Necmi Cunedioğlu Norm Analitik General Manager : “The quality of our products and our after-sales support has won most of our customers' satisfaction. In this way, we obtained significant references. As the whole team, we do not do our job, we live our job. Our customers see it.”

Interview / Cemalettin KANAŞ

Measurement and analysis processes in feed production have been increasing its importance since the transition from the traditional method to the modern. What is intended to be measured and analyzed is whether feed conforms to the desired standards in terms of both nutritional and cost and contains any elements that directly or indirectly threaten animal health. From this perspective, the significance of measurement and analysis for the modern feed and livestock sectors is indisputable. Because - as those who are interested in this business often say- you can't control what you don't measure. For this reason, measurement-analysis is one of the subjects that we, as Feed Planet, give importance to and will continue to do so. In this context, we wanted to have an interview with Norm Analitik, one of the young and dynamic representatives of the industry. Necmi Cunedioğlu, the founder and owner of the company, was so kind as to accept our offer and gave visionary answers to our questions in the light of his knowledge and economic data.

Below are the questions we asked to Mr. Cunedioğlu and the answers we received:

According to your website, you started your business life in 2017. First of all, can you tell the story of your firm's foundation for our readers? What kind of squad did you start with? Our company was established on 05.05.2017. I worked for 8 years in a food analysis, measurement and control company in the same sector. I started my career as a sales engineer and completed as NIR Devices and Toxin test kits product manager. I left on 16.03.2017 and I wanted to work in the industry in which I became an expert. Since I gained experience in a very specific sector, the number of companies I could continue with the same job was limited. The foreign companies for which I previously served as a product manager were aware of the size of the Turkey market and thought that their business volume would increase with a second dealer. With their support, I decided to establish NORM ANALİTİK SİST. Müh. Mak. Co. Ltd.

I worked alone for about 6 months. Then, with the increase of our sales and the expansion of our product portfolio, two of my previous colleagues, a technical service personnel and a sales engineer, were transferred to our company. This is how our core squad is formed. Everyone on the team is experienced and expert.

WE SET OFF WITH MANUFACTURERS' TRUST You have started up the business in an economically difficult period. What did you do in these three years? What were the most challenging factors in this process? In this process, since we were a newly established company with very low capital, we could not use bank credits, and we could not do business with collateral. Due to the trust of our foreign producers, we did business with an open account in the first year and succeeded. This is not something usual. Our only capital was our business discipline and our success in the past years. These have not been overlooked by the manufacturers and trusted in us. We succeeded all together! WE DO BUSINESS IN IRAQ, AZERBAIJAN AND GEORGIA What were your goals when you started up? Have there been any changes in these targets? Our goal is to develop our company's product portfolio to meet all the needs of the food and feed industry in terms of quality and safety. In this way, to increase employment and to open new branches that can work locally in sector-critical regions domestically. Upon the overseas demand from abroad, we started to aim for establishing the same system abroad. There are various difficulties and risks of establishing an office and doing business in different policies in a different culture depending on the conditions of each country. That's why we found it more convenient to work with local business partners abroad. We have local partners in Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Georgia and we do business in those geographies.

When it comes to measurement and analysis, you are actually addressing a very large area. Can you give information about your products and services that appeal to the feed industry? In order to evaluate and decide, it is necessary to analyze and measure and put the result in figures. Even if we don't notice, we are actually doing this at every point in our lives. We are offering instruments that perform analysis and measurement in our own industry. We can assess this issue under two topics. The first is quality and the second is security-related systems.

Quality is related to the components and appearance of the product. Using it in production is about things like whether the nutritional value is high or low, whether it is digestive or not, and whether its taste is good or bad, and etc. Taking them as raw materials and using them in production will not harm the consumer, but it will cause financial losses to the manufacturer. We have technological NIR and NIT systems for their measurement. We have systems that can measure protein, moisture, ash, oil, cellulose, which are the quality parameters of feed ingredients, feeds, cereals, meat, and dairy products in less than 1 minute. In this way, the raw materials can be priced according to the component values even before entering the warehouse and sent to the same warehouse with products of the same feature and can be used according to the final product recipe.

