HP Türkiye üretim tesisi kurma kararı almış. Businessweek Türkiye’ nin 2009/8 sayısındaki habere göre 60 milyon dolarlık 200 bin masaüstü PC kapasiteli fabrika kurulacakmış. 18 ayda tamamlanması beklenen tesis 2 bin kişiye istihdam yaratacak. Gelişmekte olan ülkelerin PC talep potansiyeli bir yana Türkiye’ nin yüksek teknoloji üretme sürecinde önemli bir ilk adım.
Türkiye otomotiv endüstrisin gelişimi ortada: Devrim, Anadol, Ford… Referans’ da Sefer Levent Benzin deposu yüzünden hangi otomotiv devi üretim durdurdu başlıklı yazısında gelişimin serüvenine dair bir başka aşamaya değinmiş:
“70 cent’e muhtaç” olunan günlerden geçiyordu Türkiye. Bu nedenle ithalat tamamen durmuştu. Birçok otomobil firması motor ithal etmek için döviz bulamıyordu. Motor ithal etmeyi bir şekilde başaranların durumu ise daha içler acısıydı. Düşünün; koskoca fabrikanız var, yüzlerce işçi çalıştırıyorsunuz. Otomobil üretim bandından ilerliyor, ilerliyor, tam bitti derken o da ne? Benzin deposu yok.
İşte yılların Oyak Renault’sunda tablo buydu… Benzin deposu yapan İstanbullu firma sac ithal edemediği için üretimi durdurmuştu. O ana kadar ithalat sıkıntısını hissetmeyen koskoca Oyak Renault, montaj hattında benzin deposu kalmayınca şalter indirmek zorunda kalmıştı. Zamanın Oyak Renault Personel Müdürü Selim Aral durumu şöyle özetliyordu: “Benzin deposuz araç üretmeyi henüz başaramadık.”
O günden bugüne Türkiye özellikle ticari araç üretim üssü haline geldi. Otomotiv yan sanayi önemli yere geldi, artık toplam maliyetin %70’i yerli üretim. Artık bundan sonraki aşama üretim aşamasından tasarım aşamasına geçmek. Tüm dünyada olduğu gibi krizle mücadele eden otomotiv sektörü yaklaşık 1,5 yıl sevindirici gelişmeler yaşanmıştı. İtalyan Piemonte Organize Sanayi Bölgesi’nden 12 firma Ekim 2008’de Türkiye’ye gelerek Avrupa Birliği destekli “Fikirden Arabaya” (From Concept to Car) programı kapsamında Tofaş, Renault, Ford Otosan, Uzel ve Temsa gibi firmalarla görüştü. Mühendislik, tasarım, prototip geliştirme, otomasyon, lojistik alanında uzmanlaşan fimalar yerli firmalarla ortak proje gelişimi, know-how, teknoloji transferi fırsatlarını değerlendireceklermiş.
Bu kadar üretimden bahsedince Ercan Erkul’ un dersinde geçen konuşmaları hatırladım. “Biz gençlüğümizde Türkiye üretim ekonomisi olsun diye hayal kuruyorduk, doğru muydu? Değilmiş. Modern ekonomiler servis ekonomileridir” demişri. Zaten üretimin görece daha ağırlıklı olduğu ekonomiler günümüzdeki global resesyondan daha çok etkilendiler. Bence de üretimden ziyade tasarım, markalaşma, inovasyon ile daha yüksek katma değer üretmenin peşinde olmalıyız. Zaten rekabetin iyice kızıştığı günümüzde üretim karlılığı iyice düştü. Eğer “Türkiye nasıl zenginleşir?” sorusunun cevabı varsa o da üretimden ziyade tasarım, marka, inovasyon olsa gerek. Herşeyin üstünde “Made in China” yazdığı halde karın çoğunu markalar aldığına göre “Made in Turkey” yazısının pek bir önemi kalmıyor. Peter Drucker’ın dediği gibi “İşletmelerin iki ana faaliyet alanı vardır: Pazarlama ve inovasyon.”
2 Italian Firms from Piemonte came to Turkey to develop projects under EU supported program “From Concept to Car”. Italian Committee, which was formed by firms that specialized in engineering, design, prototyping, automation and logistics, is planning to meet with Tofaş, Renault, Ford Otosan, Uzel ,Temsa between 22- 26 October. Combining the production and technology, know-how transfer and opportunities of common project development and cooperation are evaluated.
Automotive Sector in Piemont
Turin and Piemont are regions of boasting a rich heritage of expertise related to car manufacturing. Automotive industry is excellent in terms of inventiveness, skill, love for the product and technical design quality. There are many different production facilities diversified in to different sectors like styling, design, prototypes, automation, component production and models, mass production and niche production. Entire planning and production cycles are all concentrated in the same area. The automotive industry continues to grow. Intangible assets of the sector like traditions, know-how are also expressed above the production of car component with a direct contribution to regional exports of more than 50% higher than exports of car themselves. Automotive sector in Piedmont has features of:
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1,400 firms and 75,000 workers
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40% of country’s automotive suppliers are located in Piedmont (33% of workforce)
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Peaks of 75% for suppliers of modules and systems
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The regional automotive-related supply system employs more than 43,000 people
Strengths
Weaknesses
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After the crisis of Fiat the system resulted too dispersed and poorly internationalized
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The majority of the of the firms are SME (lack of critical mass)
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Traditional firms’ inertia to introduce process and product innovations
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Lack of competencies in business development and high value added services (IP management, technology transfer)
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Vast disused industrial areas (especially in Turin)
Car Design in Piemont
There is a strongly held tradition of car manufacturing in Piemont, and it has given birth to some of the most prestigious companies in the world specializing in car design. Services linked to the automobile – planning, style and design – are gaining more and more importance, especially in emerging markets such as China and India, where Piemontese companies in the sector play a frontline role. One of the few motor car industrial districts in the world is Piedmont Complete Automotive District that is capable of developing within it the whole car production process, starting with the creative idea, then the chalk model, the bed dies, stylistic consultancy, prototype design, creating the master and putting it into current production, passing through advanced research and production systems engineering on the way.
