Presse

TAŞIYANLAR (Carriers) – November 2009
SAFKAR General Manager Doruk Aydın’s goal is to elevate the company to the position of a leading manufacturer offering reliable products and services in the field of air-conditioners and transport refrigerators for commercial vehicles and solutions for special projects throughout Europe and the Middle East. Here’s what Aydın told Taşıyanlar:

“Looking at SAFKAR’s 21-year past, we see an impressive success story. SAFKAR today is a key player in a high added value industry where very few manufacturers operate in Europe. It enjoys a position that can sway the trends in both the Turkish market and the foreign markets where it has an established organization, a position of power that must be reckoned with. SAFKAR’s success is a reflection of its accumulation of know-how combined with its accomplishments in the processes of product development, manufacture, supply, and distribution.

“SAFKAR now has new ambitions and new goals for the future. We aim to institutionalize SAFKAR with new methodologies of production and auditing and to have these methodologies evolve into a sustainable corporate culture. There’s plenty of work to do; we’re after some immense goals. I joined the organization as SAFKAR embarked upon a new era. Continual development is our motto. The areas where we’ll develop will be in the processes of manufacture and supply, the dealer network, R&D, and products. We’ll work to push productivity higher in the manufacturing processes, to market more optimal products in the supply processes, and to improve performance. It’s critical that we receive support from our suppliers during this process. They will receive returns in the form of a much higher business potential when they develop and invest along with us.

Step two
“My opinion is that if SAFKAR is a valuable asset for its industry and Turkey, it must be able to increase its market share to much greater proportions. We’re going to make that increase happen in Europe and the Middle East. We’re going to grow far more widespread through business development efforts, the implementation of modern techniques, and an improved perception.

“SAFKAR is the dominant market leader in Turkey and Eastern Europe; however, we want to make our distinction felt in a much more different way across all of Europe. We’re going to do that by means of a much broader and much more effective dealer network. We’re opening a spare parts and dealer development office in Germany. The development of our dealers will lead the way to more vital and important developments.

Opportunities
“The market is growing throughout the world. Refrigeration is no longer a luxury but a necessity. That is true even for India. Hence we’re in an open-ended segment. The more powerful and competitive we are, the more open our horizons will be. Besides, being in a country like Turkey both gives us a competitive edge and obliges us to create new products. Turkey constantly pushes us towards development and growth with its geographical location, its stature; its potential in agriculture, tourism, and travel; and the sheer size of the market comprising Europe, Asia, and Africa of which it sits at the very center. Turkey offers plenty of opportunities to us and our suppliers.

“We see that our product portfolio is effective in the development process we planned. We’re going to remedy our deficiencies in order to enhance that effectiveness. With the modernization of our products, we’re going to explore areas we consider rational if they offer opportunities for investment.

“Our competitive power lies in our flexibility in design and our competence in developing projects. Our R&D capability makes us an indispensable partner now and in the future. We are superior to our European rivals in competition, flexibility, and decision-making.

Three main segments
“We manufacture cooling systems for three main segments. One of these is the cooling units for frigorific vehicles in cold chain transportation. The second is the products we have developed for passenger transportation; and the third is the products we have developed for passenger cars on railways. Each of these segments have different success criteria. There are subtle nuances between, and different customer audiences for rail transportation, passenger transportation, and, of course, for frigorific food transportation.

“We’re successful in developing know-how in the field of climatization. We must take the right perspective on ourselves and have confidence in ourselves. It’s impossible not to get results as long as we move on with faith in what we do. We employ 200 people in our headquarters and more than 30 in Istanbul. We manufacture more than 15,000 units annually. One of the value added elements of our line of business is being able to stand behind your product. It’s for this reason that SAFKAR has been taking great care in its after-sales services and dealer organization.

From minibuses to articulated buses
“Our first segment is air-conditioning systems for commercial vehicles. We have an advantage here: Turkey is Europe’s largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles for passenger transportation. We manufacture systems for all types of minibuses, midibuses, and coaches, which means we have products for passenger-carrying vehicles of varying sizes from minibuses to the articulated buses used in urban public transport. We at SAFKAR do all the work on the design, development, and testing of these products ourselves.

“Another segment of ours is the transport refrigerators we have developed for food and frigorific hauling. These transport refrigerators are preferred mainly by the food industry and are mounted on vans or closed box type trucks in the 9 m3 to 50 m3 capacity range. Our third segment, solutions for rail systems, is one of the best examples of our project development efforts. Used both by the Turkish Railways (TCDD) on intercity railcars and by municipal administrations for urban rail transport, the SAFKAR products we see in use encourage us to take on greater challenges in the years to come.

Technology development
“Here at SAFKAR, we’re also developing our product range and technology. We have a technology development center with a staff of 60 approved by the Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). As we develop new products, we develop our technology, too. The developments and innovations we’ve created here are innovations with proven economic value added. They all have a market value. Spearheading the competition and innovating ‘as the market lies’ will keep us strong today and in the future.”