Can we get to know you?
Alican EKIN, I was born in 1984 in Istanbul.  I completed my undergraduate degree at Istanbul Kultur University, Department of Industrial Engineering.  Apart from that, I studied at Hochschule Bremen, Germany.  I carried out project and process management within Ekinler Group.  I am in a management position in renewable energy activities and Ekinler Energy.  Ege Kablo A.Ş., which is also a part of Ekinler Group.  I am a Member of the Board of Directors.  As of January 2023, I became the General Manager of Ekinler Endüstri A.Ş.

When did your paths cross with your company?
While I was a university student in Istanbul, I started with a process development project in Ekinler Industry production, which is our family business.  Afterwards, I was involved in business and market development activities.  I worked mainly in Tübitak 1507 and 1501 projects.

Could you give some information about your company and its operations?
Our company, which started its activities in 1984, became the first company to produce connectors for the CRT television industry in Turkey.  Afterwards, we have become a specialist company that produces white goods cable grouping, white goods sensor production, auto glass clips for the automotive sector, battery connection cables and components for global battery companies, junction boxes for the solar energy sector, special speed and temperature sensors in the aviation field.

Could you give information about the organizational structure of your company?
We act as a family business with 5 partners.  We continue our work with the relevant unit directorates within the scope of our annual targets before the Board of Directors.  We care about and work on corporate planning, transparency, fairness, performance bonus and digitalization.

Our total team is around 230 and approximately 13% of this number works as white collar.

Our white-collar staff is mainly of engineer background.  I would like to share with you the participation rate of women in our workforce.  Our female employee rate is 40% for white collar workers and 73% for total employees.

Which sectors do you serve?
We provide production and service for products that require advanced design and innovative solutions in fields such as White Goods, Solar Energy, Battery, Aviation and automotive.

Can you talk about your export rates and which country you export to the most?
As Ekinler Industry Inc. in particular, we have around 30% of our exports.  We can say mostly to Poland, Serbia, Italy.  In Ekinler Group, this rate rises to 45%.  In addition to being mainly in Europe, we reach 20 countries in total here.

What are the features that set you apart from your competitors?
If we do not count China, our competitors in the specific areas we work are limited to 2 or 3 companies globally.  This shows the sensitivity of our work.  Our biggest feature is that we have R&D, product design, mold design and automation competencies.  By 2023, we are moving to a more innovation-oriented mindset.  Especially our R&D team has new ideas and new project goals.  We aim to be a few companies in the world rather than being a competitor.

Can we get information about your new investment and R&D activities?
As before, as of 2023, we follow innovative products and new areas.  In the field of solar panels in 2010, we developed the solar junction box as a TUBITAK Project and presented it to the market.  As of this year, we are working on electric vehicles and lithium battery technologies.  We are involved in special sensor projects in the field of aviation.  Such works are very valuable for the development of the institution.  In terms of investment, we have capacity increases and MES system investments.  Traceability is a very important issue for our institution.  Our expectation from the main industry in the White Goods Sector is that our R&D team and their R&D and design teams work together to realize long-term projects.  As a matter of fact, this is how things work in the automotive and aviation industries.  Then we undertake more value-added works.

With the pandemic and the war, how was the year 2022?
We closed the year 2022 in line with our expectations and grew as much as our target.  Frankly, we can experience the advantages of operating in different sectors.

What are your projections and risk factors for 2023?  Do you have any special preparations or precautions regarding the earthquake?
Our target for 2023 is to grow by 90%.  However, the problem of access to liquid money on the finance side still continues.  In other words, we are faced with a regulation that changes every day for access to bank loans.  This directly affects the producer and growth on the industrial side.  On the other hand, the prolongation of the deadline and the return of the maturities in raw material sources remind once again how important it is to produce the product error-free, in a timely manner and with an accuracy that will fully meet the needs.

Drills are held in our institution about earthquakes.  We are a company that does not compromise on occupational safety and possible risks.  While we, as a company, consider all the details on a serious issue such as an earthquake, we proactively support our employees to take individual precautions.  For this, our human resources department organizes earthquake bags to be distributed to our employees.  Of course, we want days when we don't need an earthquake kit, but we have taken our measures for every possibility.  Let's also remind the importance of factories having static and robustness analysis done.

How do you see the development of Industry 4.0 in Turkey?  Do you have any studies or precautions regarding digitalization?
I think that Industry 4.0 applications will be difficult as profitability and value-added jobs are low in the white goods sector.  Here, there may be more investments in MES - in other words digitalization.  We aim to complete our transition to MES (Production Management System) within 3 years.  We are starting the data extraction process and data management process this year through the pilot production point.

What are your views on BEYSAD and what are your expectations from BEYSAD?
We have been a member of BEYSAD (White Goods Suppliers' Association) for a long time.  Organizations and planned sector trips are very valuable.  The continuation of such activities and the formation of B2B organizations from business to business will be very valuable for the sector and stakeholders.  It will be healthy for BEYSAD to get the ratio of conversion to trade of the organizations it has made in order to measure its own efficiency, through the participants.  It can also create a main topic on a yearly basis or within the term and organize training and B2B organizations under that heading.  Within the scope of 2023, the issue of digitalization in production can be monitored.  Again, a seminar on the 5-year and 10-year trends of the White Goods Industry can be organized.