NEWS

Industry 4.0 – a new industrial revolution based out of Europe – has done wonders for Yıldız Holding’s new pilot project.

Through the Star Excellence Path Program, Ülker hopes to be able to instantly monitor the production cycle (from raw material to the end-product), take immediate action, and maintain its competitive edge.

The Internet – and hence the digital age – have radically transformed manufacturing, industry, and the service sector. Now, companies can monitor all of their end-to-end processes, and then quickly turn that into action – thus making them more competitive thanks to the Internet. The keys to that are leanness, agility, efficient use of resources, environmental sensitivity, and sustainability. Germany is leading the way to Industry 4.0 and has inspired the rest of Europe to follow in its path.

Foreseeing this transformation, Ülker and three other companies launched a series of pilot projects last year under Yıldız Holding’s Star Excellency Path Program. This year, 11 more companies joined the program.

Three important guests attended this year’s Star Excellence Path conference. Professor August Wilhelm Scheer (Head of Information Technologies in Germany) told Ülker and Yıldız Holding employees about Industry 4.0. Akın Öngör shared his experiences about the miraculous power of achieving things together and acting as a team. Dr. Göran Carstedt (President of Naturel Step International) shared his experiences about leanness, agility, sustainability, and sustainable brands.

Mehmet Tütüncü (President of Yıldız Holding Food – Ülker Group) kicked off the conference with a few words about companies waiting for an era where systems, technology, and the culture of doing business morph into something else entirely. “In order to brace ourselves for this new world, we’ve drawn ourselves a road map. We’ve created a path that will give us a competitive edge that is easy to sustain and develop upon – furthermore, it is unique to us and unlike anything else in the rest of the world. We want to create an organization where all end-to-end systems interact with each other. From now on, we’ll be able to monitor all the aspects of production from soil to store shelf and even to the customer’s home, and take swift action if/when necessary.”

First we’ll simplify, then we’ll digitalize business

Tütüncü pointed out that the Star Excellence Path Program falls into four sub-categories: “We strive for excellence in systems, excellence in culture, excellence in results, and excellence in sustainability.

We want to create end-to-end value. To do that, we have to first simplify, and then digitalize business. We need to act according to real-time data, be agile, make decisions without delay (by rapidly evaluating risks and opportunities on the spot), and focus on staying one step ahead of the competition.”

Success means putting people at the center, and making on the spot decisions

Tütüncü added that Star Excellence Path and Industry 4.0 have a lot in common:

“When compared our own roadmap with Industry 4.0, we discovered there was a lot shared. We want to further develop the Star Excellence Path program to include the dynamics within Industry 4.0, and mold it into something that will carry us into the tomorrow whilst making us more competitive. Agility, efficient use of resources, environmental awareness, and sustainability will drive everything.

The journey towards excellence is a marathon... Success in this marathon means putting people at the center. It also means maintaining a high level of job security, making split-second decisions, trusting common sense, developing organizations, ensuring traceability and transparency, and creating added value.”

Ülker Chocolate was Excited for the Finals in Germany

Tütüncü reminded us that operational excellence has been on whole world’s mind this year: “Ülker Chocolate became the first Turkish winner of the “Industrial Excellence Awards Contest” (for which various major companies from other parts of Europe also competed).

On September 29, we will compete with the finalists from Germany, the UK, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Spain. Germany will host the competition. Germany is on the brink of starting the fourth industrial revolution because of advanced production technology, state policies, and how it prepares its companies. The whole ordeal will offer us an eye-opening experience.”

Europe’s New Era of Transformation, Industry 4.0

Prof. Dr. August Wilhem Scheer – who is one of the most influential scientists and entrepreneurs in Germany’s IT and software industry – said that the Industry 4.0 era has begun. He pointed to radical changes in how industrial companies go about business management. He congratulated Ülker on their work on readying itself for Industry 4.0:

“We can liken the vision of Industry 4.0 to an elephant. The way to get this big elephant where we want it be is to maintain its economic value and functionality, that is, to understand the components of Industry 4.0 well. With Industry 4.0, customer processes enable customers to reach products/services through multiple channels, to see the status of the product and service instantly, and to order and access the product in a special way. Production processes enable modular and flexible production areas to work in an integrated fashion with other production areas whilst making instant decisions on their own.”