The launch meeting of Turkey’s first indigenous national connector was held in Ankara on November 28, 2018. Founder of Nicomatic Group, Paul NICOLLIN, President & CEO of Nicomatic Group, Olivier NICOLLIN, Nicomatic Turkey Managing Director, İdris DUMLU, Nicomatic Turkey Regional Sales Manager, Umut AKDAĞ, Nicomatic Turkey employees, officials from the Presidency of Defence Industries, representatives of defence industry companies and numerous guests were present at the Nicomatic Domestic and National Connector launch meeting.

The first speaker of the launch meeting, Nicomatic Turkey Managing Director, İdris DUMLU stated that Nicomatic Turkey started its activities four years ago and today it continues its activities with a team that exceeds 12 employees: “At present, Nicomatic company engages in stamping, molding, assembly, logistics, and design services in addition to sales and technical support services in Turkey. Hopefully, with your support, we will also add R&D and manufacturing services to our existing capabilities in Turkey. Today, we unveil Turkey’s first domestic and national 1mm connector to you.”

Founder of Nicomatic company, Paul NICOLLIN emphasized that he founded this company by himself with his 2 children in his kitchen 42 years ago and initially started to work by selling connector pins to American companies. NICOLLIN continued his words as follows: “I worked with companies such as Amphenol, Tico, ITT, Canon, and after having enough experience we started to produce our own connector. We made our first production for keyboard manufacturers in 1984. In the 2000s, we invented Nicomatic’s star product, the CMM connector series for use in the aerospace and defence industry, and this series is still used as a solution-focused connector preferred by our customers in Turkey and various countries worldwide.”

NICOLLIN stated that he left the company to the management of his two sons in 2008 and concluded his words by saying, “The only thing I can say for Nicomatic today is; quality, quality and our passion for quality.”

President & CEO of Nicomatic Group, Olivier NICOLLIN expressed his pleasure for entering a new stage as Nicomatic Turkey and Nicomatic Group and said: “As Nicomatic Turkey, we have been operating in Turkey for four years toward Turkey’s success in achieving its Vision 2023 goals. Previously, we were selling our connectors produced in France to Turkey. Today, we are willing to make a contribution to you with products manufactured in Turkey.”

Olivier NICOLLIN finished his speech by stating that they will transfer their accumulation to Turkey not only financially but also through technology transfer: “We are ready to produce national products here with Nicomatic Turkey. We brought our ‘Microflex’ flexible harness product here which Nicomatic Turkey will present to all of Europe. We will take the first step here to offer this product not only to our Turkish business partners but also to international markets. As a result of our studies, we will introduce a 100% Turkish made product.”

Nicomatic Turkey Ankara office sales consultant Duygu KIZILAY shared information about their solutions, the CMM Microflex and the 1mm Pitch connector series produced for harsh environments, and Efrumiye AKTAŞ from Nicomatic Turkey office provided information about the Microflex connectors compatibility with defence industry standards.

Nicomatic Turkey Managing Director, İdris DUMLU: “The 1mm Connector is to be assembled in Turkey in January 2019”

Speaking after the networking break, Nicomatic Turkey Managing Director, İdris DUMLU, emphasized that their goal for the production line in Turkey is to plan and design a connector which can be produced in Turkey in a way that will expand and complete their product range. Stating that they defined a 4-stage strategy for this design process, DUMLU said: “We aim for domestic and national assembly in the first stage. Our intention is to complete connector assembly in Turkey in January 2019.  At the next stage, we aim to manufacture the materials that make up the connector (screws, pins, etc.) together with the local producers and to switch to domestic and national production. We believe we are contributing to Turkish workers and national capital by manufacturing this product in Turkey. Stage 3 includes the design. Under a procedure that we named simple product modification, we aim to produce requested longer screws and longer pins, etc. within our own structure. For the final stage, I want to share with you that we set a target for us to develop value-added new designs and products for our country’s needs in line with Turkey’s 2023 vision. Our goal is to bring a 100% Turkish design and production patented military micro connector to our industry by focusing on R&D and then present it to the international market. Of course, it won’t be easy to accomplish this ambitious goal as Nicomatic Turkey, but we believe that we will achieve our goal with the support of Nicomatic Group.”

