Vestel CEO Turan Erdogan: “We focused on R&D and innovation with our 17 thousand employees in 2020. Design, hardware, and software were made by Vestel engineers, and the technology we produced in Vestel City reached 157 countries around the world.”
Erdogan gave information to the AA reporter about his company’s activities in 2020.
After 2019, where they achieved significant success by achieving their goals Erdogan expressed that they started the year 2020 with a fast and intense pace of business and added saying that they are once again proud of being the export champion for the 22nd time in Turkey’s electrical and electronics industry.
He stated, “As Vestel, we focused on R&D and innovation with our 17 thousand employees in 2020. Design, hardware, and software were made by Vestel engineers, and the technology we produced in Vestel City reached 157 countries around the world.” Erdogan said that this year too, they successfully continued to compete with world giants in the global market.
Expressing that they have increased their cooperation with global companies, he noted that they are continuing brand collaborations and acquisitions in order to further expand the scope of their export activities.
Reminding that in the last quarter of the year, they bought the trademark, production names, intellectual property, domain names, and sales rights and authorizations of the Hostess and White Knight and Crosslee PLC, which is one of the important players of the UK white goods market. “With this acquisition, we aim to get stronger especially in the UK and EU countries”
Erdogan said, “On the other hand, we have reached an agreement with Iberdrola, one of the world’s largest electricity service companies, for the international electric vehicle charging devices (EVC) project. We will produce EVCs that will be positioned by Iberdrola in many important regions of Europe between 2020-2021. By winning the EVC tender for Iberdrola, we were entitled to become its manufacturer and supplier. We are currently continuing to export EVC to the whole world. With this project, we will support the electric vehicle charging points that Iberdrola will establish in England, Italy, and Spain. We aim to spread the project to other countries in the future.”
“Turkey has managed to come out strong from crises”
Expressing that they entered a pandemic process that deeply affected the whole world in addition to the good developments in terms of the company, Erdogan said that they closely and meticulously followed the epidemic process that started in China in November and spread rapidly.
Explaining that the rising epidemic in China and Korea has rapidly reached European countries and America, which are natural export markets, Erdogan said:
“While we were carrying out our activities planned in the first quarter of 2020, on the other hand, we were preparing our crisis action plans. The epidemic reached Turkey late compared to European countries. When it reached Turkey, a pandemic was declared, and logistics-induced slowdowns began. Turkey has always been able to come out of crises strong, and with its unique risk management structure, it has managed difficult processes in the most successful way possible. As Vestel, we have rapidly implemented practices that focus on worker and community health and contributed to sustainability in production and employment.
We have taken responsibility by supporting the fight against the virus across the country, and we continue to do so. During the pandemic period, we continued our activities, except for two planned downtime periods. We did not experience any order cancellations during this period. With the transition to the process, which is called the new normal, we have reached normal levels in exports, especially to European countries. In the domestic market, we responded to all of the expectations of our consumers in this period and stood by them as always.”
“We support individuals’ desires for a healthy life with our products and technologies”
Erdogan stated that thanks to the vision they have as Vestel and their mission to be the pioneer of technological developments, they are able to offer products to individuals regarding hygiene, which is one of the most important things people need today, he said that “Daylight” technology that they introduced two years ago at IFA, one of Europe’s most important consumer electronics fairs, is one of the best examples of this.
Expressing that the hygiene-oriented products that Vestel R&D teams have been working on for more than two years today are among the most admired and demanded products, Erdogan drew attention to the following:
“We support individuals’ desires for a healthy life with our products and technologies. We introduced ‘Daylight’ technology, which we produced with inspiration from nature, to the taste of consumers at the beginning of the pandemic period. Refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, and air conditioners with this technology support individuals in reaching safer, sterile, and hygienic environments. Finding a solution to the biggest problem for all of us in this period, daylight technology easily makes many items that are frequently contacted in daily life such as laundry, shoes, paper money, credit cards, wallets hygienic in 29 minutes with a special light. Another important and innovative product we introduced to our consumers who attach importance to healthy nutrition during this period was the MAYA refrigerator.
