In addition to automotive technologies, we continued our activities to increase our market share in the white goods and defense industries.
AL-KOR, which started production with two machines in a small workshop in 1970, has been producing molds and serial parts for many sectors, especially the automotive and white goods sector, in its production facilities equipped with the latest technology in Istanbul and Bursa provinces for 51 years. We talked to Berç Darçin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of such a well-established brand, about the pandemic measures taken by ALKOR in 2021, their investments in digital, sector views and 2022 targets.
How was the year 2021 for you and what did you experience?
2021 passed with many developments in different dimensions for Al-Kor; We had a period in which electronic-mechatronic products were added on top of our metal-plastic component product portfolio, where new generation products, for which we completed the R&D phase, started to come into play. Managing the disruptions in the Global Supply Chain, keeping up with the semiconductor-based order fluctuations of our main industry customers and, of course, maintaining our ongoing investments have been the subjects that we focused on. In addition to automotive technologies, we continued our activities to increase our market share in the white goods and defense industries. Yıldız Technical University Alternative Energy Systems Club, which we take part in with the aim of expanding our work with regional Vocational High Schools to Universities within our social responsibility projects, made us proud by receiving the first prize in TÜBİTAK Efficiency Challenge 2021 with Lyra and Hydra vehicles, of which we are sponsors.
What precautions have you taken with the pandemic?
With the priority of fulfilling the pandemic requirements within the dynamics of the manufacturing industry, we continued our activities in a working order that will protect the health of all our employees. We have managed to become a multi-dimensional agile organization without causing any interruption in the production and shipment of the products of our global customers, while going through the processes in which the applications are made specific to the departments in both remote working and flexible working order. We have minimized our risks with the use of personal protective equipment and hygiene measures, which entered our lives with the pandemic, as well as services outsourced.
What investments did you make during the digital transition period?
In terms of Business Management, our need for digitalization is more than ever, due to the fact that processes and processes are not digitized at the right points during the growth of organizations, the sizes turn into uncontrollable kits, causing the next steps to be both longer and more costly. In this context, my project has reached the final stage in order to digitize all dimensions, from customer proposals to project management, from production data to financial outputs. Due to the fact that we have technologies with horizontal integration, it is obvious that our project, which will make a great contribution and efficiency in achieving the ideal synchronization, will contribute to the achievement of our company’s goals in the medium and long term.
What would you like to say about the sector?
Unfortunately, the automotive main industry will finish 2021 by shrinking as in the past Global crises, but more importantly, the transformation speed of the sector is accelerating as much as possible. It is obvious that in order to keep up with this transformation and be a part of the global game, it is necessary to be prepared for electric-hybrid-autonomous vehicle technologies. Al-kor has been keeping pace with the development wind of the sector by intensifying its strategic investments within this framework for the last two years and continues to gain both new products and new customers. This is the reason why we have a lot of words to talk about these days, when it is seen that those who produce conventional products cannot have a say in the future of the sector.
Have you experienced an increase in sales and export growth figures compared to the previous year, and what are your targets for 2022?
Despite the shrinkage of the global market compared to the previous year, our growth of 10 percent on a foreign currency basis, as well as our ability to increase exports by 14 percent, will result in a much better performance in the coming years in parallel with the development of the market. Despite many global and local uncertainties, we plan to grow by 15 percent on a foreign currency basis, as determined by the works received and the contracts concluded in 2022. We can herald that we will see the sales unit price to weight ratio reach a level far above the sector average, especially with the increase in the share of electronic-mechatronic products with high added value in the turnover.
