The OSTİM Business and Construction Machinery Cluster (İŞİM), which has been operating since 2007 with 115 members, conducted a visit to the United States of America for commercial cooperation contacts within the scope of the Turkish Ministry of Economy's International Competitiveness Development (UR-GE) Project. The US delegation, consisting of 40 representatives from 23 companies participating in the UR-GE project, visited Chicago, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. With the support of Mr. M. Emrah Sazak, Head of the SME and Cluster Support Department of the Turkish Ministry of Economy, these visits formed the first step towards fruitful and meaningful collaborations.
Within the scope of the Ministry of Economy's İŞİM Cluster UR-GE Project, which has been ongoing for 3 years, the cluster, which previously conducted matchmaking and business development commercial activities in parallel with the Russia-Moscow CTT 13th International Construction Machinery, Equipment and Technologies Specialized Fair, Germany - Munich BAUMA GERMANY 30th International Construction Machinery, Construction Material Machinery, Construction Vehicles and Mining Machinery Specialized Fair, and South Africa – Johannesburg BAUMA AFRICA 2nd International Construction Equipment, Mining Machinery, Construction Machinery and Building Technologies Fairs, carried out its fourth and final overseas marketing activity in the US market in line with target market analyses and company demands. The program, which took place between March 2-9, included factory visits to CNH and CATERPILLAR and meetings with purchasing officials, participation in CONEXPO’14 International Construction and Business Machinery Fair and bilateral business meetings, as well as meetings with the consulate general and attaché.
The İŞİM Cluster Trade Delegation visited the production facilities of CNH and CATERPILLAR in Chicago, Illinois, on the first day of their UR-GE Project visits. These companies hold a significant share of the construction machinery production and market and set the industry agenda. The visit was organized by İŞİM Cluster Coordinator Fevzi Gökalp and UR-GE Project Manager Esma AKYÜZ. The first visit was to the CNH factory, which specializes in testing, design, and prototyping. During the factory tour, information was obtained about CNH's CASE and New Holland branded products. The visit concluded in a Virtual Reality room where new designs from engineering departments are simulated in 3D, allowing users to virtually enter the product and find solutions to all maintenance, repair, and training issues easily and cost-effectively. At the end of the factory tour, our UR-GE project companies met with CNH's 38 Purchasing Managers. The companies, who had the opportunity to directly present their products to the relevant individuals, left the visit very satisfied.
The CNH visit was followed by a visit to the CATERPILLAR production facility. Our project companies had the opportunity to observe many of CATERPILLAR's product groups on the production line, and gained valuable insights not only into the products but also into CATERPILLAR's production systems and discipline. Having had the chance to see CATERPILLAR's production technologies firsthand, our companies stated that this visit provided them with many ideas for improvement in their own production facilities. Following the factory visit, CATERPILLAR officials provided our delegation with detailed information about CATERPILLAR's Supplier System in a hall reserved for them. The fact that both CATERPILLAR and CNH companies raised and waved the Turkish flag at the entrances of both factories throughout our visits greatly pleased our delegation.
Results of the CNH, CATERPILLAR, and CON EXPO Trade Fair Visit;
A significant portion of the member firms of the İŞİM Cluster are potential suppliers to these two industry giants, and both companies value the opportunity to be included in the "Supplier Network," where SMEs from many countries around the world compete. The fact that the firms applied as a delegation, rather than through individual efforts, thanks to the cluster's collaboration, was considered noteworthy by both companies, and this opened the door for facility visits. In addition to the visits, the detailed briefing by the purchasing departments of the İŞİM Cluster firms regarding "Supplier Criteria and Expectations," followed by bilateral business meetings with 38 purchasing officials, constitutes a highly concrete and important first step towards establishing sustainable supplier relationships. The İŞİM Cluster firms stated that they have reached the bidding stage as a result of these one-on-one meetings.
Another significant gain was the opportunity for cluster member companies to personally observe the cutting-edge technology and techniques in the industry's production facilities during their visits. The visiting companies expressed their admiration for the astonishing level of design technology, as well as the highly detailed production planning and its crucial role in their company's success.
İŞİM's relationships with these two industry giants will be developed through individual follow-ups by the companies, as well as through reciprocal visits and events (purchasing delegations, matchmaking activities, joint development programs, etc.) organized via the İŞİM cluster.
