ACARLAR, Turkish market
Could you explain to us the history of the Group and when Acarlar strengthened its relationship with Haulotte?
Founded in 2004, Acarlar Makine started its operations as an exclusive distributor of Haulotte products in Turkey and border countries. From the very beginning, the company has always dominated the market, taking Haulotte products to the top as a market leader. As a company that introduces access platforms on the market, Acarlar has always been a pioneer in the field.
Again, from the beginning, Acarlar and Haulotte built a very strong partnership, and Haulotte’s support behind Acarlar was also a major factor in its success.
Beginning in 2006, the company also started rental operations under the same roof. In only 10 years, the company reached over 100 employees and achieved more than €15 million in sales turnover. In addition, the rental operations also grew to a fleet of over 750 units.
In 2014, the company separated its rental operations completely from its sales activity and created a new rental company. The Haulotte group then acquired 50% of Acarlar’s shares, and a new partnership period started with a stronger Acarlar Makine on the market. After Haulotte’s 100% acquisition in 2018, the company is now a full member of the Haulotte group in Turkey.
How is business in Turkey?
The Access Platform business in Turkey needs to be evaluated separately from other fields. When we first started doing business in Turkey, the market for access platforms was essentially non-existent. Over the next 14 years, the access platform business grew by a significant percentage every year. In 2018, the total rental fleet in Turkey was around 13,000 to 14,000 units in total, compared to zero in 2004. However, 2018 saw a sudden dramatic increase in the Euro exchange rate, and rental companies took a major blow. Since then, they have been suffering excessively on their Euro debts for their investments. This economic situation has dramatically decreased our fleet sales. Fortunately, the market has now begun to recover, and we hope to soon see the same rental figures again.
According to you, what is the most challenging part of the Turkish AWP market?
Firstly, Turkey is a very promising market for the access platform industry, with not only a huge population but also potential. Compared with other mature countries, Turkey should already be equipped with over 50,000 access platform rental units. However, the total fleet available today is only around 15,000 units. This means there is a real potential for platform use, but there are lots of challenges creating obstacles to growth.
One of the biggest obstacles is health and safety rules. The government is still unable to properly apply health and safety regulations, and people are also not following the rules as they should.
Secondly, especially for rental companies, the rented platforms are made to work in difficult ground conditions, in an ill-advised manner, by untrained operators. This causes additional maintenance costs and decreases the life of the machine for rental companies.
Therefore, all of these obstacles make the Access Platform business less attractive for today’s investors in Turkey. But on the other hand, the market is still so new and very promising for the future. We know that mature markets faced the same issues and that they overcame these difficulties. So there is no doubt that the Turkish market will also learn.
How do you perceive the competition in Turkey?
I perceive the competition in Turkey from two different angles.
Firstly, the competition between access platform brands is not that fierce. For an Access Platform brand to successfully compete in Turkey, you definitely need a local partner to build a close relationship with customers. Especially if we are talking about rental fleet companies. You need to stay very close to customers, understand their expectations and satisfy those expectations. They care about this emotional approach and your after-sales services more than the brand or even the quality. However, on top of all that, they are very sensitive to high prices. In this respect, we are well positioned when competing with European and American brands through our close relationships and great after-sales services. But when it comes to price, it’s difficult to compete with Chinese battery-operated scissor lifts.
The second aspect of competition is between rental companies. This aspect is fiercer than the first. The competition between Rental Companies is very cutthroat. This competition mainly focuses on price, rather than quality. I believe this situation is also a temporary one and that it will improve as business grows. Today, every major rental company in Turkey is investing with limited financial resources. They invest in expanding their fleet but they don’t invest enough in other domains like Human Resources, after-sales services, etc. So most of them have not yet become institutional corporations. Again, just like other countries through, as the industry grows, these companies will take on an increasingly corporate structure with better service, pricing policies and all.
What is your vision for the next 10 years? What would you expect in terms of new machines and technologies?
As mentioned, the market is still very new, and there is still a long way to go. However, with every passing year in Turkey, people are becoming more aware of health and safety. In addition, more effective use of manpower is becoming increasingly important every day, with growing competition in every field. All these are the important pillars for increasing the demand for access platforms.
In this respect, I believe Turkey can reach its true potential in 10 years. By then, the total fleet will probably be three times what it is today. In addition, rental companies will probably have developed a more corporate structure, along with the growing market.
On the subject if eco-friendly machines, what is the demand in your country?
Like everywhere, the Turkish people are more and more concerned about having eco-friendly products. Institutions, industries and companies in general are starting to consider eco-friendly equipment, with low-emission equipment being especially popular in Turkey. In some cases, such equipment is mandatory, beyond simply being more popular.
As I understand it, in the very near future, everything will be designed so as to reduce its environmental footprint. So, being ready for this as of today is the greatest advantage for the future. In addition, given the increasing importance of health and safety all over the world, being ready for even safer MEWP will also be perceived as an important future advantage.
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