Food safety, on the other hand, is related to possible harm to the animal consuming the product. We have toxin, antibiotic, allergen, microbiology, hygiene test systems to measure this.

For what reason do your customers prefer you? What are the points that distinguish you from your domestic and international competitors? The quality of our products and our after-sales support has won most of our customers' satisfaction. In this way, we obtained significant references. As the whole team, we do not do our job, we live our job. Our customers see it.

As technology develops, every sector gets its share, of course. However, abandoning old habits can be difficult for some manufacturers. How do you evaluate the demand and adaptability of feed manufacturers to the latest technology? The feed industry is a private sector with many variables and harsh competition. In order to increase competitiveness, the right price must be given to the right raw material and it is extremely important to prevent production errors and reduce costs. Industry companies know this and invest in technology that will add value to them.

FOREIGN DEPENDENCY MAY DECREASE WITH R&D Turkey has many problems with R&D and technology infrastructure. On the other hand, we also witness important efforts and successes. How would you evaluate the situation related to domestic production in measurement-analysis devices? Measurement and analysis devices are part of the electronics and optical products industry. This sector is one of the areas with the highest rate of R&D in Turkey. While the share of R&D expenditures in operating expenses was 2.6% in manufacturing average in 2018, it was 18.2% in the electronic and optical products industry. More importantly, this rate is increasing over time. The electronics industry, which allocated 10.5% of its operating expenses to R&D in 2006, managed to increase this rate to over 18% in 12 years.

Currently, we are foreign dependent in a critical area like measurement and analysis. However, I think Turkey could come forward in the forthcoming years as a result of the increasing R&D expenditures, rapidly growing start-up ecosystem, and policies supporting the commercialization of the high value-added areas. One of the most prominent aspects of Turkey's development plans and vision documents is the transformation of the economy towards higher value-added sectors. Measurement and analysis devices are among the products with high added value.

Do you export? Are there any markets that you intend to make moves in this regard in the short and medium term? Yes, we do. However, we do not plan to open up to new markets before fully responding to our existing markets.

FIRST WAVE DIDN’T HIT FEED SECTOR Coronavirus is affecting the feed industry and related areas deeply, as well as all sectors. With normalization steps on the agenda, could you tell us about what happened in this process and what awaits the sector? Like all other sectors, the feed sector is facing both supply and demand shocks. Due to the restriction of mobility and the increase of uncertainties, all sectors were affected by channels such as supply chain disruptions, demand decrease, and liquidity shortage. The feed sector is in the group that is less affected by the first wave of the coronavirus crisis due to the strategic importance of the sectors it provides input. However, in the second wave of the crisis, all countries will have to deal with the economic crisis triggered by the fight against the Coronavirus. In developing countries such as Turkey, a stagflationist period may occur due to economic contraction and inflation together. These are macroeconomic risks.

Regarding the feed sector, two risks come to the fore about global trade. The coronavirus showed all countries how important it is to be self-sufficient in agriculture, food, and health. For this reason, it is necessary to be prepared to increase the restrictions in global trade in the agriculture and food sectors. The second is the openness to exchange rate shocks caused by the high import input rates of the feed industry. The USD/TRY exchange rate reaching 7 inevitably increases the feed prices. If an effective agricultural policy cannot be developed, a serious supply problem in animal production and consequently the demand shortage in the feed sector can be triggered due to the increasing costs. NON-EXPORTING COMPANIES WILL SUFFER As you just mentioned, the US dollar has recently exceeded the 7 lira threshold. You underlined the effect of this situation on feed prices. How would a possible jump in prices have on demand for measurement-analysis devices? The results of a survey by PwC with CFOs actually summarize the situation. 81% of the CFOs participating in the study worldwide stated that they are going to delay or cancel their capital investments due to the coronavirus. In Turkey, this ratio is 89%. Based on these rates, we can expect that the demand for measurement and analysis devices will decrease. In an environment like today, where both the TL has become worthless and the cash flow is troubled, there is a significant decline in the demand for imported products. For example, we encountered a similar problem in the 2018 exchange rate crisis and we implemented an internationalization strategy to offset the drop in demand. We can say that companies that do not export, have low product variety, and do not diversify their sales channels during the past crisis may go bankrupt.