TurkTraktor is among the largest tractor factories in Turkey, and tractor engines are manufactured by Turkish engineers in the factories located in Ankara and Sakarya. TurkTraktor realizes 90 percent of total tractor exports in Turkey.
Aykut Ozuner, General Manager of TurkTraktor stated that the engine, transmission, powertrain, and axle parts are manufactured in the factory in Ankara, he said:
‘’We have a localization rate of 90 percent. The most important thing we care about lately is motor projects. We have an engineering team of about 150 people. During this period, there are many emission transitions in the world, especially in the engine. We started the production of fifth-phase emission level tractors in August with the engine project we commissioned. We even started exporting.’’
Expressing that they plan to produce and sell 600 tractors at the new emission level by the end of the year, Ozuner stated that the breadth of the product range is one of TurkTraktor’s strongest aspects. Stating that they can present all types of tractors with emission levels from 3 to 5 to the world, Ozuner continued as follows:
‘’ In one of the engineering projects we are currently working on, there will be two emission transitions at the end of March 2021 and in October 2021. There will also be some regulation changes in the tractor that we call the main frame. We are currently focused on these projects with our engineering team with all our strength. We have around 16 tractors that will be affected by all these changes. All preparatory work for 10 of the emission transition and other changes is over. We accelerated our efforts to achieve the transition in Turkey to take these emissions into operation at the beginning of next year.’’
‘’The localization rate has increased to 90 percent.’’
Ozuner emphasized that TurkTraktor is a 65-year-old company, that they have improved their engineering skills with the results of their past knowledge and that they have increased the localization rate to 90 percent.
Expressing that one of the strongest aspects of the company is the engineering talent that has been going on for years, Ozuner said:
‘’Today, I think that our ability to develop the engine and some gearboxes on our own has a lot of impact. The reason for the high rate of localization is that we develop them in Ankara and we also buy the parts that we cannot produce from the domestic industry. For this reason, the localization rate of our tractor is quite high. We have an engineering team of 150. Of course, we also work with companies abroad, but our team of Turkish engineers has been supporting our production for years. We are doing new engine projects for the foreign and domestic market. Our engineers are doing their best to develop these projects.’’
Ozuner stated that one of the most important stakeholders was the suppliers and the other was the farmers, and that they took the mobile services to the farmers and provided this service free of charge, especially during the period of curfew, and that they offered the “Tarlam Cepte” mobile application and their training videos about the field were presented to the farmers free of charge during the pandemic period.
source: AA / translated by Melisa Karayusufoglu