BIRLESIM_2021_ANNUAL REPORT

BİRLEŞİM MÜHENDİSLİK 2021 ANNUAL REPORT 21 In the selection of contractors, the factor which is of the greatest importance among industrial project investors in our country is that of experience. Well before looking at the bottom line of a bid, investors will examine and check the references and technical qualifications of the company that submitted it. Birleşim Mühendislik’s subsidiary Erde Mühendislik’s industrial-project references demonstrate an electrical installation works contracting track record capable of satisfying investors. Among the company’s plans is one to acquire an experienced and well-equipped mechanical installation contracting firm as a way both of maintaining organic growth and of increasing its technical competence in industrial-project mechanical installation works. Pursuing Growth in Other National Markets The countries in which Turkish construction firms have had a longstanding and steadily increasing business presence over the years are also the ones that the country’s electromechanical works contractors prefer as markets in which they can operate more effectively. Although it has carried out works in Turkmenistan, Russia, and Azerbaijan, Birleşim Mühendislik has been unable to achieve the growth it planned owing to the economic situations in those countries. It still has a presence there however and is keeping a close watch on investment projects. It is also investigating new-project opportunities in the Turkic republics. Other foreign markets on which the company has set its sights are those of European countries. Feasibility studies have identified the German market in particular as one with business potential but the company is also looking to pursue growth in other strategically appropriate national markets. Pursuing Growth through Digitalization The ongoing digitalization process is also a matter of importance for the construction and electromechanical contracting industries. The first major development in this direction took place in the construction industry with the arrival of 3D modeling software that makes it possible to design and produce three-dimensional architectural, mechanical, and electrical projects. The superior capabilities of these computer- aided-design programs facilitate not only engineering drawing but also engineering calculations that result in the generation of error-free dimensions and bills of materials. Technological progress is encouraging the construction industry to look for new ways to manage processes that will simplify the relational complexities involved in contracting work. One outcome of this is the introduction of building information modeling (BIM), whose international standard (ISO 19650) was published in early 2019. BIM software provides a set of tools that allow all of a particular building’s processes from project feasibility, design, financing, and construction on the one hand to operation, maintenance, and even demolition at the end of its useful life on the other to be managed in the most efficient, expeditious, economical, and appropriate way possible. Over the last two years in many countries, the use of BIM software has become mandatory in projects with dimensions above a specified threshold. In our own country, it is becoming a tendering requirement in large-scale public works projects. As Birleşim Mühendislik we are aware that BIM processes will ultimately bring electromechanical works contracting to the prefabricated manufacturing stage and accordingly we are already developing strategies for dealing with this. Thanks to BIM processes and software, much of the work that is done and the elements that are fabricated at a construction site nowadays will instead be produced more exactly and more economically in factories as modules that will then be transported to and quickly assembled at the site. Seeing BIM processes as a crucially important advance in the business of installation contracting, Birleşim Mühendislik is incorporating them into its own growth strategy as one of their pioneers and leading advocates in Turkey.