Even While Battling Crises, the Turkish Automotive Industry Must Not Neglect Investments for the Future!

As a Supply Industry, We Must Focus on Efficiency, Automation, and Process Improvements!
 
Organized for the 10th time by the Automotive Suppliers Association of Turkey (TAYSAD), the Maintenance Conference was held under the theme of “Reliability-Centered Maintenance.” The conference, aimed at emphasizing the importance of continuity in production and fostering professional development, featured presentations from 11 industry experts. During the opening speech, TAYSAD Vice Chairman of the Board Berke Ercan shared insights about the current state and future of the Turkish automotive sector. Highlighting that 67% of Turkey’s automotive exports are directed to the European market, Ercan addressed the impacts of the economic slowdown in the European Union with the following remarks:
“The contraction in the EU market directly affects our sector. Additionally, the economic conditions in Turkey intensify these challenges. Since last year, the sector has been going through a difficult period, and we expect this pressure to increase slightly by 2025. However, we foresee conditions stabilizing again by mid-2026. While we navigate through this challenging period, we must not sacrifice our future.”
Ercan emphasized the need for a planned approach to overcome these difficulties, saying: “Today’s challenges should not prevent us from preparing for the future. As a sector, we will focus more on efficiency, automation, and process improvements in the upcoming period. Moreover, while implementing sustainable maintenance practices through reliability-centered maintenance approaches, we must not overlook digital and green transformations as well as energy efficiency efforts.”
With over 530 members, TAYSAD is the sole representative of the Turkish automotive supplier industry. This year’s Maintenance Conference, held in Istanbul, was met with significant interest. The conference, the only sectoral maintenance event of its kind in Turkey, has become a tradition, and this year’s theme focused on “Reliability-Centered Maintenance.” In addition to presentations by 11 industry professionals, the conference also showcased a best practice example from the sector.

Turkey Will Overcome This Challenging Period Too!
During the opening speech, TAYSAD Vice Chairman of the Board Berke Ercan stated that the automotive industry is facing challenges that began last year and are expected to continue through 2025 and 2026. He noted that 67% of exports from both the automotive main and supplier industries are to Europe, saying, “The contraction in the EU market directly affects our sector. Additionally, economic conditions in Turkey further exacerbate these challenges. We are going through a difficult period in the sector. However, this period will also pass. During this time, we must focus on areas like efficiency improvement, capacity enhancement, reduction of process times, and quality improvements.”
Ercan emphasized the importance of not sacrificing the future for short-term difficulties, continuing: “Because this period will be overcome. Personally, I believe this is the 6th crisis or challenging period I’ve faced in my career. I’m sure many of you have encountered similar situations multiple times. These challenging times will also pass. As Turkey, we are more flexible, quicker to adapt, and more agile in our reactions. That’s just our nature and structure. For this reason, I am confident that we will overcome this period as well. Once we do, we will still have plenty of tasks awaiting us. These preparations for the future must not be neglected due to the short-term challenges. One of the most important aspects of these preparations is twin transformation. Twin transformation combines green transformation and digital transformation, which is commonly referred to as Industry 4.0 in Turkey but is known as digital transformation in the automotive sector.
Even though the automotive sector is not among the five main sectors selected for green transformation, we must begin our efforts immediately, just like other sectors. Green transformation is extremely important, energy efficiency is crucial, and digital transformation is equally significant. Digital transformation relates to all our processes—not just having robust machinery and equipment but also logistics, procurement, sales, quality, engineering, R&D, and financial processes. As a sector, we will focus on efficiency, automation, and process improvements; these will be key priorities.”

Inter-Sector Comparisons Were Made!
Following the opening speech of TAYSAD’s 10th Maintenance Conference, Yalçın Paslı, Corporate Customer Management Consultant at Tezmaksan, delivered a presentation titled “The History of Maintenance.” The subsequent session featured Salih Kara, Maintenance Department Manager at Oyak Horse, discussing “Defining Critical Assets in Reliability-Centered Maintenance.”
The final session before lunch, titled “The Right Strategy for Reliable Maintenance,” was moderated by Cenk Çukacı, Management Consultant at Premium Training and Consultancy. Panelists included İbrahim Murad, ABB Service Manager; Vedat Serdar Çalışkan, Global Opex Manager at Hayat Kimya; and Kerim Özkan, Assistant Maintenance Manager at Kanca Electric & Automation.
The second half of the conference began with a presentation by Dr. Doruk Merdol, CTO of Synchronized Engineering Inc., titled “Reliability-Centered Maintenance and Predictive Maintenance Approaches in Manufacturing.”
This was followed by İrem Uçan, Equipment Maintenance and Technical Services Manager at BOSCH, who shared an “Integrated Best Practice Example with RCM.”
The “Inter-Sector Comparison” segment featured a presentation on “Aircraft and Engine Maintenance” by Akif Güngören, Aviation Maintenance Manager at Koç Holding, and İlker Avcı, Deputy Maintenance Manager.
The conference concluded with a closing speech by Selçuk Demirok, TAYSAD Board Member and Leader of the Maintenance Working Group, who introduced the “Maintenance Guide 2” handbook.