During the quarantine period, when we could not leave the houses except for compulsory situations, individuals started to spend more time in the kitchen. The new generation MAYA refrigerator, which meets the needs of people who want to produce fermented food at home but cannot create ideal conditions, provides all the necessary conditions for fermentation. The MAYA Refrigerator, which allows everyone to easily prepare and store foods such as dough, yogurt, kefir, vinegar, and pickles that require fermentation, supports the healthy life aspirations of individuals. Our products attract great interest in both domestic and foreign markets.
“We have met the needs of many institutions and organizations”
Erdogan stated that Vestel, thanks to the integrated retail system they have implemented for 10 years, can respond to demands very quickly and that they have the agility to make quick decisions in the face of changing extraordinary conditions thanks to their flexible structure and they can implement them at the same speed.
Stating that the most important application they implemented within the scope of Covid-19 is ‘delivery in 24 hours’, Erdogan said, “With this revolutionary application in retail, for the products purchased through Vestel.com.tr we have promised 24 hours delivery to everywhere in Turkey. With this application, which is the first and only in our industry, we have been with everyone who needs us and our products. We have achieved a revolutionary application in which we both meet the needs of our customers quickly and contribute to the sales of our dealer network.
We have developed another application for our customers in order to contribute to the fight against the virus across the country, to prevent the spread of the epidemic and to avoid unnecessary contact: Our website called ‘There is a Solution’. At cozumuvar.vestel.com.tr, we try to help our customers who need technical support with video narratives and prevent unnecessary contacts. In addition to these, we took responsibility as one of Turkey’s leading industrial organizations and met the needs of many institutions and organizations.”
“We see ourselves as the biggest owner of Industry 4.0”
Expressing that Vestel is not only a TV and white goods manufacturer but also a technology company, Erdogan said that they not only make products smarter but also make production processes and factories smart in line with a number of requirements brought by the age of digitalization.
“We see ourselves as the biggest owner of Industry 4.0,” Erdogan emphasized the following:
“We have come a long way in this transformation that we have invested in for many years. In 2020, Vestel White Goods was the company that put the highest number of robot cells into use in both white goods and all sectors in a year. The last point to be reached in automation in the world, we started ‘dark factory’ applications in a part of the plastic injection factory in 2016, and then continued to spread this application. With Industry 4.0 applications, an end-to-end smart and traceable value chain is formed from the entry of the product to the end-user. By including intelligent, learning, and self-improving artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in this cycle, we monitor all the data and accordingly, we further develop and improve our processes.
We rely on our technology and knowledge in this field. We continue on our way with the vision as a pioneering company, not as a company that just keeps up with the transformation.”
“We have realized Turkey’s first green bond issue”
Vestel Senior Manager Turan Erdogan stated that as Vestel, they continue to produce quieter machines that consume less energy and water with a sustainability and environmentalist approach. He said that they continue their activities in a respectful manner to the ecosystem with dozens of energy efficiency and water density reduction projects commissioned throughout the year with the ‘dark factory’ practices they implement in their production processes.
Expressing that the pandemic once again demonstrated the importance of sustainability, Erdogan completed his words as follows:
“We must fulfill the responsibilities of large companies like us against the increasing pressure on our world. As Vestel, we have taken on a pioneering role in this field by making many innovations in Turkey. We continuously increase our contribution to the field of sustainability with both production stages, environmentally friendly products that we bring to consumers, and our contribution to the circular economy. This is a long and difficult road. Zorlu Group’s sustainability approach to Smart Life 2030 vision also guides us on this path.
As Vestel Group of Companies, taking an important step with the Zorlu Group’s sustainability approach to Smart Life 2030 journey, we realized Turkey’s first green bond issue in Turkish lira approved by an international rating agency through Garanti BBVA in July. The revenues generated through green bonds will be used in Vestel’s sustainability and green technology investments.”
Source: AA / Translated by Bazaar Times Team