Üstünkarlı, which has been providing uninterrupted service in the Turkish woodworking machinery industry for 70 years, today exports the machines it produces in Türkiye to different parts of the world. We heard from the company’s general manager, Nezih Üstünkarlı, about the Üstünkarlı brand, which has proven itself in the global market with its long years of experience and investments in R&D and technology. Stating that, as a Turkish manufacturer, they act with the vision of being a reliable and sustainable company that is respected at home and abroad, Nezih Üstünkarlı stated that as a company, they focus on continuity before profitability.

We talked about the industry and its brand with Üstünkarlı General Manager Nezih Üstünkarlı, one of the doyens of the Turkish woodworking machinery industry. Making important evaluations about the sector, Üstünkarlı mentioned that Turkish machinery manufacturers have reached a very important position in the global market and that this success will increase exponentially.

  • First of all, how was the year 2023 for the woodworking machinery industry in general? What are your predictions for 2024?

As it is known, there was a serious intensity in the sector after the pandemic. With this serious intensity after a long-lasting recession, even companies with very low capacity started to do serious work and increase their capacity. 2023 was a year in which these developments accelerated. I guess that almost all of the companies in the sector left 2023 as a successful year. 2023 has been a very successful year for our company. Last year, especially complete facility projects were our main agenda item. When we look at 2024, the first months showed us that there was a serious slowdown in the sector. This slowdown is not only valid in the woodworking machinery industry. It is a general situation experienced in almost all sectors all over the world. I think this slowdown will decrease, especially for Europe, in the last quarter of 2024. Because I think that the money waiting in European funds will be released in the last quarter of the year, thus investments in the sector will increase. These investments will of course bring dynamism and vitality to the market.

“We provide services at home and abroad with our turnkey projects”
  • Can you give information about the production capacity and facilities of Üstünkarlı company?

As Üstünkarlı, we have a total production capacity of 40 thousand square meters in İzmir, of which 30 thousand square meters is open and 10 thousand square meters is closed. All of our machining, welded manufacturing, sheet metal processing, paint facility, electrical-electronics, automation, software and assembly departments are available here. 30 percent of our employees are white collar, 70 percent are blue collar, and we work with an average of 75-100 people annually. As a company, we have been carrying out turnkey projects of different sizes on log processing for many years, with our R&D project studies and complete facility installations, together with our sub-industry and partner companies at home and abroad.

“New dealerships are coming to three different locations in 2024”
  • Can you give information about your export markets? In which regions do you have dealerships?

The issue of export has always been on our agenda since the end of the 70s. Previously, we were working mainly with neighboring countries. For a while, the Middle East was a very important region for us. Later, the sector in Türkiye started to develop a lot. Then Russia became a very big market for us. We have been exporting to all known countries in Europe since the 90s. When we look at geography, we are everywhere in Africa and the Far East. We even have sales and projects in many places, even to the small islands above Australia. As Üstünkarlı, we have one or two dealers almost everywhere or we have project companies with which we work together. By the end of 2024, we will establish our dealerships for South America, North America and Australia and start project sales.

“Consistency brings with it profitability”
  • What is the basic vision of Üstünkarlı as a company?

As Üstünkarlı company, we will celebrate our 70th anniversary in the sector this year. We now have the third generation in company management. As a Turkish manufacturer, our most important vision is to be a company that is respected, valued, reliable and sustainable both at home and abroad. Our philosophy has always been the same since our founder, Mr. Aziz. For us, the most important aspect of the business has always been its consistency, not its profitability. Since consistency brings profitability, we have worked to ensure the consistency of our business until today and we continue on our way with this vision.

“We want to have a role in the league of high value-added machines”
  • What are your company’s future goals? Can you share your short, medium and long term goals?

First of all, our most important goal in the long term is to produce projects with higher added value in Türkiye and sell them to the world. With the support of R&D and technology, we want to have a role in the league of high value-added machines, where companies establish facilities of different sizes, dimensions and capacities. In the short and medium term, we focus on education and staff training. We are working with all our strength to realize these goals.

