Daikin Grows Tenfold in 10 Years

Daikin celebrates 10th anniversary in Turkey with growth records Entering Turkey's air conditioning market by acquiring the Airfel brand in 2011, Daikin demonstrated once again that it is one of the sector's most important players, achieving 11-fold growth over 10 years. Daikin Turkey, which manufactures a wide range of products at its factory in Hendek, Sakarya, has made a total investment of USD 350 million including the Airfel acquisition. The company's next goal is to complete a total investment of USD 500 million by 2025 by investing an additional USD 150 million. Daikin, the global leader in the air conditioning sector, is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Turkey with new investments and strong growth figures. Entering the Turkish market as a direct investor by acquiring the Airfel brand in July 2011 and beginning operations under the name Daikin Turkey, the company has demonstrated growth well above sector averages since that date, achieving 11-fold growth over 10 years. Daikin Turkey, which had a turnover of TRY 202 million in 2011 when it began operations in Turkey, pursued an aggressive growth strategy from that point forward, achieving success well above the 10% sector average. Despite expectations of a 25% contraction across the entire sector during the pandemic period, Daikin Turkey continued its growth, achieving 42% year-on-year growth and raising its turnover to TRY 2,836 million by the end of the 2020 financial year. Daikin Turkey has also substantiated its growth with findings from Turkey's most important research institutions. In the "Turkey's 500 Largest Industrial Enterprises Survey" prepared by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO), Daikin Turkey rose 23 positions at once to rank 152nd as of 2020. With this success, the company maintained its status as one of Turkey's top 100 companies, ranking 57th in terms of equity size. Since beginning operations, Daikin Turkey has believed in the power of innovation and R&D, continuing its investments in this area without letup. In the 'R&D 250' survey prepared by Turkishtime, which studies the companies with the highest R&D spending in Turkey, Daikin Turkey moved up 18 positions to rank 111th, receiving recognition for this effort. Growing through R&D and innovation, Daikin Turkey manufactures products suited to various needs—such as boilers, air conditioning units, fan coils and air handling units—under the Daikin and Airfel brands at its production facilities covering 100,000 square meters in Hendek, Sakarya, using the latest technology; the company has channeled the strength it gains from production into exports as well as the domestic market. Daikin Turkey, which obtains 55% of its turnover from export revenues, achieved a 28% increase in export revenues compared to the previous year, reaching USD 200 million in exports in 2020. Daikin Turkey set its 2021 financial year export target at USD 300 million. Daikin Turkey, which has the widest product range in heating, cooling and ventilation in Turkey, sets sector standards with its technology while also making a difference through its environmentally conscious approach. Acting with net zero carbon emissions as its goal at every step, with reference to the motto "Value for people starts with the environment," Daikin invested USD 3 million in a solar power plant project it commissioned at its factory in Hendek, Sakarya in July 2020. With this project, the company aims to generate 5,760 kWp of power at its factory, providing 80% of the factory's energy needs through the solar project. Daikin, which set out to become a green factory, succeeded in reducing carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to 90,000 trees annually by 4,186 tons through this project.  

EUR 5 MILLION R&D INVESTMENT

The Daikin Turkey R&D division, which had a team of 21 people and a budget of EUR 400,000 when established in 2011, today represents a large structure that has increased its workforce 3.5 times and its budget 5 times. With this volume, the R&D center also holds the distinction of being the fastest-growing affiliated R&D facility of Daikin Europe's EUR 70 million budget R&D division. Daikin Turkey R&D aims for 20% growth in 2021 as well as an additional EUR 10 million investment by the end of 2025 and raising its workforce to 100 people. Having spent EUR 2.5 million on R&D last year, Daikin Turkey continues to increase its R&D budget while making laboratory investments in the same amount. The R&D center employs a total of 70 people, including 65 Turkish and 5 Japanese engineers. Daikin Turkey, which has successfully made its mark in the global air conditioning sector through air conditioning units, boilers, fan coils and air handling units developed in Turkey, continues uninterrupted research and development work on new products at its R&D center. The company has won international awards such as Red Dot and IF Design, as well as the Excellent Product award within Daikin Global, particularly through its successful R&D work on heating products.

USD 500 MILLION INVESTMENT TARGET BY 2025

Daikin Turkey is completing a total EUR 30 million investment in the Hendek Factory and R&D Center in 2021. With a EUR 15 million new investment, the company is expanding its split air conditioning production line and increasing capacity. While it has a production capacity of 1.1 million outdoor units and 1.5 million indoor units, this investment made in May 2021 will increase outdoor unit capacity by 700,000 units. Since the company primarily exports split air conditioning units it manufactures to the European market, this investment will provide Daikin Turkey with an additional USD 100 million in export contribution. In addition to this investment, Daikin Turkey has set another first in the sector, implementing a capacity increase investment worth approximately EUR 15 million for manufacturing VRV systems (centralized air conditioning systems) at 50,000 units. VRV system products, whose manufacturing will begin in January 2022, will see 40,000 units exported to the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. Daikin Turkey, which holds a 35% market share in VRV systems in Turkey, aims to sell 10,000 units of this production in the domestic market. This investment is expected to shift a EUR 100 million region from Europe to Turkey. With 5 investments totaling USD 53 million to be implemented in 2021, Daikin Turkey is accelerating its operations in the sector, having implemented total investments of USD 100 million to date. The company's next goal is to invest an additional USD 150 million by 2025.

WHAT LIES AHEAD?

Evaluating Daikin Turkey's 10-year journey, Daikin Turkey Chief Executive Officer Hasan Önder notes that R&D and factory investments continue uninterrupted and states: "By acquiring Airfel in 2011 and entering the Turkish market, Daikin has shown growth well above sector averages since that time, achieving 11-fold growth over 10 years. R&D is an important subject and one of the building blocks of our corporate culture. The key to the future lies there. By continuously raising the budget of our R&D investments, we have created an R&D center at a level that will produce our own patents and have begun to achieve very good results. In the near future, we are monitoring trends that will affect HVAC companies and are setting targets and directing our work accordingly. In the coming period, smart cities, energy digitalization, big data, blockchain, distributed management, storage and electric vehicles will emerge as the main topics that will shape the dynamics of our sector. Daikin Turkey continues its work by positioning itself according to these parameters."