Eliar Elektronik San A.S., a consumer-oriented textile automation industry brand, was set up in 1984. What once piloted as a start-up idea by four Electrical Engineering students of the Istanbul Technical University is now a 14 million Euro industry in the international market. It kick-started its journey by manufacturing electrical components for machinery, and after the dawn of 1996 progressed its way towards manufacturing automatic dispensers of all kinds.
According to Mr. Cihan Devirenoglu, Export Sales Manager of this 34-year-old industry of Turkish origin, the success story of Eliar is not without its twists and turns.
Mr. Cihan maintains that like most businesses Eliar also had its fair share of rough patches. Back in the Turkey of 1980s, automation processes were grossly underdeveloped, allowing only a slower than the desired pace of growth for the company. In its initial years, it merely sold two-three systems a year.
However, the scenario soon changed with the advent of the millennium. As the cost of labour, energy and chemicals rose by the minute in the 2000s and efficiency level, along with quality production spiralled, the time was right for Eliar to strike. As more and more industries switched to automation systems for quality and costing purposes, the tables turned in the Eliar’s favour. It witnessed a rapid eight-fold growth with sales of 25+ systems a year. As of 2017, Eliar is growing with a worth of 14 million Euros a year.
With respect to competition, Mr. Cihan humbly dismisses any crossing of swords with tycoons like L.G., B&R or Siemens because of different target markets. While these companies focus on commercial automation, Eliar specializes in industrial automation, specifically in the textile industry, fabric dyeing, yarn dyeing, garment washing, etc. Apart from different focal points, the provision of customized configuration also sets the manufacturer apart from the competitors in the textile market. Eliar provides all the services required for textile automation under one roof, using the state-of-the-art softwares, electronics and mechatronics.
In 2012, Eliar opened its doors of its Research & Development Center and received immense governmental support for its innovations and modifications. This support, however, comes with its own condition of generating at least one patent a year which fortunately leads to constant motivation and progress for the company. Eliar also claims to have worked with all OEMs and textile industries and boasts of its customer-friendly feedback mechanism which enables it to customize not only for the OEMs but also for their end customers.
In comparison with 2016, Eliar witnessed a 75% fiscal growth in 2017 with a turnover difference of 14 million Euros. Its workforce of 102 employees includes 64 engineers in three divisions: headquarters with sales and manufacturing office, Mechatronic Dispensing System Office and a Service Station. It also exports to 35 countries across the globe.
On maintenance of this glory over the upcoming years, Mr. Devirenoglu comments that the market is highly dynamic with ever-changing customer requirements, Eliar is here to stay. Further, with its latest (2016) inventions, fully automated tiles and dispensing systems and the same customer base, it has the capacity of not only being consistent but also progressive in growth.
India still remains one of the biggest export markets for the company, second only to Turkey which happens to be the company’s place of origin and operation. As per Mr. Cihan, India remains significant for the quotations received for the systems. Eliar has been selling in India since 2003. However, after 11 years, it parted ways with its agency and associated itself with Batliboi Ltd.
According to Mr. Cihan “trade culture runs in Batliboi’s veins”. Great expectations are associated with this partnership, especially in terms of formation of new Indian networks.
Having discussed all the other USPs of Eliar, we now come to the most significant one – aftersales services. Since 2015, Eliar has been selling its dispensing systems with preventive maintenance contracts. Its motto is to ‘avoid malfunctions before they happen’ (Poka-Yoke). Two maintenance visits a year to ensure healthy calibration and accuracy result in periodical maintenance and cut in service requirements. Even if service requirements arise, the Indian troubleshooting engineers, specially trained in Turkey, are always at its disposal, equipped with frequently used spareparts from the inventory.
The interview with Mr. Cihan was concluded with promises of surprise from Eliar at the ITM Turkey in 2018 and a bigger one at ITMA Barcelona exhibition, 2019. Many other prestigious exhibitions are also reported to be lined up in Eliar’s schedule where a range of existing and newly launched products will be displayed. The most awaited of these is ITMA Asia which is expected to open unexplored markets in China and strengthen business with the existing markets in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Batliboi’s relationship with Eliar
“We started our association with Eliar three years ago. Since then it has always been an enriching experience considering its work ethics, professional customer-oriented attitude and, most importantly, its commitment towards building relationship. As a result, we always work as a team with transparency at every stage. We are sure our relationship will go a long way for the benefit of our esteemed customers.”
These words of Mr. Abhay Sidham, CEO of Batliboi Textile Machinery Group, convey the underlying spirit behind the success of Eliar in the Indian market.
No wonder, leading business houses in India, namely, Texport, Pratibha Syntex and many more Indian customers, have patronised Eliar for their requirement of dye house automation system. At the recently concluded ITM exhibition, the fully automatic dye dispensing system launched by Eliar achieved instant stardom, thanks to its fast, accurate and extremely reliable performance. This latest addition to the range of Eliar products has further consolidated its position as a technology leader when it comes to dye house automation at optimum cost.
Excellent service support by Eliar and Batliboi ensures customers are always assured of trouble-free and satisfactory results for the years to come.