Our R&D center has completed its first year. Since its establishment, the center has been leading the industry with projects focused on innovation, digitalization, process improvement, and green transformation, developing sustainable solutions across a broad spectrum from engineering to design, quality management to production processes.
Strategic R&D Architecture
R&D Manager Bahadır Kaya emphasized the importance of our R&D Center by stating, “R&D is not just about innovation; it is the art of building a well thought out structure. With this mindset, we shaped the Kuzeyboru R&D Center, implementing a systematic approach that spans from ideas to products, from data to value in its first year. Today, we have more than just R&D projects; we have an R&D architecture that thinks interdisciplinarity, with high technical depth, which is manageable and replicable. Each process points not only to a goal but also to an approach: Data-driven, standard-bound, solution-oriented, and strategic. From projects strengthened by strategic support programs to production optimization, from materials engineering to system integrations, every initiative we undertake builds the foundation of a sustainable R&D culture in line with our corporate development vision. The technical documentation systems we have established, project portfolio management models, and decision-support structures integrated into our internal information architecture ensure the sustainability of this system. But here is what truly matters: This structure is not just the extension of an institution — it is the bearer of a vision. Institutions grow; visions guide. And we shape our direction not only by today’s needs, but by those of tomorrow as well.
The Kuzeyboru R&D Center is no longer merely a technical hub; it is a platform where strategic thinking is shaped by scientific discipline and infused with industrial intelligence.
Here, every engineer contributes not just to projects but to the future.
Deepening with Know-How
R&D Project Engineer Muhammet Ali Ünal, under the spotlight “Deepening with Know-How” said:“In our first year Kuzeyboru’s R&D Center, we have been developing solutions for the safe, healthy, and sustainable transport of water, with a focus on composite materials. We analyze needs with data gathered from the field within a scientific framework and continuously enhance our technical capabilities with our broad database and material characterization infrastructure.We support our expertise in material science with systematic knowledge management, deepening our corporate expertise with every new project. By transforming this accumulated knowledge into unique R&D ideas, we are laying the foundation for technologies that will guide the industry through our patent work. Our projects, strengthened by university-industry collaborations, not only yield products but also deliver scientific contributions, industry awareness, and technological depth. Through academic publications and articles, we aim to carry this impact into scientific literature and create lasting value. This strong infrastructure established in our first year reflects an innovation-oriented R&D culture that produces solutions and transforms knowledge into strategic value.”
Projects Empowered by Management
R&D Project Engineer Ayşenur Sungur Baştuğ, with the approach of “Projects Empowered by Management,” said: “With the belief that projects succeed not only through technical expertise but also with the right management models, we institutionalized a project management culture at our R&D Center. We have established a systematic structure that covers the entire process from idea to application, from execution to reporting. We developed versatile projects in critical areas such as production efficiency, mold design, energy optimization, and waste management. In every project, detailed steps such as needs analysis, feasibility studies, work packages, budget, and time planning were meticulously executed, strengthening the technical and organizational capacity of our center with concrete outputs. These efforts led not only to project applications but also to the establishment of a sustainable project ecosystem with a focus on governance. Through joint projects developed with industry stakeholders and academic collaborations, we deepened our knowledge in an interdisciplinary structure. Our representational roles, technical workshops, and training sessions contributed to strengthening this structure both internally and externally. The structure we built in our first year laid the core dynamics of a strategic, integrated, and forward-thinking R&D culture not just in quantity, but in essence.”
From Idea to System, from System to Strength
R&D Project Engineer Ece Yiğit Ateş, under the title “From Idea to System, from System to Strength,” said:“We believe that innovation becomes sustainable not just with creative ideas but with strong systems. With this understanding, we established an integrated structure at our R&D Center where ideas are nurtured, prioritized, and transformed into projects. The Idea Management System and Project Management System that we implemented at the corporate level form the foundation of this structure. The three TÜBİTAK-supported projects we are currently running demonstrate the initial results of this systematic approach.Proposals from internal stakeholders were converted into tangible R&D projects through rigorous analysis and multidisciplinary evaluations, contributing to the center’s technical capacity. This infrastructure also paved the way for international collaborations, allowing high-impact projects to be structured.Throughout the process, structural modeling, time management, and resource planning approaches elevated our quality standard. Today, we have built a structure that transforms ideas not just into text but into implementation. This structure stands ready to shape the future as a carrier of manageable, measurable, and replicable R&D successes.”
Production Shaped by Data
R&D Process Development Engineer Recep Tolga Mutlu explained the digital transformation of production processes through AI-supported decision mechanisms:“Systems that dominate data are not just digital; they are also structures shaped by engineering intelligence. As R&D, with this perspective, we develop integrated structures that pull, analyze, learn from, and act on all process data from production lines.
With the TÜBİTAK-supported project we launched in our first year, we are establishing a multi-layered infrastructure on extrusion lines aimed at energy efficiency, traceability, and quality control. From PLC programming to sensor integrations, from database architecture to decision algorithms, the entire process is being shaped by our RR&D engineering. One of the most critical components of this system is the AI-supported decision mechanisms that allow real-time analysis and intervention in production processes. Thanks to this structure, we not only monitor production but also manage it in real-time.This system architecture, driven by process mastery, data-based strategies, and insights from the field, is the work of an R&D vision writing the production language of the future—not just of today.”
The Foundation of Quality
R&D Quality and Testing Engineer Nisa Nur Ak, with the title “The Foundation of Quality,” said:“The level we’ve reached in our R&D Center journey, which began a year ago, marks an important threshold in terms of transforming technical discipline into sustainable output. We restructured quality control and testing processes not just as validation, but as a strategic component that supports technical development. In raw material development and formulation studies, we structured critical steps from physical tests to analytical validations—analysis design, testing methodologies, and results interpretation—ensuring that R&D processes progress on a foundation of technical accuracy and reliability. By establishing an integrated reporting infrastructure that produces data in accordance with TSE and international standards, we created a foundation that enhances traceability of quality data and allows for its integration into technical decision-making processes. With the integration of academic collaborations into our laboratory infrastructure, we developed a test culture that combines scientific approaches with operational outcomes and is based on data-driven validation. Thus, quality became not just an outcome but a dynamic element playing an active role at every stage of R&D.Through this quality-focused engineering approach, we built a sustainable R&D structure based on standards, data, and output in our first year.”
The Strategic Language of Design
R&D Design Engineer Ceyda Tekerbaş, with the message “The Strategic Language of Design,” said:“Design is not just visualization; it is a strategic tool that amplifies the impact of engineering in the field.In the first year of our R&D Center, we built a design culture that shapes product development processes with data-based analysis and validates them through technical drawings and simulations. With modeling, rendering, and theoretical analyses, we established a structure that enables comprehensive evaluation of products before they reach production. Thus, we developed solutions optimized not only for visual integrity but also for functionality, reliability, and user experience. Our design output spanning from web-catalog materials to engineering reports, patent files to corporate presentations—became a communication bridge, effectively reflecting the technical strength of R&D to external stakeholders. These contents not only facilitated proper understanding of the products but also provided complementary contributions to technical evaluation and the commercialization processes. The holistic design mindset we introduced in our first year became the outward-facing expression of an R&D culture rooted in knowledge and strategic thinking.”
A Strong Step Toward the Future
In our first year, the Kuzeyboru R&D Center created value in many areas—from TÜBİTAK-supported projects and academic collaborations to technical infrastructure investments and corporate systems—continuing to have influence in the industry with its knowledge-based approach. Our R&D journey as an institution is becoming a symbol not only of technical development but also of a new-generation engineering mindset that centers knowledge production, strategic management, and sustainability