Dear Readers of the BEYSAD Magazine,

In this issue we once more come together with a very distinguished manager. Mr. Çetin Çıtakoğlu, the General Manager of our new member Teknopark Company, enlightens us with the substantial experience he brings from the automotive sector… It was really difficult to reach Mr. Çetin in his intensive traveling tempo but thankfully he indulged us and participated in this interview on time in spite of all his tiredness. We believe he will light the way for you, too.

We thank him very much for supporting us.

 Can we learn more about you?

I graduated from Istanbul Technical University General Mechanical Engineering in 1980. Afterwards, I started as a young engineer in the project coordination group which managed the establishment works of motor, power-train and truck factory of Turkey’s leading automotive company. This project was initiated by the doyens of the Turkish Automotive Industry amidst the economic hardships of the time; I undertook various duties in this project and I have always felt pride for having been a member of that group. In this establishment where I worked for 16 years, not only did I gain experience about establishing and running a state-of-the-art factory but I also gained many other experiences in production and assembly management as the Production Manager. These valuable lessons have always contributed greatly to me in my subsequent career. 

This intensive production experience, which I gained in the first half of my working life of almost 31 years, continued with my taking senior level responsibilities concerning the re-structuring and strategic business development steps in management positions of the supplier companies operating in the automotive and white goods sector. 

Can you please give us information about the Teknopark Company and its activities?

We initiated re-structuring of the Teknopark Group which manufactured asynchronous electric motors, aluminum and injection products as well as wiring harnesses mainly for the white goods sector with its 350-person staff in three facilities one of which is located in Kartal, Istanbul and the other two in Çerkezköy. In this regard, we introduced the principles of management according to budget in the group companies on our path to achieve our three main targets and established a new structure shaped by lean management and lean organization.

The main targets of our Group were designated as such: 

1. Entering among the top 500 companies of Turkey within 3 years
2. Achieving 60% of our turnover from exports as a global company
3. Embarking on firstly the automotive and later the aviation and defense industries in addition to the white goods industry for which we have already been serving. 

We are working very hard with a team which believes in these targets at least as much as I do. We have a young but capable, experienced and dynamic team; they believe that they will attain the targets we set together. We have overcome the challenges brought by change and started to achieve what we had planned through new projects and markets. 

We improved our strategies so as to expand to global markets and become a global player. For this reason, we are intensively improving our foreign relations and participating in fairs. Following Iran, Germany and Indonesia, we last attended relevant fairs in the UK. These participations contributed greatly to us on our path to become a strategic supplier industry in our field. 

As our new member, what are your expectations from BEYSAD? What can we do for you?

It is possible to find ways to act jointly under the roof and/or the coordination of BEYSAD in main subjects such as investment planning, purchasing, machinery and equipment supply, joint maintenance, and utilizing idle capacities. For example, as to investment planning, could we not think about a “joint investment”? Could it not be possible to conduct a joint purchasing in order to lower purchasing costs, could a purchasing office not be established in China and India? Some companies in Europe are shutting down. Could their machinery and equipment not be brought to Turkey by moving together? It is a fact that adequate maintenance staff is not present in every supplier company. Could it not be possible to create electrical, mechanical and electronics maintenance teams made up of experts and provide service to those companies which are lacking in this area? Could it not be possible to prevent the lack of spare parts, which causes great production losses, through this coordination? 

I think the fact that BEYSAD is at the phase of preparing the “Strategy Paper” on these subjects is a great opportunity.