Dear BEYSAD readers,

As you know, TÜRKBESD (Türkiye Beyaz Eşya Sanayicileri Derneği/White Goods Manufacturers’ Association of Turkey) which is one of the important representatives of our industry has selected its new chairman and board of directors in the past months. Dear Ergün Güler, the young and dynamic General Manager of Vestel Marketing, has become the chairman. We had the opportunity to know and talk about him to introduce Mr. Ergün to you better and get information about the new activities of TÜRKBESD on our pages. We thank Mr. Ergün for sparing his valuable time and TÜRKBESD Secretary General Dear Öykü Korkmaz for her support to this interview.

Dear Ergün Güler, first of all, we wish you success in your new role and your new board of directors. Can you please shortly mention about yourself and your career until this time?
I was born in 1974. After graduating from İzmir Private Turkish High School, I completed my undergraduate education at the department of Management of Dokuz Eylül University. Then, I got my MBA degree at Bilkent University. I have been working for Vestel Group since 1999. I worked as Vestel Group Financial Affairs and Treasury Assistant General Manager between the years of 2006 and May, 2012. On May, 2012, I was assigned as Zorlu Holding Corporate Risk and Treasury Coordinator. At the end of the same month, I started to work as Vestel Marketing General Manager. In addition, I have taken responsibility of the industry as the Chairman of TÜRKBESD Board of Directors since April 21, 2015.

Can you please mention about your management structure? We would like to be informed about your bodies such as the Chairman of Board of Directors (BoD), BoD members and people working for the association.
Our management consists of 10 people. The structure of our management includes 2 Vice Chairmen, a Secretary General of BoD and an accountant.

In addition, there is a Technical and Marketing Committee that routinely meets each month. Actually, all details regarding legislation and sector specific subjects are addressed at these committee meetings. However, when it needs a more specific perspective, our subject matter experts organize separate meetings and present all decisions taken at these meetings.

Professional team of our association consists of our General Secretary and Executive Assistant.

Can you please explain the purpose of association, its structure and members?
TÜRKBESD was founded in 1986, in other words 29 years ago, with the gathering of the prominent firms in the white goods industry. Our association has 6 members including Arçelik, BSH, Candy Group, Indesit, Demirdöküm and Vestel. These 6 members represent 90% of the sector.

We can cover the targets of TÜRKBESD under a few articles:

-       Developing the white goods industry in Turkey,
-       Increasing service quality in accordance with national and international standards,
-       Increasing export,
-       Making the manufactured brands globally-known brands,
-       Ensuring the technologically advancement of the sector.

Can we get information on the plans of the new management?
In the new period, we will be more in the public eye. The reason is that the industry of the white goods is not actually known by the public. We want to promote the importance, power and potential of the sector by the help of local, national and sector media.

We identified some prior subjects. We try to develop some projects targeting not only the today but also future of the industry, especially in cooperation with public enterprises.

How much of the Turkish white goods industry does your association cover? Do you have any activities to include 100% of it?
As I said before, the association represents 90% of the sector. We have some plans to cover 100% of it. First of all, we are planning to make changes on the charter of our association; we are in the preparation process of “ethical rules” for membership.

What kind of firms make an application of membership, what conditions are demanded to accept their application?
In our charter, it says that firms which engage in the production of one or a few products including home type refrigerators, deep freezers, and washing machines, drying machines, ovens, dish washers, electric vacuum cleaners, heaters and air conditioners can apply for membership. We suspended the membership applications for a while, as I said before, we will put this issue on the agenda again.

On which platforms inside and outside Turkey do you represent our industry?
TÜRKBESD represents Turkey at CECED (European Committee of Domestic Equipment Manufacturers) as a platform where household appliance manufacturers in EU unite and take decisions. We maintain our activities within the body of EU by the help of this membership and expert technical employees of our member firms are a part of this platform’s technical committee projects.

Can you please share your comments on the sector considering the first half of 2015 compared to 2014?
Assessing the first half of 2015 in comparison with the same period of the past year, we see that the production increased at the rate of 11%, internal sales of 10% and the export of 5%. We reached a production of 12 million items in the first half.

How much growth do you expect from 2015 for the sector? Will the leadership of the Turkish white goods sector continue?
Of course, we got off to a good start in the first half and our wish is to continue with these growth figures. But as you know, economical and political agenda is too busy and tension is high. I hope that soon we will be only talking about economic growth again. Accordingly, we also want to maintain the leadership in Europe.

We would like to hear your ideas and suggestions related to BEYSAD or the industry if you have any points to add.
We need to tell how crucial the contribution of the white goods industry to Turkish economy is whenever and wherever possible. Today, by exporting 75% of its production, the sector contributes to the current deficit which is the bleeding wound of the economy. It is in the lead leaving being the countries like Germany, Italy in Europe with its annual production of 23 million items. This is an important success not only for the sector but also for Turkey.

The brave heart that our Dear President of Turkey is looking for is the Turkish White Goods sector. The white goods sector grew at a rate of 100% during the last 10 years. In other words, we achieved a growth of 6% every year. No success is a coincidence. We have factories with a robust infrastructure and expertise on technology along with qualified workforce. The sector employs 500 thousand people in total and 40 thousand of whom is directly employed. It has 15,000 dealers and approximately 3,500 authorized services. It also has nearly 500 sub industrialists/suppliers.

In short, we need to promote the contributions of the Turkish white goods sector and I believe that we can become a global giant by increasing our production figures and export only with a little support. This is not so difficult. We are talking about a sector which achieved to become a leader in Europe.