The General Manager of CES İleri Kompozit, Mr. Ömer Selçuk Şentürk

We conducted a pleasant interview with Ömer Selçuk Şentürk, General Director of CES İleri Kompozit. Şentürk provided important information regarding CES İleri Kompozit's projects and its development process on a global scale.

Could you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your educational background and your professional experience in the sector?

I graduated from Kara Harp Okulu as a Systems Engineer in 1999. Between 2002 and 2004, I completed my master's degree in the United States on "Human Resources and Systems Analysis". After leaving the military service where I held various command and staff positions, I left in 2014 to begin a civilian career in the Aviation and Defense Industry sector. Between 2014 and 2017, I served as Turkey representative for a foreign company engaged in business development activities, particularly between Europe and Turkey, in the defense and aviation sector. Since the beginning of 2017, I have been a member of the CES İleri Kompozit family.

Could you tell us about CES İleri Kompozit's development process from its establishment to today?

CES İleri Kompozit was acquired by Açık Group in 2012 and incorporated into the company group. Until that time, the company operated as a small composite workshop, but after joining Açık Group, it entered a major development phase. Açık Group CEO Yüksel Açık set forth the vision of CES becoming a global brand in the defense and aviation industry, and all subsequent steps have developed in this direction. Accordingly, the company first moved to a 2,500 m² factory in Sincan Organized Industrial Zone and completed AS 9100 certification process, beginning its first aviation projects as a subcontractor to TAI. Çağla Pınar Turunçoğlu, who successfully managed the General Directorship for 6.5 years from CES's establishment, launched serious work on advanced composite applications in the defense field alongside aviation operations, and the work that began with FNSS in the defense sector has now transformed into a long-term collaboration continuing with nearly all armored vehicle manufacturers. As you know, one of the most important problems with armored vehicles is weight. Equipping these vehicles with heavy steel and metals for armor protection, manufacturing certain non-structural parts from composite materials provides significant weight advantage. As a result of the initiatives we launched with FNSS during that period, today advanced composite parts designed and manufactured by our company are used in many tracked armored platforms, including our national tank Altay. CES's initiatives beyond aviation did not stop there; Çağla and her team colleague Murat Giray leveraged their ballistic composite expertise from the past to develop lightweight composite armor solutions for our defense industry. As a result of these studies, over the past three years many ballistic products have been localized and made available to the Turkish Armed Forces and our security forces.

Integrating composite armor into more than 1,500 land, sea and air platforms in Turkey alone within the past two years represents a success story on a global scale.

This rapid growth in various sectors entered a different phase with our move to an 18,000 m² closed-area factory in Anadolu Organized Industrial Zone at the end of 2016. The advancement of work in the ballistic composite armor field necessitated establishing a Ballistic Test Laboratory within our organization. For this purpose, we plan part of our new factory built on 14,000 m² of land in Anadolu Organized Industrial Zone to serve as manufacturing area, and the other part to become operational as a ballistic test laboratory as of August. On the other hand, by expanding our production range with conventional methods, we aim to serve not only the defense industry but also sectors such as automotive, rail systems and wind energy. For this reason, we made third factory investment in Izmir, aiming to provide the highest quality needed by the sector at the most appropriate cost. We plan our Izmir facility to become operational as of the beginning of August.

What are CES İleri Kompozit's products and product groups? Which sectors does it serve?

We can group CES's product categories under three headings. First, for the Aviation Industry, we produce composite detail parts, tools and fixtures with carbon fiber, glass prepreg, honeycomb and hybrid materials, and perform their sub-assemblies. Additionally, we are developing R&D work on passenger aircraft cabin side and ceiling panels used inside the cabin, overhead compartment development and production of composite skeletons for lightweight seating. Second, in the Defense Industry, we serve a very wide range. We participate in many projects from armored vehicles to weapon platforms, from ballistic missiles to unmanned aerial vehicles. We are an approved supplier of all companies operating as prime contractors in the defense industry and maintain strategic partnerships with many of them. Our third product group in the Ballistic Protection field ranks among leading companies not only in Turkey but worldwide, in both vehicle and personal protection areas. In addition to land vehicles, the lightweight composite armor solutions we have developed for air and sea vehicles are used in many domestic and foreign platforms. Our composite helmet and chest plate products manufactured with the latest technology in the personal protection field have gained the appreciation and confidence of our soldiers and police by providing superior ballistic protection while not compromising comfort and ergonomics.

Could you tell us about work you have carried out domestically and internationally? Which regions are your main sales focus?

