Okan ERDEVE
General Coordinator of ECF Engineering
“We are living in a period when our employers must pay utmost attention to replace the vacant positions quickly or to maintain and improve the existing structure despite being of our qualified engineers many of whom have been transferred to key positions abroad.”
You are involved in joint projects with Turkey’s and the world’s largest cement producers. What kind of solutions do you offer specifically for the cement industry in particular?
As ECF Engineering, we are mainly involved in Contracting Services and we also manufacture custom Low Voltage Switchboards in various types and specifications that are needed in the sector. ECF is a licensed Switchboard Partner of ABB Elektrik Company and also operates as a Field Contractor Partner. We are capable of offering solutions mainly in the fields of Engineering and Project Design, Equipment Procurement, Installation and Commissioning, both at home and abroad as Contracting Services, as well as all electrical systems needed by the sector including logistics needs.
You produce “turnkey” projects throughout the process that includes a number of services from the design phase to implementation. How about your teams that carry out these services?
The headquarters of our company is located in Ankara Anadolu Organized Industrial Estate. We also operating in work in various locations and have offices located in these worksites. Currently 78 people in total are employed in our headquarters and worksite offices. This staff comprises a technical team of 26 people consisting of engineers and foremen. More than half of these people had used to work in different locations and plants in the cement and mining sectors. Their experience and knowledge sheds light on us and provides contributions to the development of our new junior technical staff with a quick and high quality manner. As you know, our industry involves high levels of power consumption, as well as many different features and instruments for the distribution and control of this energy. Accurate project designing, efficient use of time and choosing the right equipment are far more important than in the past in a time when energy costs and equipment costs have reached the peak. Our team’s attention and efforts devoted to these matters brings success and customer satisfaction in return. This also enables us to build plants that operate smoothly for many years and plants that always allow for expansion. I would like to extend by gratitude towards our employees for their successful work once again.
Could you make an evaluation on Turkish cement producers in terms of technology? Where do you think we stand in terms of engineering and technological investments in comparison with the remaining world?
I can see that technological investments are very well in the plants that we have built and in the other ones as we can witness externally. We can see many technological information and equipment in the literature are used in the investments made by many plants in the last 15 years as a result of both energy efficiency and capacity increase efforts, unless we take into account the last few years. The sector has a traceable structure both in Turkey and internationally. Consequently, we are able to achieve a competitive environment as well as a platform where parties can share and exchange their experiences. This leads to total development in return. The development of engineering and qualified personnel employment is of great importance to ensure continuation and development of the technological structure established around these investments inn a sustainable manner. Companies that are aware of this are becoming role models and leading the sector. We are living in a period when our employers must pay utmost attention to replace the vacant positions quickly or to maintain and improve the existing structure despite being of our qualified engineers many of whom have been transferred to key positions abroad.
Our team’s attention and efforts devoted to brings success and customer satisfaction in return.
What are your efforts abroad? Which projects have you carried out and not carrying out in which countries?
We have carried out many direct or indirect projects in locations such as African countries (Mozambique, Ivory Coast, South Africa), Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, United Arab Emirates. Unfortunately, during the coronavirus pandemic, we had to move away from the Africa region where we were active in the past. We realized major turnkey projects there. We are making the plans for returning to these regions in the first quarter of 2023 and re-establish our structure if nothing goes wrong. Investments in copper and gold mines and plants are highly active in these regions, in addition to the cement sector. Primarily our engineering and project design, then our custom switchboard manufacturing works are going on in an intensive way. Our aim is to take on larger projects most of which have the quality of turnkey project in these investments. We were also contracted to a new project with ABB Elektrik in a major mining company in Saudi Arabia this year. I cannot tell about the details at the moment, but we are planning to improve our dialog with the employer and open an ECF office in that country in the second half of 2023 and then to establish workshops and logistics infrastructure.
What are aspects that require utmost attention in engineering works in the cement sector? What are the elements that basically bring success?
The element of success primarily depends on occupational safety, all technical, logistics and engineering competencies, and as always, qualified and well-trained personnel and the harmony between these people as a team. Success comes naturally when you combine this structure with you experience and knowledge upon meeting these conditions. Working with employers who are conscious of this structure gives us pleasure and allows us to do successful work. As you all know, the sector has a structure that requires the most effective and efficient use of energy and investment budgets are quite high and costly. I consider that the investors need make more thoughtful choices in engineering and contracting due to the competitive environment and increase in supply, as well as the longer return on investment than it was in the past. We pay utmost attention to the fact that our employers are from organizations with this mindset to ensure continual success.
What makes you different from the competitors? Why should cement producers prefer you?
ECF is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Indeed, 10 years is not a long time for a company, but when we look back in this short period of time, we have completed 5 Integrated Cement Plants, 4 Grinding and Packaging Plants, 3 Mining Plants as turnkey and/or site contractors not mention the individual small-scale projects. These plants have been operating smoothly without any problems since the day they were established. We are very pleased and satisfied that we are chosen to continue to develop business with the same employers on the same sites on a preferential basis following the completion of the investment. This proves that we have achieved customer satisfaction. Additionally, we expand our areas and ranges of production with the industrialist identity we possess and continue to develop more qualified and custom productions for our employers to besides engineering and contracting. ECF Panel has manufactured many switchboards for custom projects since the day it commenced production. The year 2022 will be a period that we will be listed among the companies with the best breakthrough as Switchboard Provider for ABB unless something very specific occurs.
Could you tell us about your goals and strategies for the upcoming period?
We are going through a difficult period together with the whole country and the world. The most striking consequences and repercussions of this are the constant and rapid fluctuations in economic parameters. I believe that companies can only overcome this period by maintaining a proper financial structure and company structure at all costs, even at the risk of downsizing if necessary but by always working towards investment and growth. The past pandemic process made this clear for us. ECF continues to deal with and get through these processes with its strong financial structure and investments. We will be mainly interested in foreign mining and cement companies in the field of contracting in consideration of the upcoming period. We also push forward to take part in custom projects in the defense industry and iron-steel investments in Turkey as ABB Panel provider. Additionally, one of our biggest goals is to complete the Line II Investment in a healthy and safe way in Medcem cement plant, of which ABB Elektrik company is the main contractor and we are currently working as a subcontractor, which is extremely important for us and which ECF has always considered as its primary employer