Our companies, members of the İŞİM Cluster, conducted a total of 372 bilateral business meetings at the Con Expo Fair. On the second day of their visit, the İŞİM Cluster UR-GE project companies visited our Chicago Commercial Attaché, Ms. Sevtap Akgüloğlu, at her office and received important information about market entry strategies. Afterwards, our Consul General in Chicago, Mr. Fatih Yıldız, hosted a reception for our delegation at the Consulate General. At the reception hosted by our Consul General, our companies were given detailed information about the market through a presentation by our Commercial Attaché, and the importance of the Midwest of America, especially in machinery manufacturing and import, was emphasized. Our companies stated that the visits they made together in cooperation motivated them and led to more productive results. After very productive facility visits and meetings with buyers in Chicago, our delegation moved on to its second stop, Las Vegas, Nevada. Our second stop in our US overseas marketing activities was Las Vegas, where we hosted CONEXPO-CON AGG, America's largest and oldest construction and industrial machinery trade show, which first opened in 1909 and is held every three years. The event took place at the 241,000 m² Las Vegas Convention Center.**
Our member companies from the İŞİM Cluster, who attended the CONEXPO Fair as visitors, signed a total of 372 bilateral business meetings at this fair. The CONEXPO fair, which hosted 2400 official exhibitors and over 125,000 visitors for 5 days, was visited by our delegation for 3 days. Our companies stated that the fair was a good opportunity to examine the products and technologies of North American companies, and they benefited significantly from these opportunities. Our companies participating in the program within the scope of our UR-GE Projects signed numerous B2B business meetings over the 3 days in cooperation with the İŞİM Cluster and the US Embassy Commercial Attaché. On the evening of the 3rd day of the fair, a networking meeting was held at the Luxor Hotel Ballroom, attended by our San Francisco Commercial Attaché Mr. Murat Gören, representatives of various sector collaboration organizations, and presidents of important regional associations. During this meeting, the İŞİM Cluster was introduced and information about the market was provided. The fact that our delegation was part of a cluster organization and was conducting the visit together with the Ministry of Economy attracted the attention of both the fair visitors and the fair management, and they conducted an interview with the İŞİM Cluster regarding the delegation.
On the final day of our US Overseas Marketing Activities, our 40-person trade delegation, which traveled to Los Angeles, was hosted by the Los Angeles Commercial Attaché, Mr. Gürkan Süzer, at his office. Mr. Süzer's briefing on the Los Angeles region and market opportunities provided our companies with valuable insights into the region's dynamics. This visit, which took place in the Los Angeles Commercial Attaché's office, continued with the traditional UR-GE Project Activity Evaluation Meeting, chaired by the Head of the SME and Cluster Support Department, M. Emrah Sazak. During this evaluation meeting, our companies also expressed their views and ideas, leading to very productive results. The Turkish Ministry of Economy and its partner organization, OSTİM Business and Construction Machinery Cluster, decided to take concrete steps to implement these results.
COMPANY VIEWS;
Başayar Machinery - Osman Başayar
First of all, I would like to thank the Ministry of Economy, Çankaya University, Ostim Management, and the İŞİM Cluster officials for their support. Above all, these visits allowed us to see our shortcomings and learn very well what we need to do and where. It was a truly successful organization, and I believe we absolutely need to continue this.
Hydrosil – Erdal Burak
We believe that the trip to America was very beneficial for our company. Thanks to this trip, the companies in the İŞİM Cluster were able to get to know each other better, and we also believe that it provided us with a significant opportunity to better analyze the needs of companies we could work with internationally, and to develop realistic and rational solutions.
We believe we can be a solution partner for the companies we met during the fair and the trips we made. After returning to Turkey, our meetings with companies continued, and we are proud to have moved on to the proposal stage.
We believe that this event organized by the İŞİM Cluster is a sufficient step towards transforming our discussions into concrete actions, and we owe a debt of gratitude to the İŞİM Cluster for providing us with such an opportunity.
Hidroan and Karba - Musa Ertunç
As Hidroan and Karba, within the scope of the UR-GE project, we visited CNH and CATERPILLAR during our trip to America. The meetings we held at these companies showed us that we could easily meet their requirements. Furthermore, we believe these meetings were very beneficial in showing us our shortcomings, helping us to further improve ourselves. Through this project, we had the opportunity to conduct business meetings with them in a trustworthy environment. We also met with many potential customers at the trade fairs. We are quite hopeful about future business opportunities. We would like to thank İşim Kütük for organizing such an event.
Karke Makine - Yıldıray Erzurum
First of all, our visit to the US was beneficial for our executives and our company in terms of market analysis, and we are fully confident that selling our products to the US market will not be very difficult, and serious negotiations have begun. Following our visit, we are continuing serious discussions with CNH regarding a new design. Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Economy and the İŞİM Cluster, our company's international activities have gained momentum, and we believe that the contributions of these projects to our companies and the national economy will begin to manifest themselves concretely in the shortest possible time.
Özkara Hydraulics – Yeliz Özkaraoğlu
Our company's primary goal in this program was to get to know the American market and see the impact of developments in our industry on the American market. In this context, we can say that we achieved our goal. During our visit, we gained ideas on how we could implement the practices carried out at the Caterpillar factory and the CNH test center on a smaller scale in our company. The meetings we had with purchasing groups helped us understand the innovations we need to make in order to work with such international companies. The meetings we had at the fair were more focused on collaboration than sales. In this context, we have started working with the contacts we established, and one company even visited us this week.
PIMMAKSAN – MURAT DEMIREL
We believe that the factory visits, in particular, have changed everyone's perception and are important for us to compare ourselves and improve. The trade fair visit was also very beneficial. As Pimmaksan, we believe that we have now created the necessary infrastructure to work with these companies because we have improved our physical conditions, which was our biggest obstacle.
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