Miller Magazine Issue 108 / December 2018

MEETING WITH THE SECTOR 38 MILLER / DECEMBER 2018 Role of Konya in Turkish milling industry Konya is known as Turkey’s “breadbasket” and “agri- cultural capital” due to its main role in agriculture with large farmlands that are mainly used for wheat crops. In addition to this, Konya is also a major industrial city thanks to the great development started nearly two de- cades ago. Of course, agriculture is the main driver of this industrialization thrust and that makes Konya an important city for the food industry. In turn, the need for agricultural machinery and equipment helped the city to play a pivotal role in machinery manufacture. Since Konya was one of the first locations for growing grains, it is not a chance occurrence for the city to host a major sector for milling machinery; to the contrary, it is a reflection of an inheritance of thousands of years. Last month, the Miller Magazine editors visited sta- keholders of the industry in Konya, which is playing a crucial a role not only for Turkey but also for the international milling industry. During our two-day vi- sit, we visited six factories. We met with technology providers that manufacture rollers and build plants all over the world and talked about the industry and the advantages and shortcomings they face and, of course, their future plans. We drew information out of milling experts about how simple metal sheets transformed into modern mills step by step. We convinced that the success of Turkish millers is no coincidence when we saw high precision CNC machines and highly automa- tized systems. We also heard about a few shortcomings. The sharp fluctuation in exchange rates has had a negative effect on the Turkish machinery industry, as well. But the in- dustry actors believe that raw material costs will come back again thanks to the measures taken by the govern- ment. Another problem is the lack of qualified staff and limited means for R&D investments. Since most of the companies operating in this sector are family-owned ones which have been split by the representatives of se- cond generations and harsh competition in the sector prevents substantial R&D investments. Even so, compa- nies’ awareness of innovation and branding is promising. We visited Genel Değirmen Makine (GDM), Unor- mak Milling Machinery Industrial Company, Genç De- ğirmen Milling Machinery, Imas Machinery, Özenir Milling Machinery and Himmet Usta Milling Machinery in Konya. You can find some notes from those visits and brief information about these companies. Last month, we, as the editors, visited stakeholders of the industry in Konya, which is playing a crucial a role not only for Turkey but also for the international milling industry. We met with technology providers that manufacture rollers and build plants all over the world and talked about the industry and the advantages and shortcomings they face and, of course, their future plans. We were convinced that the success of Turkish millers is no coincidence when we saw high precision CNC machines and highly automatized systems. Namık Kemal Parlak Cemalettin Kanaş Konya