Transformer plant opens in Balıkesir

Balıkesir Electo-Mechanic Industry Facilities, or BEST, has opened Turkey’s second-largest electrical transformer factory in Balıkesir, a city in the Marmara region.

The Yırcalı Group built the plant with an investment of 200 million euros in the city’s industrial zone. BEST's new plant is located on a total of 155,000 square meters, including a covered area of 50,000 square meters.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, BEST Chairman Rona Yırcalı, who is also the chairman of the executive board of the Foreign Economic Relations Board, or DEİK, said that the firm, which exports to 46 countries, will celebrate its 45th year in 2010.

Yırcalı said BEST was established under very special conditions, adding, “We are a public company in the truest sense. In the past, we had a special privilege as almost half of our workers were also the founders of the company. Our institution, which started to operate with 100 percent national capital, has become the country’s second-largest transformer enterprise, again with national capital. This shows what our country’s people can do by uniting knowledge with advanced technology.”

Increase in exports

The company has raised its transformer export from 1.5 megavolt amperes, or MVA, to 800 MVA, he said. “The world’s conditions are changing. BEST has also changed just like Turkey and the world. We are working with a dynamic team and have managed to increase our turnover 13 times within the last five years. Despite the global and local economic crisis, we managed to open our second facility worth 200 million Turkish Liras in 18 months,” said Yırcalı.

The firm, which has increased its production area significantly, has the capacity to make every type of transformer between 800 MVA to 525 kilovolts over the world standards.

Attending the opening ceremony, Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, chairman of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, or TOBB, said that the investment in Balıkesir was very important amid the global crisis climate.

By taking risks in such a climate, entrepreneurial investment increases confidence in the future of the country, he said. Noting that smart investors should turn the crisis into an opportunity, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Crises are never permanent. What is important is to be ready for the potential of production the day the crisis is over. This is what turning crisis into opportunity means.”

Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergün said the era of the statist economic model was finished and had been replaced by the market economic model where development at the hands of the private sector had become pre-eminent. The state’s mission is to prepare a legal, political and economic platform for investors by ameliorating the investment climate, he said.

Arguing that the state should withdraw from the economy, Ergün commented on the efforts to enable, protect and strengthen political and economic stability both at home and abroad. Entrepreneurial power constitutes one of the most valuable assets for the country, according to Ergün.

“Turkey currently ranks 17th among the world’s 20 largest economies. It will climb to the 16th spot next year. Our main goal is to be among the top 10 countries by 2023, on the 100th anniversary of [Turkey’s] foundation,” he said.