İdris DUMLU also referred to their objectives in Turkey: “I’ve just mentioned the assembly unit. We will start the assembly of the 1mm connector in the assembly unit that we have designed recently. Thanks to our semi-automatic machine, we will be able to deliver our connectors with features such as pins, screw etc. in a cable roller configuration. Thus, it will have self-storage and automatic insertion capability. We are planning to expand our studies on the 1mm connector to other product groups of Nicomatic. We want to begin the assembly of Nicomatic’s star product, the CMM Micro-connector in Turkey as well.”

DUMLU: “We aim to deliver the 1mm connector within 24 hours after ordering.”

DUMLU also shared information about the advantages of the 1mm Connector to users: “This product stands out for its compact size, light-weight, low profile, high-quality performance and short delivery time. We designed our product with this approach in Turkey and consider it as an effective solution for sealed rugged design. We are talking about a technically compact product. The size and height of a connector occupy on the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) are crucial. The 1mm Connector will provide the small size and height values requested by the customer. The second advantage is that it is light, especially in the case of embedded systems, weight is very important. The light-weight will result in less energy consumption. The Defence Industry has the most extreme conditions in the Aerospace Sector. You need to manufacture high temperature, vibration, shock, moisture, and radiation-resistant products. The 1mm Connector is designed and tested according to MIL-DLT-83513 military standards. We are also able to produce and deliver our products in a very short time. For example; We can deliver our CMM product within a period of five days. Our goal here is to deliver a 1mm connector within 24 hours after ordering. We will also price the order in Turkish Liras.”

DUMLU indicated that Nicomatic Group with its 350 staff worldwide and subsidiaries in 15 different destinations reached a total consolidated turnover of €50 million and approximately 88% of this revenue coming from export sales: “With the same strategy and approach, I would like to say that we aim to export our products to be manufactured in Turkey. As Nicomatic Group, we have 20 patents for our products, and we strive to develop innovative solutions by allocating twenty percent of our turnover to R&D.”

Nicomatic Turkey Regional Sales Manager, Umut AKDAĞ: “We choose the 1mm Connector as the National Product because the pin spacing is 1mm and has a special design.”

Nicomatic Turkey Regional Sales Manager Umut AKDAĞ shared the reasons for choosing the 1mm connector as a domestic product with the participants. AKDAĞ: “In the Defence Industry field, customers request lighter and more compact connectors. This, of course, causes more costs. The reason for choosing the 1mm Connector for domestic production is that it is small because the pin spacing is 1mm and has a special design. Nicomatic Group 2mm and 1,27mm connectors have been procured for customers in the defence industry for a long time. When we compare our national connector with other products it occupies 40% less space on the PCB and standard pin numbers make 1mm connectors easier to design. Pin numbers can be adjusted according to customer requirements, but as a result of our studies, we found that 06-10-20-34 and 50 Pin numbers are the most suitable solutions for sealed solutions. Even if you increase the pin numbers to 50, it will take up less space than a 1.27mm connector. This product is 40% more compact and 60% lighter according to other connectors with same pin numbers, and we can deliver it in less than a day.”

DUMLU also provided details about the 1mm connector product range: “Our product range is very clear in this series, we offer the following versions Male thru-hole with/without screws, Female thru-hole with screws and guide pin, and Male SMT with/without screws. Thanks to its design, it is also possible to prevent connector insertion and mounting errors. To summarize the advantages in brief; the connectors are manufactured with a standard of between 06-10-20-34-50 contacts. They are produced from glass fiber composite named Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP). It will provide Mechanical Operations up to 500 Cycles Minimum, 15G vibration severity, 100G shock resistance, temperature cycling of -65°C +200°C degrees exceeding various military standards, and withstanding 600V Voltage at sea level.” 

