Fokker Elmo Turkey Isactively Pursuing Supporting Roles in Turkish Programs

Defence Turkey: How did Fokker Technologies and Fokker Elmo Turkey specifically perform operationallyin 2014?

If we evaluate our performance over the last few years, Fokker Technologies has been able to show astable organic growth in all its subsidiaries. Fokker Elmo is currently on both commercial aerospace and Defence platforms proudly supporting the major OEM’s in their challenges of developing new platforms and providingan affordable solution for the end users. For the Defence customers, Fokker Elmo Turkey is demonstrating to bean important contributor in creating high quality electrical systems for several airplanes, helicopters and aircraftengines.

Defence Turkey: How much progress did your company achieve from IDEF 2013 to IDEF 2015?

From Fokker Technologies perspective significant progress has been made together with existing and newcustomers on exciting new programs. Comprehensive steps forward were made in the emerging markets andglobal expansion of our facilities  is ongoing in Mexico, China, India, The Netherlands, USA and Turkey. Innovation wise we are also excitedabout several new products, materials and services we are bringing in the industry. At Fokker Elmo we also had strong progress with existing and new customers. In addition to our current position in the ever growing market segment of the single aisle aircraft with Airbus (A320) and Boeing (737), significant efforts are being directed to support the development of the new Bombardier CSeries program which is scheduled for first flight in June of this year. Our strong performance on Lockheed Martin (F35 & F-16) and Boeing (P-8) is helping to sustain the Defence business side of our portfolio.

For Fokker Elmo Turkey specifically, the last two years have been a very exciting new phase in our development. In the summer of 2014, we have officially opened our newly purpose built facility. In the same period Fokker Elmo has continued to grow on our predicted strategic development. We have successfully increased our work share of the Boeing P-8 Poseidon program and sustain a major Airbus A400M work-package to our Izmir facility. In addition, Fokker Elmo Turkey is very excited that Airbus has awarded a significant contract for the A330neo,to be manufactured in Izmir facility. Currently we are working with more than 300 people in our Izmir plant supporting most major OEM’s worldwide, such as Airbus, AgustaWestland, Boeing,British Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Corporation and Pratt & Whitney / UTC Aerospace Systems. We can proudly say that some of the world highest profile Defence programs are now receiving their wiring systems directly from Turkey.

Defence Turkey: What is the Fokker Elmo ‘s expectations in the present and future aerospace projects in Turkey?

Fokker Elmo Turkey is very fortunate to have contracted programs that will continue to grow in production rate for the coming years, thus ensuring a healthy development for the company. In addition, the Turkish Utility Helicopter Program is a promising work package, and since we are selected as preferred supplier by Sikorsky, we expect to be able to contribute to thisprogram. Of course there are some exciting new developments in Turkey like the 5 tons helicopter program, for which all development is planned to be done in Turkey. We are confident that our expertise on wiring design and integration can help prevent schedule delays related to wiring integration or configuration challenges.

Defence Turkey: Since electrical systems traditionally were designed and built by the OEM’s themselves, what role does Fokker Elmo have in the product design?

Since the OEM’s are now involving more industry specialists in their design processes, they see opportunities to also benefit from our experience and combine the integrator knowledge of Fokker Elmo with their own expertise. In our business the design activities typically still take place on-site at the customer, due to the significant interaction that is needed with all other disciplines. Also, the Electrical Wiring Interconnection System (EWIS) is very exposed to changes in the aircraft structure environment as well as on System Architecture. Our engineers will typically integrate into the design teams at the customer location to follow the maturation of the design and immediately adapt our EWIS system design. We feature a proprietary tool for this, called WDMS (Wiring Design and Manufacturing System), which has the unique capability to integrate the product definition of the wiring harness system with the 3D design and the aircraft System Architecture. Currently Fokker Elmo employs around150wiring design engineers which are deployed at the various Fokker Elmo and customer locations worldwide. Since this helps our customers most, our R&D activities are typically aimed at developing (more) advanced software and processes for EWIS and aircraft topology of the electrical system.

Defence Turkey: What is an important area for Fokker Elmo Turkey to focus on in the future?

If we want to remain successful, just as the rest of the Turkish industry, we will need to be able to compete on the global aerospace market.  To achieve this, we are focusing on continuous improvement processes for our operations, and further develop our affordability initiatives together with our customers. Where we initially were mostly focusing on production activities, we are now exploring to expand our spectrum of activities. These can be engineering activities, but also increased customer and supplier interaction. The knowledge level in Turkey is also supporting this development. We are convinced this will enable us to grow further and keep being successful in our current programs while creating excellent future business opportunities for Fokker Elmo Turkey and its customers.

Defence Turkey: Aerospace is a very international business, but are there also projects you are working with Turkish Aerospace Industry (TAI) or other Turkish companies?

Currently Fokker Elmo Turkey is delivering F35 harnesses under contract with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to TAI. Additionally, we have supported the training for the installation activities at TAI. For more complicated rework or last minute changes, on-site support can be provided by through a special working party from our Izmir plant. For the near future we foresee to build on this relationship through the Turkish Utility Helicopter Project in which we are teamed up with MegeTeknik of Ankara to support the electrical system (wiring & junction boxes) for this Turkish version of the Blackhawk. We anticipate this project will also enable us to transfer a significant part of the procured components from domestic US suppliers to capable Turkish suppliers.

Defence Turkey: How is your employment profile at the Fokker Elmo Turkey?Would you like to share with us some aspects of your human resource strategy?

Obviously, Fokker Elmo Turkey is an equal opportunity employer, strongly focused on the employee’s wellbeing, since they are the corner stone to our performance. In this new facility we will be equipped for the scheduled growth of the next years, where we plan to grow to become a 400+ employee company. As the only expat in a for the rest total Turkish workforce, I am proud to say we are eager to develop even further after that. For our specific type of activities, that require a very precise hand eye coordination and a consistent high quality level, we have learned over the years that working with female operators gives very reliable outcomes. Besides the work of specialized assembly operators, we are planning to transfer more functions to our Izmir plant. This other staff consists amongst others of skilled engineers in planning, purchasing, lean techniques and production technology, to help manage our operations. We invest in our people because we believe in developing our/their talents by specific training program, aimed to create a high performing current and future workforce.