We Will Continue To Be A Solution Partner Of Large Projects

Alarko Carrier is one of the major manufacturers of heating, cooling and water pressurizing systems operating in the air-conditioning sector. Successfully expanding, it had a turnover of TL 370 million and net profits of TL 35 million, representing a 34% increase, in 2013. We interviewed Alarko Carrier`s Assistant General Manager, İsmet Gençer, who had this to say about the achievements and goals of their companies: "50% of what we manufacture is exported, so we will continue to be the solution partner of large-scale projects across a wide-range of countries from the Middle East to Australia in 2014. Air-conditioning plants, radiators and roof-top air-conditioners make up more than 13% of our exports.”

Could you tell us a bit about your company?

The company was founded as Alarko Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. in 1954 to operate in the areas of heating, cooling, ventilation and water purification and compression. It formed a joint partnership with Carrier, the world leader in the field, in 1998, when the name of the company was changed to Alarko Carrier Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.

Doing business in the air-conditioning sector, Alarko-Carrier is not only one of the major manufacturers in the world of heating, cooling, and water compression systems, but is also a major distributor for other world-class manufacturers. It has plants in Gebze and Dudullu, where the combis, panel radiators, and oil burners used in the heating sector, circulation pumps, and submersible pumps used in industry, tourism and agricultural irrigation are manufactured. In the cooling sector, we make air-conditioning plants and roof-top air-conditioners. We are not only producers. We also import and sell Toshiba-brand personal air-conditioners and heating pumps, as well as Carrier-brand personal and central system commercial air-conditioners.

Could you tell us about product innovations and technologies?

We take the demands and expectations of the consumer into consideration when designing or renovating our products. We are constantly renovating our products in line with energy efficiency guidelines. We have completed the plans for manufacture the mid-segment 39SQ air-conditioning plant at our Carrier Holland Heating Plant with the intention of keeping up with growing competitive conditions. The 39SQ air handling units began production at the Alarko Carrier Gebze Plant in May 2014. With the help of our engineering department, we aim at marketing the more competitive version of the 39SQ series at the end of 2014.

In February, we launched the new-generation roof-top conditioners with various flow fans having the VAV option as part of the 48/50 UA/UH series, which became available in 2012. The project is a joint venture of the engineering departments of Carrier EMEA and Alarko Carrier designed to increase existing equipment capacity. It will be completed in two stages and new models will be marketed in 2014. With the addition of two, the 135 kW and 155 kW, models in April 2014 and another two, the 170 kW and 200 kW, models in December to the product range, we anticipate increase sales, both home and abroad.

We are also maintaining R&D on heating equipment based on feedback from users and market research. Here, we aim to launch our new Harmony-D conventional combi within the next year. We`ve also devoted R&D efforts on improving the Alarko-brand wall-type condensing boiler, which will be completed in the final quarter of 2014. We plan on being able to market our new condensing combi, which we have been developing to replace the Seradens model that is currently produced in cooperation with Radiant, in two different subsegments in 2015.

What can you tell us about your distributor organization and repair and maintenance services?

We have 263 distributors and 243 sales points all over Turkey. We also have sales offices where our sales engineers are involved in directly selling our products and which oversee the distributor network. In addition to Istanbul, we have sales offices in Ankara, İzmir, Antalya and Adana. In Moreover, independent from our distributor network, we have a network of around 243 points providing after sales services for only Alarko products. Each one of them is independent, but provides service for our products only.

In the name of customer-oriented service, we come up with complete solutions for our customers through the range of products we present to our distributors. A separate distribution channel has been created for Toshiba air-conditioners and we are continuing the solution partnership models for VRF. After sales services have a great potential for growth within our operations. After sales services currently make up 12% of our entire operations. We aim to raise this share to 20-25% through the advantages provided by service, parts and experience.

What about your production facilities?

