Mitsubishi Electric Corporation which operates in 43 countries with more than 138 thousand employees, today officially opened its new factory for the development and manufacture of room air conditioners in Manisa, Turkey with the attendance of Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, Faruk Özlü.

The new production facility is its first room air conditioner factory located in Europe and has been established in Manisa Organized Industrial Zone by local affiliate company Mitsubishi Electric Turkey Klima Sistemleri Üretim A.Ş. Turkey has become an important base of production for Mitsubishi Electric. The new facility will target an annual production of 500.000 sets (indoor and outdoor units) and is set to employ around 400 people by the end of March 2021. The factory which occupies an area of 60 thousand square meters has been established with a capital of approximately 382.5 million TL.

In his speech during the ceremony Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, Faruk Özlü gave his wishes for the factory to bring Mitsubishi Electric and Manisa the best for the future and added: "Any enterprise and factory that adds to the production, exportation and employment of Turkey is immensely important and valuable for us. This factory we are opening today is an indicator of the trust towards the Turkish economy and political stability. The economical success we have achieved in recent years, as well as stability in the rate of growth and an increase in exports makes Turkey a strategical country for everyone where safe investments can be made. From now on Turkey will keep growing in all of its fields as a whole. It's vital for Turkey and Japan to further increase collaboration in the fields of science, technology and industry. Japan is one of our most important partners in economy in Asia pacific region. It is for our common interest that we bring our trade volumes in parallel to the economical growth of our countries and to grow the level of our trade to 5-10 times the size in the future. I wholeheartedly believe that our trade, cultural and political relations built on the foundation of friendship will keep growing in the future as well. I wish for the Mitsubishi Electric factory, which is built in Manisa Organized Industrial Site and will increase it’s number of employees to 400 in the following years to bring the best for all shareholders and prove fruitful."

President of Turkey Investment Agency Arda Ermut, in his speech at the ceremony expressed that the importance of Turkey to international investors has been confirmed once again with this investment and added; "We have been working closely with Mitsubishi Electric as the Agency for this investment since 2013. We provided a lot of information to contribute to their feasibility studies. We accelerated the bureaucratic processes and conducted visits to many locations in Turkey to find the investment land. We successfully negotiated with Manisa Organized Industrial Zone management and held important meetings in Japan. And, ultimately, two years ago in February 2016 our team in Japan was delighted after the meeting with Mitsubishi Electric when they told us that the company made an investment decision. We are glad to receive the investment in return for all these efforts being carried out.”

In his speech at the opening, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Electric Masaki Sakuyama commented; “During this financial year the Mitsubishi Electric group plans to achieve net sales of 4,420 billion Japanese Yen (approx. 147 billion TL) and an operating income of 325 billion Yen (approx. 10,8 billion TL). Our air conditioning and refrigeration systems business to which our Turkish factory belongs is part of our home appliances division and a very important segment for the whole Mitsubishi Electric group. Net sales for this division will reach 1,040 billion Yen (approx. 34,6 billion TL), which is a quarter of the whole company, while operating income will reach 57 billion Yen (approx. 1,9 billion TL), which is one sixth of the whole company.”

Masaki Sakuyama emphasised the long friendship between Turkey and Japan: “Our historically strong relationship originates from the Ertuğrul frigate disaster in 1890, and was further strengthened by the rescue of Japanese citizens left in Tehran by Turkish aircraft during the Iran-Iraq War in 1985. Coincidently one of our key factories for our air conditioning and refrigeration systems is located on Kii-Peninsula in Wakayama Prefecture, which is exactly the place where the close relationship between our two countries began back in 1890. Now with our new factory in Manisa, we are pleased to be able to contribute to further consolidating the friendship between Turkey and Japan. By manufacturing our high-quality air conditioners with advanced technology in Turkey, and expanding our activities in our other business segments we will continue to contribute to the well-being of the Turkish people.”

Takeshi Sugiyama, Executive Vice President and Group President of the Living Environment & Digital Media Equipment Group of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation shared information about the activities of the air conditioning and refrigeration systems business of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in Turkey and Europe. “Turkey and the surrounding European countries make up some of the most important markets for our air conditioning and refrigeration systems business. These markets will help us to realize our vision of the future which we call "Advance and Innovation 2020". Our net sales in this region account for around 20% of our overall air conditioning and refrigeration business. This factory plays a very important and strategic role for us as we expect further growth of the room air conditioner market in Turkey, which currently is around 1 million units per year, in line with the country's economic development.”

Takeshi Sugiyama further stated that Mitsubishi Electric will continue to invest in Turkey in keeping with the philosophy of Mitsubishi Electric's corporate slogan "Changes for the Better"

“As a part of our drive to become a ‘Leading Green Company’, our new energy saving and environment friendly room air conditioners will be manufactured in line with EU regulation which will enable us to quickly and flexibly meet market needs. Under this framework, we are also planning to develop a model especially for Turkey which takes advantage of the factory being located in the market.”

Emphasizing that the new factory will be the first factory where Mitsubishi Electric's room air conditioners are manufactured in Europe, Katsu Wada added that the brand will manufacture ıts high technology environmentally friendly products using Mitsubishi Electrıc’s e-F@ctory technology, which embodies the Industry 4.0 concept.