Motive power Inci Aku

MOTIVE POWER

Inci Aku is a well established brand leader in the manufacture of batteries for the automotive industry and is now expanding into new market sectors. Philip Yorke reports on a Turkish company that has its sights firmly set on becoming one of the top ten battery manufacturers in the world.

Inci Aku was founded in Turkey by Cedvet Inci in 1984 and with its special commitment to technological development and customer service, the company has seen continuous growth. Highlights include a joint venture with CEAC of France in 1993, the opening of a major new plant in the Ukraine in 1998, obtaining a Ford Q1 certificate in 2006 and becoming an ‘A’ class supplier for Volvo Exports in 2009.

Today the company remains a private, family-owned business and is active on three continents. It is also the original equipment supplier to many domestic and international automotive manufacturers.

Inci Aku belongs to the Inci Group which comprises 16 autonomous companies in Turkey and employs approximately 2,000 people. It exports its batteries to some 70 countries across the world. New capabilities

Inci Aku began by manufacturing automotive parts including wheels and accessories, before moving into the manufacture of batteries in 1993. The company was established at Manisa, in Turkey, where it currently operates two battery plants. The No1 plant focuses on starter battery production and has a capacity of 4.5m batteries per year. Three years ago the company began the construction of a

second 100,000m2 plant at Manisa which now produces some 80,000 industrial batteries per year.

Inci Aku’s Ukraine plant is focused on starter battery production and has a current capacity of 300,000 a year while its Romanian operation, Roleco Recycling, is a lead smelting plant with a capacity of 14,000 mts/year. In 2011 the company also established Inci Energy GmbH, a sales and distribution operation, in Duisburg, Germany.

Inci Aku CEO Goskel Paker said, “We are enlarging our product portfolio in a significant way. Our success has been based on our ability to produce a range of high quality starter batteries for the automotive market and be flexible enough to meet the challenges of a changing marketplace. However, today we are moving into the production of both motive power batteries and reserve power batteries. We already have had experience with the production of motive power batteries. Back in 2005 we started assembling these batteries with a license from an Austrian Company called Bauen and subsequently entered into a joint venture with Varta.

“The demand for these new special duty batteries is coming from our existing customer base as well as from some new customers. We are also increasing our capabilities at our other primary production plants and in particular at our flagship starter battery plant in the Ukraine where we are continuing to invest in order to increase capacity. Our state-of-the-art recycling plant in Romania has doubled our recycling capability. Recycling is an increasingly important aspect of our customer service package and we take our responsibilities concerning the environment very seriously at Inci Aku”.

With today’s fast moving technological developments, the need for a more diverse range of power supply has become evident.

Top-of-the- range vehicles with sophisticated electronic systems require more power than ever before, whilst smaller and more standard vehicles require less power. Inci Aku provides a range of three basic batteries to meet these demands: ‘Nano Gold’, ‘Formul A’ and ‘Supr A’. The company also produces commercial vehicle batteries and manufactures products under license for other well known brands such as EAS, Hugel and Bizzaro.

Expanding global reach

Traditionally Ici Aku has focussed on serving the Balkan markets and the Russian CIS countries from its facilities in the Ukraine. However during the last decade the company has established the Middle East as the main market for its products. This success acted as a springboard for its move into North and South Africa.

Goskel Paker explained, “We are planning to grow in different markets with different products organically, but we are keeping our options open with regard to the possibility of acquisitions in the future. We have our own dedicated research and development centre in Turkey with over 60 specialist engineers working on the development of new products, as well as increasing the performance of our existing range. This is all part of a strategic plan to deliver the battery products of the future and to meet our customer’s expectations.

This March Inci Aku was among nearly 500 companies from 50 different countries that participated in the Motortec Automechanika Ibérica fair in Madrid, where a wide variety of products were presented ranging from automotive components to auto accessories, tyres, vehicle construction, gasoil station equipment, lubricants, car maintenance, auto lacquer coating, and workshop equipment. Göksel Paker pointed out that the fair enabled important commercial relations for İnci Akü, and he added: “Thanks to the fair, we learnt about new products and technologies being developed in the global market, and had a chance to introduce İnci Akü’s existing technology and targets. We mainly focused on providing information about our İnci Battery Gel Series. In our contacts, we had the opportunity to communicate our mission: ‘provide long-life quick solutions for energy storage’ and our target: ‘being among top 10 battery manufacturers in the world’”. n