Sumitomo chiefs visit Turkey to restore trust
Japanese Sumitomo, one of the biggest construction equipment manufacturers in the world, made a high level visit to its Turkish local partner TSM Global, last week. The purpose of the visit was reportedly to express confidence in the Turkish market and to announce investment plans for the future.
The company has been operating in Turkey since 1988 in partnership with TSM Global, which has been providing sales and after sales services for Sumitomo products in Turkey as well as other countries like Georgia, Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Krygyzstan and Uzbekistan since 2014.
The Sumitomo Group is comprised of more than 30 core companies and has more than 400 years of industrial and mining history in Japan. It has been producing hydraulic crawler excavators in the 7.5 - 80 tonnes range since 1963 and asphalt paving machines since 1958. Today Sumitomo has become a world giant and technology leader in hydraulic crawler excavator manufacturing.
The company has 12.5 percent market share in Japan, where most of the production is geared for export. Sumitomo also has manuacturing facilities in Indonesia from which it supplies the Asian market, holding 8 percent market share in that region. There is also limited production in China for spesific clients, representing a 2.5 market share. In Turkey, Subimoto is the market leader in imported products in the 7.5 - 80 tonnes range. The company currently does not produce in Europe and India but, as company executives noted, they are considering to manifacturing in Turkey in the mid- to long-term in order to make Turkey another regional base.
“The Sumitomo and TSM Global partnership is ready to reach for new achievements,” Shinji Shimomura, Sumitomo Construction Machinery President, said. “The success of the award-winning Sumitomo excavators is due in large part to its fuel efficiency and the professional sales and service support provided by TSM Global. Due to Turkey’s superior political and geographical positioning in the region, our cooperation with TSM Global has taken a great turn in a very short time with our fast and ambitious investments. 8 regional branches and 40 dealers are contributing to the Turkish economy by creating jobs over the last 3.5 years.”
Canal Istanbul w ll grow the market
Because of the importance of the Turkish market and its role as a regional logistics base, Turkey may become a hub in the future, Shimimura added, as the needs of both the Turkish market and surrounding countries are met from Turkey. “Within this framework, our investments in after-sales service points and service personnel in Turkey and surrounding countries will continue to increase in the future,” Shimomura said.
Company executives are positive about 2018, in which the market is expected to order more than 4,000 units, growing by another 1,000 units with the start of the Canal Istanbul project in 2019.
Sumitomo products stand out for their award-winning fuel economy and energy efficiency. The new 6 series crawler excavators which were introduced last year, carried the company to a leading position in sales. “We have achieved this high satisfaction with the 6 Series by lowering fuel consumption, which is the biggest expense in excavator work, and by increasing the comfort and safety for it operator. The new series can save up to 20 percent more fuel compared to the previous series.”
Speaking about the future of the business, Shimomura said that their machines can be controlled by mobile phones and the level of technology used for this purpose is increasing. “Full autonomy in our sector is not possible for safety reasons but we want to lead the industry in this spesific area as well,” he noted.