INTERNATIONAL SheetMetal Review
Turkish sheet metal manufacturer, Ermaksan, invites ISMR to see its new factory as it launches a range of new products, expands its market share and prepares for EuroBLECH
ISMR Says: A solid focus on R&D has been key to Ermaksan's growth and catapulted it into new market areas.
A relentless focus on R&D over the past six years has helped to speed growth and market share for Ermaksan, the Turkish sheet metal machine tool manufacturer. The family run company, which started in 1965 with five employees as a milling workshop and folder, press brake and shear manufacturer, now numbers 950 staff and has greatly expanded the 'Ermak' product portfolio to cover the entire sheet metal range. New products now include laser cutting machines, plasma cutting machines and turret punch presses.
It further plans to increase the company head count to 1200 next year the same year that its new factory will go into full operation.
Innovation and growth
ISMR was invited to Bursa, outside Istanbul and the centre of Ermaksan's operations in Turkey, to see its new factory (south west of Bursa), as it tools up to launch its new products at this year's EuroBLECH exhibition.
"Things have changed enormously since I started at Ermaksan six years ago," Emre Varisli (International Sales Executive) told ISMR. Our market share, for example, has greatly increased. 10 years ago, we were producing 20 conventional machines per month. "Our management therefore decided to invest more in machinery, human resources and R&D. Capacity has, since then, greatly increased. We put our new factory into operation a year ago and are now producing much more efficiently than before. Once the new factory is working at full capacity, we would have a minimum capacity of 400 machines/month."
The focus on R&D has been key to the company's growth and has catapulted Ermaksan into new market areas.
"Six years ago, we were making basic CNC press brakes and shears," Varisli explained. "Our management foresaw that, if we continued like this, we would not grow in the way we wanted. So it decided to invest more in R&D. We now have a large R&D department with 20 engineers who continuously innovate, design and produce new products. Consequently, we now have quite a wide range of products including the laser cutting machine, punch press and plasma cutting machine. All this was done by our engineers in-house."
"We have also instituted a lot of improvements and innovations on our existing product lines (press brakes and shears). We took the right step by doing this and are now reaping the fruits of this strategy as Ermaksan is now the first, and only, laser cutting machine tool manufacturer in Turkey."
A large part of the company's R&D and innovation process is based upon customer feedback and a willingness to get its R&D engineers in the field' i.e. at major international exhibitions. Ermaksan has an energetic team of young engineers who developed its new punch press in 1.5 years and the new laser cutting system in two years. Turkey has quite a young population (30 million are aged under thirty years old) and universities in major cities offer good engineering degrees, so there is no shortage of engineering skill in the country (unlike some western European economies).
Company ethos and objectives
Erol Özkayan founded Ermaksan forty years ago. His son, Ahmet, is now the managing director and his daughter, Neslihan, is the sales director for the company. The second generation of management has brokered great changes in the company, fostering a culture of innovation, adding new product lines and investing around 40 million euros on the new 60,000 square metre factory which (combined with its older HQ) now gives the company a total of nearly 80,000 square metres of production space.
So, what is the company ethos, asked ISMR?
"Our main aim is to have continuous growth and our target is therefore to satisfy our customers (who allow us to grow), explained Varisli. Customer satisfaction is very important for us. This is reflected in our strategy good technical teams for our distributors (who are trained here) and customer support is key. Innovation is also a philosophy. Every year, for the last eight years, we have come up with a new product or a new innovation on an existing product. We try to offer something new and different to our customers every year at every EuroBLECH or EMO. The main objective is to become one of the top European producers of sheet metal machinery."
CNC press brakes between 2 m 20 m length and 40 ton 4.000 tonnes and CNC guillotine shears between 2 m 12 m length and 3 mm 45 mm capacity are amongst its products and a large part of the company's R&D and innovation process is based upon new technical projects, customer feedback and technical resources. Ermaksan has already planned this strategy into its production schedule of CE certified equipment. It stopped production of conventional press brakes in 2007 to focus upon the more efficient CNC press brakes that it now produces, echoing European requirements for the greater production efficiency.
"Customers now need more energy efficient machines and fully automated machines," Varisli says. "Lights-out machining and fully automated lines are very important. We are constantly trying to find better ways to produce our machines and operate them more efficiently. We currently have a project in progress for a press brake which will be more energy efficient. Automation and ease of user interface are key issues for customers, a lot of whom have trouble finding experienced operators to work with the machines or want their operators to be versatile and use different machines."
"Machines that are easy to use and easy to set up are therefore key areas of focus for us - we have manufactured new types of controllers to fulfil this demand and have produced automation solutions such as press brakes with robot interfaces. We still have more work to do on automation and you will see a lot of automation developments from us in the future, especially now that we are in the laser cutting and punch press markets."
Ermaksan is also looking at developing more combination machines ie a combined punch and laser machine (it already produces a punching/plasma cutter). This may be ready in 2010. It is also working on some new turret punch press models which should be ready next year. It has expanded its product range to include robotic solutions for press brakes, cooperating with Kuka, ABB and Fanuc. For example, this year, at EuroBLECH, it will introduce an Antil robot with a CNC 120-tonne 3m press brake as well as a brand new product, its EPC plasma cutting machine.
EuroBLECH will also be the official launch of a new ER90 controller that can process DXF/DVG drawings and shorten the time that a product is made on a machine. Ermaksan will also be showcasing its new LaserMak laser cutting machine (4kW 2m x 1.5m) at its EuroBLECH booth. Having sold laser cutting machines to Turkish customers over the last 2.5 years, Ermaksan is looking to expand its global market share by exporting the laser cutter to different markets.
The decision to enter the laser sector, traditionally occupied by well known players and systems, was a strategic step by Ermaksan. It decided to go in 'at the top' by choosing to develop a system with linear motors and drive technology (for the highest speeds and accelerations). "For 90% of laser customers, the most important factor is operational time," explained Varisli. With our machine, we can offer customers half of the time that they spend on a servo machine so the difference is marked. Acceleration is 4G, cutting speeds are 200m/minute. We have also created a dedicated support and after-sales team to our laser customers. Being new in the market, we spent a lot of time choosing the right partner, Fanuc, to increase customer confidence and our market share. The resonator, the controller, the linear motors and drives are all supplied by Fanuc. "
"The only way for us to differentiate ourselves from our competition was to increase the sophistication of the machine, offering a higher level of technology, which is what we have done with the laser. Optimistically, we wish to get into the top segment of laser supply in the next 5-10 years."
Trends and patterns
The turnover target for this year is 75 million euros (Europe 60%, USA 10%, Middle East and Far East 10%, Domestic Market 10%). The company sells into over 90 countries and has over 120 dealers worldwide.
"We are on track to beat turnover and sales in 2007 this year," says Varisli. "Up to now, in export sales, we have almost reached 50 million euros, so we are doing well."
Anticipating trends, customer usage and market flows are key to Ermaksan's strategy, especially in today's more constrained economic climate.
Keeping expertise in-house
The self sufficiency mantra that has powered Ermaksan this far is also evident in its own production routines. Everything from small mechanical parts to large machine frames is produced by the company, which limits its use of subcontractors.
"We control the full process of production so that we can be on time with customer deliveries," says Varisli.
The company also designs and makes its own customised tooling for its customers and currently relies on its in-house production management software designed by its engineering team (although it will move to a SAP system in 2009 due to the demands of higher production capacity).
One thing is clear: Ermaksan is aiming high and putting in place a rock solid infrastructure to get it there. Watch this space...