How has the method of designing cars changed? For over ten years now, the large manufacturers have been aware of the importance of design, and have come to consider it the core business of the brand and to expand their internal design centers. Together with the client, car designers develop the concept, translate it into lines of style and often create the whole vehicle design. These integrated engineering and design companies play an active role right up to the stages of prototyping and model testing and checking. Some are vehicle manufacturers and almost 70 thousand vehicles per year are produced in their factories.
In Piedmont, and especially in the area around Turin, an industrial system, a concentration of talents and a car design school have been established that are unique in the world, as regards their quality and the sheer number of firms involved. There are 25 innovative companies, 7 thousand workers and 520 prototypes produced since 2001, of which 128 have been put into production.
In 2008, Piedmont will come to the forefront of world design: Turin will be the World Design Capital, having been appointed as such by Icsid and Icograda, the international organizations who deal with product development and graphic design. This is a much-coveted award, given to those areas that are revaluating design as an opportunity for economic and cultural renewal. Turin and Piedmont are today key players: their historic role as an industrial region has been left behind by considerable changes in the surrounding context, leading it to search for new prospects for development. For many reasons, partly connected to its history and partly to the current situation, the region has all the requirements to play host to, and stimulate design-linked activities. And moreover, design is the feature that most distinguishes products made in Italy – whether these are cars, small ornamental items, or fashion: this is an important factor for understanding how Turin and Piedmont are being transformed from an industrial manufacturing area to a design area.
From concept to car is a project run by the Turin Chamber of Commerce together with Piedmont Foreign Trade Office, is the link between the companies of excellence in Piemonte and international buyers, acting as a free of charge. Goals are:
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To support the foreign sales proceeds
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To increase the commercial competence and firms competitivity
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To identify new international partners
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To stimulate firms growth through the aggregation and development of innovative projects
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To promote the image of Piemonte and Turin
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To contribute to the regional economic growth
From Concept to Car provides foreign buyers with a valuable support in outsourcing activities, as it offers them the opportunity to get in touch with over 150 top-flight suppliers, chosen from 1,400 on the strength of their technical, qualitative and logistic capabilities.
The team’s assistance is completely free-of-charge – both for the Piemonte suppliers and foreign buyers – thanks to public financial backing.
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466 One-to-one business meetings
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210 visits of foreign buyers on supplier premises
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9 workshops in Piedmont
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33 international buyers involved in project
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10 presentations of the project at international events (Italy, India, China, Korea, Russia and Germany)
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9 Suppliers days on the Buyers premises (Germany, Netherlands, China, India)
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22 buyers invitations from India, Russia, China and organization of visits to the premises of local companies
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3 Purchasing missions abroad (Slovak, Turkey, China)
Contact with Turkey
“We are seeking for Turkish partner in order to create the ‘excellent’ in automotive industry” said Ferrucio Blanc project manager of “From Concept to Car”. He also told that “We had chosen the Turkey as a strategic partner in automotive industry. Italy focused all attention and interest on Turkey for following year and later, because strategic importance of Turkey is very high. We are planning to cooperate Italy and Turkey and create new business resources.” Mr. Blanc told that as being Turin Chamber of Commerce they will sign a cooperation contract with Bursa Chamber of Commerce and added “Turkish automotive industry will be represented by a committee of 50 people in organization. In February all of the Italian media will be focused on Turkey.”
Blanc expressed that fact that makes Turkey appealing is optimization of price-quality balance, not the cheapness. He continued as “That is why the cooperation will not be limited in automotive. It will be valid in automation, space, aviation, textile, jewelry, information technologies, bio-technology and environment technologies.” Blanc expressed that design, know-how, component manufacturing, engineering works of 100 million cars all over the world are done in Piemonte and added: “Italy is the center of automotive industry and annual revenues of Piemonte region is 15 billion dollars. Italian firms in the committee are not the best ones in their area, they are the excellent ones. This year we came with committee focused on technology. Next year we will come with the purpose of purchasing.”
Turkey is an important manufacturing center for many brands and its importance is increasing by capacity increases. It will increase in the future as seen in long term plans of the companies. This contact is an important opportunity to increase the role of the facilities in Turkey with design development, R&D. Value added in Turkey will rapidly increase. Turkish potential in human resources can successfully support the required actions. Also automotive industry has a historical heritage from the production of “Devrim” so I think that Turkey can be one of the important players in automotive industry. This contact is a great opportunity.
In addition to being an important opportunity, there are many lessons that Turkey must learn from Piemonte. We should analyze Piemonte Industrial District in current debates in Turkey. Piemonte gives lessons to Turkey in topics we are discussing now: Government sectoral incentives, employment ( Ireland model was discussed which was based on information technologies. I think Piemonte is a better model for Turkish huge workforce which can not be totally absorbed by IT sector), micro reforms that lessen the loads of real sector.
Mehmet Fatih Cinoğlu 