Alarko Carrier San. ve Tic. A.Ş. runs two plants. The main one is located inside the Gebze Organized Industrial Zone and operates on a 60,000 m2 area, 20,000 m2 of which are enclosed. At this plant, we mainly manufacture Carrier-brand roof-top air-conditioners and air-conditioning plants; and Alarko-brand combis, boilers, circulation pumps and submersible pumps. We had a 95% capacity use ratio at our main plant in the first three months of 2014.

Our Panel Radiator Production Facility in the Dudullu Organized Industrial Zone operates on a covered area of 12.000 m2. We manufacture Alarko-brand units for the Turkish market and Carrier and various other brands for export.

We use at all of our production facilities the ACE (Achieving Competitive Excellence) quality management system in all the United Technologies Corporation (UTC) regions affiliated with Carrier. We conduct joint research with universities and TÜBİTAK at our Test and R&D facilities in order to constantly develop our products. Moreover, are able to make great improvements to our products through technology transfers from Carrier. Our company has a total of 619 employees - 378 white-collar and 241 blue-collar.

How does the market look in terms of your company? What new projects and expectations do you have?

In the next few years, there may be a relative shrinkage in the market compared to previous years. The reason for this is new regulations – the “Communiqué on the Need for Environmentally Friendly Air-Conditioners and Ventilators” and the “Communiqué on the Energy Labeling of Air-Conditioners,” which will prohibit the sale of air-conditioners that are noisy and have low energy efficiency. This means that companies in the market will not be able to sell cheap products anymore. Air-conditioners that are more efficient and use more developed technology will be marketed. But this will result in an increase in prices, too, compared to previous years. This price increase may cause a shrinking, regardless of how small it may be, in the market. Nevertheless, this will be temporary, since once supply and demand straightens out, the market will begin to grow again.

As Alarko Carrier, we have always provided the consumer with the most advanced and energy efficient products. Our aim has been to give the consumer the best. Consequently, even if it appears that we have a small market share, we have become one of the major companies in the inverter air-conditioner market. We have a 14% share in this market, which makes us the leading company in that market. The regulations I mentioned earlier will definitely put companies with philosophies similar to ours that offer environmentally friendly, energy efficient products and emphasize savings into the limelight. Because the products we sell already meet the desired specifications, we don`t have to raise prices. Therefore, we believe that our market position will become even stronger beginning this year.

Our boiler improvement efforts to meet Building Energy Performance Guidelines are also continuing. We introduced the ALF 12DM-T single stage motor-operated damper natural gas boiler in July 2013. We launched the ALF 180/M-type proportional modulating intermediate-heavy oil burners in the first quarter of this year. In addition, in 2014, we are going to modify all of gas-fueled modulating boilers, switching from pneumatic modulation to electronic modulation, which are easier to adjust, more modern and at the same time, more economical. Throughout 2014, demand for the water-cooled chilling group will grow, particularly in the Public-Private Partnership Hospital projects. Furthermore, we sustain our leadership position in the market through the highly efficient Carrier equipment.

Can you give us some information about your exports and imports?

Despite economic fluctuations in both Turkey and abroad, we continued to grow last year. In 2013, the company attained a turnover of TL 370 million and net profits of nearly TL 35 million, an increase of 34%. We exported to 51 countries and our total exports reached TL 51 million. Because exports make up 50% of our factory turnover, we will continue to be a solution partner for large-scale projects in many countries, ranging from the Middle East to Australia. More than 13% of our export products consist of air-conditioning plants, radiators and roof-type air-conditioners.

Is there anything you would like to add?

We are continuing to be the leader in technology in the air-conditioning market with highly energy efficient individual and light commercial air-conditioners that have a good price-quality ratio. We will also keep making products with the utmost energy efficiency for the inverter segment, the sale and marketing of which we have been emphasizing in recent years, and working to provide users maximum use. Sales of inverter air-conditioners in the constantly expanding split air-conditioner market are growing. This trend is expected to continue in the near future. We aim at consolidating our reputation as the company having the widest range of products, more than 60 in 18 series, in light commercial models and the inverter segment, where we possess a major market share.