“Technological investments are very important to ensure consistency”

  • What technological developments have you invested in throughout recent years as a company? What difference did these investments make in the industry?

It is not possible to stop for companies like us. If you stop, someone will definitely overtake you. For this reason, technological investments are very important to ensure consistency. We tried to focus on the problems we encountered. We created 2 thousand square meters of open and 2 thousand square meters of closed raw material and semi-finished material stock areas in 2022-2023. We planned these with the ERP connection to carry out them in a controlled manner. Apart from this, we invested around 1.5 million euros in machine tools and CNC machines. We made software investments. We have made really serious investments in software and automation. These are investments related to both our production and the software used in the machines for our customers.

“Unless R&D works properly, it is not possible to develop”
  • Can you give detailed information about your R&D activities? What are the strategies you follow to develop innovative products and processes?

Our activities in terms of R&D continue. R&D is a living thing rather than an inert thing. As a company, it is always our priority. If R&D does not work properly and does not produce anything continuously, it is not possible to develop. In order to develop innovative products and processes, we first listen to customer requests very well. We follow all the developments in the world and of course our competitors. We serve different developments in different geographies. That’s why our R&D never stops. We work on different things for each customer, in each geography. Our R&D processes are shaped according to supply and demand. We used to produce 300-400 machines a year, but now there is no such demand. We halved the number of machines, but by increasing the number of projects, we were able to carry out work with higher added value.

“Turkish machinery manufacturers carry out after-sales services very successfully”
  • Can you give information about your after-sales services? In this sense, what kind of investments and work do you do?

First of all, you need to have a very good service network in order not to lose the market. Almost all Turkish machinery manufacturers carry out after-sales services very successfully both at home and abroad. They provide very quick feedback to their customers in case of any problems. We also created service teams in our own dealers through training. Even in the event of a transportation problem, we are able to offer quick solutions to our customers’ problems thanks to our wide service network. Additionally, we have been making serious automation investments in our machines for the last 10 years. Therefore, thanks to automation, we can access the machines remotely and respond to requests much faster. This gave us great advantages.

“WoodTech Fair has become a brand”
  • What would you like to say about the WoodTech Fair, which will host its guests for the 37th time this year?

WoodTech Fair is one of the most important fairs of our industry after Ligna Fair. İstanbul is a city that has become a brand for the whole world. WoodTech Fair held in this city has also become an important brand for the woodworking machinery industry. WoodTech Fair, where the entire industry comes together and is visited by thousands of people from different geographies, is a very important organization for industry professionals. We will introduce our new products and services at the WoodTech Fair to be held in İstanbul in October. As it is known, automation has become a very important issue. For this reason, we are working to carry out some work in this field. Especially in sawmills, lifting, placing and transporting the goods you produce are very difficult and costly processes. That’s why we are working on certain automation systems to solve the problems encountered in transportation, stacking and waste management of produced goods. We will exhibit these works at the fair

“Turkish manufacturers have proven that Türkiye is a very important market in the production of woodworking machinery”
  • What developments await us in the Turkish woodworking machinery industry in the future?

The sector has actually made significant progress in every field. The number of participating Turkish companies I saw at the Ligna Fair, the most important fair of the sector in 2023, was very serious. I was proud of it. Turkish manufacturers have now proven that Türkiye is a very important market in the production of woodworking machinery. The fact that there are multiple manufacturers competing in all kinds of machinery shows that Türkiye has now reached a serious place in the wood processing sector in these world markets. What will happen in your immediate geography in the coming period is very important. However, Türkiye has reached a very important position with this productivity. We were previously trying to compete with some manufacturers in Europe and were struggling with China. Italians and Germans were also very important strongholds of the sector. Now we have come to a point where we wonder if we will have a position between Germany and Italy, and I believe we will achieve this. I think there won’t be a big problem with China either. We may not have the chance to compete with China in multi-production goods on a quantity basis, but I think we will grow much more by creating solutions for our customers in Europe and all markets in our nearby geography.