like to thank everyone who makes this happen.

Atilla Eren:
DEKA Elektroteknik Board Member

Our company serves primarily to the White Goods Sector. It the leading plug-in cable producer in Europe and serves to global white goods producers. Our company is known for its technology and does its best to provide the best to make itself and its clients competitive in all the processes.

In line with this objective, the operations to establish an R&D Center began in 2016 and approved by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology on April 04, 2017.

DEKA Elektroteknik aims to improve the innovation culture and the R&D Center structure, to strengthen our technological information capacity, to develop products with high added value and to increase the number of qualified R&D personnel.

We all see that in this information age when science and technologies rapidly improve and an industrial revolution is happening, those that cannot keep up with change can no longer survive using traditional methods. The most important element in this change is inquisitive qualified human resources. R&D Centers provide very important contributions in this change, as well. I wish we will not be late as a country assuming that innovative approaches can only flourish in compliant eco-systems.