We have conducted an interview with Ms. İlkim Yıldırım Gökalp, Deputy General Director of AMETAL Asansör, established in 1988 in where the manufacturing technologies were new for the manufacturing of control boards and button/operating panels for the elevators, regarding the operations of the corporation. 

İlkim Yıldırım Gökalp, who started his words by explaining the vision of AMETAL as "continuously improving the products and services it provides, increasing the product and service quality in accordance with the rapidly evolving and advancing technology and requirements”, has further said that with the visionary approach of İsmail Yıldırım, the founder of AMETAL, which renews itself to fulfill the evolving customer requirements with its original quality products offered to the elevator sector, the corporation has become a world brand not only in Turkey but also on a global scale.
İlkim Yıldırım further pointed out; “Analyzing the rising trends in the world is the fundamental philosophy of AMETAL. We have been offering specialized components groups with the experiences gained throughout the years as well as elevator solutions with easy installation process to our customers with “Aries Full-Elevator Systems.” He also stressed out that AMETAL proceeds with its manufacturing of many electronic and mechanical components for full-elevator systems in its own manufacturing facility put into operation in 2020 with an indoor area of 7,000 m2. 

Hello Ms. İlkim, could you please provide us certain information on your product range and services offered to the sector? 
Hello. AMetal designs and manufactures its entire products to offer unique solutions to the elevator users and the contracting enterprises. The corporation embraces and applies innovative thinking using fundamental sciences and novel technologies. The corporation designs products that are not only appealing to the aesthetics taste, but also serving to the techniques and benefit, with their designs creating value. The corporation appeals to the domestic market with its button and operating panel group, control board, load measuring systems and ready-installations, as well as cab and frame whereas this service transforms into “full-elevator systems” for the foreign markets. At this juncture, the corporation performs manufacturing of almost the entire components within its own facilities under its own brand “ARIES Systems”, except the machine and motor, rail and control systems within the elevator system in accordance with the requirements. 

What are your competitive edges that enable your products to be preferred?
We think that our most competitive aspect is the “benefit” provided to our customers. Our corporate motto “We are producing benefits to contracting corporations” started to be adopted in 2021 indicates this measurable benefit. “Could you please elaborate on this benefit?” If you ask so, the answer is quite simple; our focal point in the component or full-elevator system purchased by our customer from AMETAL is not only the quality of that particular product but also the easy use and installation and our endeavors to design every fine detail in the physical structure and packaging process of the product and deliver the product to our customer in complete.

Could you please tell us about your new manufacturing facility, machine park and employment?
We continue our operations for the year 2021 in our factory established in Tuzla with our staff of 90 employees. We have been actively performing manufacturing in the aspects of button, operating panel, indicator, control panel, ready-installations, load measuring and cab/frame group. We are in possession of the CNC machine park, dust paint line and professionally managed storage and loading areas within our facility. This enables us to arrange the orders of our customers in the most effective and efficient way within the process up to the delivery.   

We are aware that you, as Ametal, highly prioritize R&D endeavors. What could you tell us more on the importance of R&D and your endeavors in this regard? 
In recent years, our R&D operations are performed in the main topic of “elevator systems”. Particularly the active demand in overseas markets is on the full-elevator solutions, we have been designing certified systems in accordance with the requirements. In 2020, we have accomplished the system “Drum Elevator with engine chamber below” system, which we name as the “ARIES 250 MR-D”, and we have obtained our certification and initiated to offer the product to the European territory. Our new product shall be available within the second half of 2021. We have been preparing the mass production in a much more micro version of the most popular and appreciated “MINILIFT ® Model Elevator". 

As a corporation operating within the sector for many years, could you please tell us what you have determined for the sustainable export policy for the year 2021?
For a sustainable export, first of all, you are required to have a product and service provision fit for the purpose without compromising on the quality. We do believe in selling benefit, not the product and we act with a service infrastructure entirely based on this principle in AMETAL. In our opinion, a customer purchasing a product or service from AMETAL should be satisfied for both and only then the process may proceed. We place emphasize on the communication process and therefore, we prefer multilingual approach in our sales department. 

Which territories or countries are you directing your market intensity in your commercial operations predominantly? Which of your products are more demanded?
If we consider the last 5 years, although the European region is focused predominantly, Northern Africa countries follow that. Demand is predominantly on our “Aries Elevator Systems”. 

What about your predictions for the year 2021 in comparison of your corporate data for 2020 with the previous year? 
2020 was considered as an extraordinary year due to the worldwide pandemic. We, acting with the capacity of manufacturer and vendor, have also been affected by the dynamics of the previous year. We had no difficulties while performing the prediction, but we have witnessed certain months in where our predictions were deviated, as process faced some uncertainties. Despite all, the elevator sector has overcome the process without experiencing severe damages due to demand for the elevators. Although the effects of the process persist in the year 2021, it shall be a year in where the predictions can be performed more realistically and the entire countries that had to apply the brakes shall face an efficient year in terms of business. 

I do hope that we shall be able to represent our corporation in the most dynamic way possible both domestically and on abroad with the measures introduced by the worldwide vaccination both in Turkey and overseas in the upcoming months. As AMETAL, our plans are in line with that. 

The "International Elevator and Escalator Symposium - IEES 2021", which we shall participate in December, is also included within the plans of ours. The symposium is of utmost importance for us as it shall serve as a platform offering a meeting point in which we shall be able to convene with corporate representatives of the sector in the European territory and we shall have the opportunity to elucidate the benefits we produce and our special solutions.