In the Q&A session following the presentation, DUMLU held the floor again over a question about whether the 1mm connector went into production abroad and when the assembly activities of the connector will begin in Turkey: “Production started for components abroad. To summarize; producing housing and pins is the expertise of our factory in France, as you know, all of our connectors are produced by hand. The assembly process holds the biggest stage there. The assembly line in France works for Europe and the Far East. Starting from January 2019, at least for a period of time, all components will come from France, the assembly will be carried out here with an approximately 50% locality rate. We will be able to make offers to our customers in Turkish Lira thanks to our 50% local rate. We consider that this connector will have a very reasonable cost, depending on the size and the work it does.”

When asked whether there is a solution for the existing connectors onboard the systems used by the Turkish Armed Forces, DUMLU clarified: “Connectors constitutes part of the electronic and mechanical design. There is a broad market in the world. As Nicomatic Group, we would like to reach new fields however, we also have fields where we want to challenge ourselves. Currently, one of them is circular connectors, a company already started to manufacture these connectors. Circular connectors are also one of the industry’s key requirements, as they are the output connectors, they are bigger in size and occupy a lot of space. We want to continue in our field of sealed harsh environment micro connectors. But we also want to make new developments according to the wishes of our customers and our solution partners.”

DUMLU also answered a question about their studies on connectors used in ammunition and missiles and how 1mm connectors withstand 100G shock: “Nicomatic Turkey works intensively in the missile technologies field, as our connectors are micro in theory, they can be used in the most appropriate missile platforms. We have solutions that exceed military standards. We are proud to say that our CMM, DMM connectors are used in at least one of the stages in almost all of our domestic and national missile systems. Several tests were conducted on our 1mm connector and the same results were achieved. 100G shock resistance is valid for 6 milliseconds, data signal loss occurs after 6 milliseconds. We have not received any feedback from any case on connectors that have so far been launched and qualified for structural breaking.”

AKTAŞ ended his speech by stating that they don’t want any restrictions and end-user declaration for their products and that both the 1mm connectors to be manufactured in Turkey and the other series produced in France are ITAR-Free.

After the Q&A session, the launch meeting ended with a collective photo shoot.

About Nicomatic Group 

Nicomatic is a French family SME business that was founded by Paul NICOLLIN in 1976. Its original activity was micro-screw machining, which still is a strong industry in the Haute-Savoie region (South-East France). Nicomatic started out as a trading company with a strong focus on export sales for machined parts with diameters below 3mm, before growing to become a 100% integrated company & a global connector specialist. Today, all products are manufactured in-house with special expertise in stamping, molding, screw-machining, assembly & cabling. 

For more than 40 years, Nicomatic Group has been designing and manufacturing creative interconnect solutions for harsh environments such as Defence, Avionics, Space, Medical, Energy and Transportation markets. Nicomatic Group is considered the partner of choice for more than 500 leading companies all around the world.

Nicomatic Group is a recognized player in the connector field specializing in niche markets with miniaturized rectangular connectors and high-density solutions (2mm pitch) for harsh environments, low profile MIL connectors, cabling for harsh environment and FFC flat cables. Its main use markets are defence, avionics, medical & the membrane switch industry. A growing number of space applications is listed with companies technologies such as the “Jade Rabbit” of the Chinese space program or the ExoMars searching for signs of life program in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).

The company had 350 staff by the year 2018. Of their total consolidated turnover, %88 of this revenue came from export sales, and the company reached €50 million in 2018. 

Nicomatic Group is comprised of total fifteen subsidiaries in the following countries the US, China, Brazil, India, UK, Germany, Turkey, South Korea, Japan, Singapore & Canada as well as a vast network of sales representatives, agents and distributors that provide a sales presence in over 50 countries worldwide. Its Headquarters are in France at the Bons-en-Chablais site (Haute-Savoie) which is located a few kilometers from Geneva.