Project Background
Atak Insaat is a deep-foundation construction contractor based in Izmir, Turkey. The company operates a total fleet of 11 rotary drilling rigs, including the largest rig of its kind in Turkey — a Liebherr LB36-410. When Yutong decided to develop the Turkish market, sales records showed that the company had exported exactly one rotary drilling rig — a YTR230 — to Turkey in 2006, and that Atak Insaat was the very first Yutong customer in the country. A Yutong regional representative had also visited Turkey in 2007 and met with several local customers, further confirming Atak Insaat's status as the brand's pioneer customer in the Turkish market and establishing the basis for the relationship that survives to this day.
Customer Challenge
When the Yutong representative arrived in Turkey to meet the Deputy General Manager of Atak Insaat, they discovered that the sole YTR230 machine in the country had been completely scrapped: during a drilling project the rig had accidentally struck and drilled into a natural-gas pipeline, causing an explosion. In its first year of operation the YTR230 had also experienced a number of technical issues, which required on-site support to resolve. Despite these setbacks, Atak Insaat had been satisfied with the machine once the initial problems were fixed and remained interested in Yutong construction equipment. The challenge for Yutong was to rebuild the relationship, acknowledge the equipment's early-life issues honestly, and re-establish trust with a sophisticated customer that already operated top-tier European machinery and expected the same level of performance and after-sales support from every supplier they worked with.
Solution & Equipment Selected
The original equipment supplied to Atak Insaat was a YTR230 rotary drilling rig, exported to Turkey in 2006. Yutong's regional representative visited the customer in person, reviewed the machine's operating history, and discussed how the rig had performed after the initial teething problems were addressed. The visit confirmed that, once the early-year issues were resolved, the YTR230 delivered the reliability and productivity expected by a major deep-foundation contractor operating across the demanding Turkish geology. Yutong also presented its broader current product line, including newer-generation rotary drilling rigs and foundation-construction equipment, to show how the company's engineering, quality control and component sourcing had advanced since the first unit was delivered nearly a decade earlier.
Results & Impact
Although the original YTR230 was ultimately lost in an accident, the relationship with Atak Insaat survived. Atak Insaat remained positive about the Yutong brand and open to further collaboration. Yutong and Atak Insaat are now discussing deeper cooperation in the Turkish market, with the objective of becoming Yutong's customer in Turkey once again. This case illustrates how long-term customer relationships — built on honest after-sales engagement, direct communication and a willingness to address early-life issues openly — can recover even after equipment loss and open the door to renewed partnership in a strategically important new market such as Turkey, where Yutong continues to explore further expansion.
Yutong Heavy Industries continues to explore new opportunities in the Turkish construction-equipment market, building on the pioneering relationship established with Atak Insaat and supported by a growing range of foundation-construction and earthmoving products designed to meet European market expectations.