Miller Magazine Issue 109 / January 2019

73 TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM MILLER / JANUARY 2019 abroad. Akyurek Technology has a modern facility of 40 thousand square meters and it manufactures more than 4 thousand machinery annually. Akyurek Technology is a distinguished company thanks to the fact that it pays so much importance to R&D. The company can manufacture 175 different ty- pes of machinery for post-harvest grain, pulses, seed and oilseed processing industry. R&D department of the company adds more than 10 new solutions to its produ- ct range every year. Fatih Akyurek is one of the architects of the success of Akyurek Technology. We met him on the sidelines of an International Pulses Conference held in Kiev. Akyurek Technology was the main sponsor of the event. We had opportunity to talk about Akyurek Technology’s opera- tions, targets and the outlook of the industry. Mr. Akyurek, please give us some details about yourself and Akyurek Machinery. I am a Member of the Board and the Production Di- rector of Akyurek Technology. We have been manufa- cturing machinery for post-harvest grain, pulses, seed and oilseed processing industry for over 45 years. We build turnkey projects of various capacities and that are customized according to needs of our customers. We export dry food machinery and sifting machinery for many countries all over the world. How many countries you have reached? Around 90 countries… We have continuously increa- sed our market and we will keep this trend. Because we are a leading company in terms of high quality products and after-sale support. Our aim is to set up long-term relationships with our partners. Therefore, our activities do not come to an end after building plants and selling machinery. We continue to check systems we build and give maintenance sup- port for our customers. We make valuable and special offers for our custo- mers. We carefully listen to their needs and concerns and after that we offer our effective and reliable service. You were the main sponsor of the pulses conference held in Kiev. I think you are very interested in the Black Sea region which has increased grain and pulses produ- ction last year. What do you expect from this region? Frankly speaking, we entered the Ukraine market long ago. We opened a showroom in Odessa 2 years ago. We also keep a team here working 7/24. We have built plants in Kiev and Odessa and we are eager to build more. I know that you are also assertive in Russia... Yes, you are right. We founded a company there, too. We are active in Russia. We have built plants there and we continue to give support. R&G and innovation are vital activities for successful companies. Please share your vision in those areas. First of all, I want to remind that we are the first company that created its R&D center in this sector in 2013. We develop many new machines there. After opening its Research and Development center, Akyurek Technology is active in another sector now. We have started to manufacture tobacco machines, cigarette production machines, tobacco leaf processing machines. We have already manufactured and sold two machines. Before coming to Ukraine, we participated in tobacco re- lated fairs in Germany and Dubai. We are a newcomer for this sector, which is at the same time a promising one for us. It may be something hard to compete in this area. But, thank god and thanks to our over 4-decade experience, we achieved to start manufacturing these machinery. Do you have any target markets abroad? No, we don’t have any specific target market. We think globally. Akyurek Technology has exported its products to around 90 countries in 4 continents. We have built 37 plants in Africa. We have a distributor in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. We also have com- panies and agents in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Spain and in many other countries. Akyurek Technology has a global appeal. What are difficulties for machinery manufacturers in this sector? Domestic market in Turkey is not preferable now and everybody knows that. Therefore, thousands of compa- nies turned towards foreign markets. We have already been working with foreign partners for many years. We can sell machinery to domestic customers thanks to go- vernment incentives. Few companies are willing to buy machinery if there is no incentive. I think, the govern- ment should increase incentives for agriculture machi- nery in order to boost agricultural production.