CES İleri Kompozit, like other Açık Group companies, pursues a vision that considers the local while targeting the global. The London-based CES UK company established last year is an indicator of this. Last year, together with expert British engineers we added to our organization, we are making infrastructure investments for a "workshop" that will become operational by the end of this year. Through our broad and capable marketing team based abroad, we are largely focused on international projects. Nevertheless, "CES International" structure was established last month, and Çağla Pınar Turunçoğlu, General Director of CES Turkey, was appointed to lead it. We currently maintain close contact with many important foreign companies operating in the defense and aviation sectors. Some of them have visited our factory and we have begun working on medium-scale serial orders. We are making serious efforts to significantly grow our export portfolio.

Could you provide information about the technologies you use in the composite field?

Within CES we produce using many different methods from autoclaved production, wet layup, vacuum infusion to RTM. Our manufacturing method is of course determined by customer requirements. As a result of the engineering work we conduct, we choose the method that will create the most appropriate quality and cost for our customers. Beyond this, we also have high-pressure and heated presses that most composite manufacturers do not have. We use these presses in special aviation projects and ballistic composite manufacturing.

Ballistics is one of your important areas of activity. Could you tell us about your work in this field?

Although we have been actively involved in ballistic composite armor projects only over the past 3 years, our engineering team's accumulation of over 10 years is our strongest asset. As a result of this experience, integrating composite armor into more than 1,500 land, sea and air platforms in Turkey alone within the past two years represents a success story on a global scale. We provide composite armor solutions offering protection at superior levels that only a few companies in the world can produce in the vehicle protection field. For example, in addition to our qualified solutions that have passed tests including STANAG 4569 Level-V to date, we plan to introduce our Level-VI solution in the middle of 2020. Extremely lightweight armor plates specially designed for sea and air vehicles have recently begun to be actively used on many platforms. We have elevated our R&D work to a different dimension through British engineers we hired within CES UK company established in England. Thanks to the synergy created with these colleagues who have developed solutions for both platform and personal protection over many years, we are able to develop much more innovative designs. In this way, CES has become a known and trusted solution partner in European countries as well. Our personal protection products, a technological marvel developed through years of accumulation, provide extreme lightness thus offering the user comfort and flexibility, while not compromising superior ballistic protection characteristics. We are justly proud to have confirmed the quality of our products through successful export projects we have carried out. The quality and performance of our products have also been demonstrated through qualification tests conducted with great meticulousness by the Defense Industries Presidency. We continually strive to improve our existing products through R&D work and develop new products.

Do you have projects developed with organizations such as Aselsan and TÜBİTAK in Turkey? Could you tell us about these projects?

We work intensively with Aselsan and TÜBİTAK companies in Turkey. Since many of the projects are classified, it would not be appropriate to share details. However, I can say that in the periodic cooperation agreement we launched with Aselsan, we are creating prototype and serial production infrastructure for many critical equipment; additionally, we provide engineering and manufacturing support to many R&D projects. We continue to work harmoniously on many different and critical projects over long years with TÜBİTAK Sage, TÜBİTAK Bilgem and TÜBİTAK Space. Both companies are important firms that develop innovative technologies in different fields for Turkish Defense Industry, particularly targeting the localization of strategic components, and we are greatly honored to be solution partners to these firms. "We continue our efforts with all our dedication, aiming to serve the aviation and defense industry for many years with solutions that add value to life and save lives, and to become a global brand."

Your work area requires specialized and professional teamwork. Could you provide information about the CES İleri Kompozit team?

We are aware that we operate in a very special field in Turkey. Because there are not many composite companies that work in both aviation and ballistic fields. Both fields require serious investment in terms of both infrastructure and human resources. While machinery and equipment can somehow be procured, obtaining trained personnel is not easy. For this reason, we place great importance on cooperation with vocational high schools, vocational colleges and universities that train engineers and technicians. Many of the young engineers working at CES today were long-term interns with us 4-5 years ago. Some of our domestic and foreign colleagues on our staff are among the best in their respective fields. For us, it is certainly important that our employees' individual skills and experience are at such a high level, but even more important is the team spirit and our working approach that operates in harmony. The common principle of all CES employees is an approach that prioritizes customer satisfaction above all and never compromises on quality. Despite its young staff, another advantage of CES is that it is quite experienced team with a fast, dynamic and flexible structure that quickly adapts to changes.

Anything you would like to add…

CES İleri Kompozit has now become a company providing serious contributions to Turkish Aviation and Defense Industry. Having grown exponentially in both turnover and personnel numbers over the past 3 years, CES has become an important player not only in Turkey but globally. Particularly with the driving force provided by being part of Açık Group, we continue this rapid growth by making very fast and timely investments in every area we need and turning our focus to international projects. In addition to our two new factories that will become operational soon, we anticipate that our facility to be opened in England will make a major contribution to both domestic and international marketing activities. We continue our efforts with all our dedication, aiming to serve the aviation and defense industry for many years with solutions that add value to life and save lives, and to become a global brand.