National and International Aerospace Industry Gathered at the ICDDA 2016
“Industrial Cooperation Days in Defense and Aerospace (ICDDA 2016)” was held under the auspices of the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries and with the organization of OSSA on 11-13 October 2016 at the Ankara Congressium Center. Approximately 200 companies and 1900 participants from 33 countries attended the event.
Major domestic and international companies of the sector, namely Boeing, Airbus, TAI and Aselsan showed close interest in the event realized under the auspices of the Ostim Defense and Aviation Cluster (OSSA).Aviation/aerospace sector companies active on a global scale and local aviation/aerospace companies gathered at the event, which lasted for three days. Bilateral negotiations on various issues were conducted at the event in which 5400 registered negotiations were accomplished.
Deputy National Defense Minister Mr. Şuay Alpay, Undersecretary for Defense Industries Prof. İsmail Demir, TAI CEO & President Muharram Dörtkaşlı (CEO of the Turkish Airlines Dr. Temel Kotil was assigned as the President & CEO of TAI as of 25th October 2016, replacing Mr. Muharrem Dörtkaşlı), President of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce Mr. Nurettin Özdebir, OSSA Chairman of the Board Mr. Orhan Aydın and numerous invitees remained at the opening ceremony of the event.
Delivering a speech at the event, TAI President & CEO Mr. Muharrem Dörtkaşlı noted that their cooperation with the suppliers and shareholders who are mostly the members of OSSA has been increasing day by day and continued, “Since the previous conference, the business volume or the number of parts we produced with our sub-industry within two years has increased by 50%. Moreover, our yearly supply has increased to 1.6 million pieces from 1.1 million pieces. The number of workbenches we have used within that same period in our sub-industry went up to 900 from 700 workbenches, displaying a 30% increase. As TAI, as of today we are sharing 46% of our business which we could direct towards foreign countries with our sub-industry and this equals to 1.8 million hours. Our goal for the next year is to carry this labor to the level of 2.2 million hours. If we could keep up this pace, we will be assigning 70% of the programs under our responsibility to the sub-industry by the year 2020. As TAI, we are purchasing materials-equipment, services and sub-contractor services from around 1500 domestic companies. 100 domestic subcontractor companies, 12 of which are our strategic partners, are utilizing over 900 workbenches. OSSA is our most significant partner and 45% of our domestic subordinate industry companies are active as OSSA members. Within such framework, we assess that the clusters are quite important”.
Mentioning that Turkey entered into a serious level of competition with its worldwide rivals, especially in aviation/aerospace sector, Mr. Dörtkaşlı stated that companies directly making business with the giant companies such as Airbus and Boeing are within the cluster of OSSA and continued, “Within the last two years, of the OSSA members, 20 Turkish companies received Airbus approval and 12 of them obtained the approval of Boeing. 9 of these companies are directly conducting business with major foreign companies such as Boeing and Airbus. The annual civil aviation growth displayed a composite average growth trend of 6.3% within the last 10-12 years, and in Turkey the growth was four times greater in that same period. This achievement is due to our productive system and infrastructure. Therefore, we have a serious level of competitive power, and if we achieve supporting it with additional energy and purchasing power, we will be sustaining this increasing trend.”
ASO President Mr. Nurettin Özdebir stated that Ankara was a city standing out in the Defense Industry and added that many powerful defense industry companies such as Aselsan,TAI, Havelsan, Roketsan were conducting their activities within the city limits of Ankara. Özdebir said, “Ankara is a city that has the most developed level of technology required by the defense industry. The companies active in Ankara are more focused on advanced technology compared with Turkey’s average and the other developed economic regions. Looking from a perspective of human resources in Ankara industry, and bearing the level of higher education, Ankara is ahead of all other cities. In respect to the number of employees regarding advanced technology employment, Ankara maintains its leadership by a long shot. Ankara is in the second row following Kocaeli in respect to the medium-advanced technology payments and it is at the top of the list concerning the salaries and special payments made to employed labor in the area of advanced technology. The companies active in advanced technology in Ankara are acquiring higher revenues compared to the other cities. Ankara stands out as the most invested region in advanced and medium technology areas within the scope of the regional industry.”
Deputy Minister of National Defense Mr. Şuay Alpay expressed that Turkey’s annual defense industry turnover reached the level of $ 5 billion and added that they required powerful sub-industry and SMEs in order to elevate the existing figures and increase the added value in our country within this scope and continued, “We are aware of the great importance of the sub-industry from the sector’s point of view and we are cautiously following this point. We will be building our own fighter jet and passenger aircraft through national resources but we have to go to the details of the technologies such as the composite material over the aircraft and the carbon fiber inside it. And if we achieve these, then we could actually speak of a real sector. To this end, without hesitation we fully trust in Turkey’s industry, sub-industry and SMEs throughout this development process.”
Following the speeches, the delegations visited the stand halls in the foyer area. Various conferences on the procurement processes and supply chain policies of the Original Equipment Manufacturers, Industrial Participation in Turkey and Offset Market Panorama, International Cooperation Experience in Turkey and Civil Aviation were held at the event. A special industry tour was organized for the participants on the last day of the event.
