In this episode of Buluttan Small Talks, we are with Nazlı Erman. Let’s hear from Nazlı herself about her journey as an industrial engineer before joining Buluttan, her roles and experiences at Buluttan, the story of how she came across Buluttan, her opinions about Buluttan, and what she enjoys doing.
Gökmen: Hello, Nazlı.
Nazlı: Hello, Gökmen.
Gökmen: How are you?
Nazlı: I’m doing very well, thank you. How about you?
Gökmen: Well, everything is going smoothly, thank you. Today, we gathered here for a pleasant purpose, to have a conversation. First, I know a bit about you, of course, but let’s get to know Nazlı a bit more. Who is she, what does she like, what doesn’t she like, and what has she done so far, both professionally and personally?
Then we’ll talk about how her paths crossed with Buluttan. You have quite interesting experiences in different fields. How do you perceive this field and Buluttan, and what are you currently working on? Let’s start with Nazlı. Who is she, what are her interests, and what has she accomplished both professionally and personally?
Nazlı: Nazlı is a true industrial engineer, working with an approach focused on productivity and continuous improvement in all aspects of life. She started her career in planning at Unilever after graduating from Bilkent.
Her paths crossed with Gökmen there. After working in planning and operational excellence for three years, she entered consultancy, aiming to understand the needs of different sectors and enhance their operations. She worked with 20-30 different sectors, from poultry farming to ceramics, designing processes and conducting analyses to improve operations.
Gökmen: Mainly supply chain, right?
Nazlı: Yes, mostly, indeed, 100% supply chain.
Gökmen: Did you have a short experience abroad at some point?
Nazlı: After consultancy, she wanted to test her skills globally. She moved to Luxembourg during the opening of Amazon Turkey operations, where she worked on sales, operational planning, capacity planning, and network planning.
What motivated me there was the opportunity to nurture a new endeavor, fill gaps, identify areas for improvement, and work accordingly, much like what we’re doing now, being a part of a significant startup.
Gökmen: First and foremost, you’re still dreaming, even if it’s a safer and more limited dream; you inevitably form a dream partnership because it’s a new venture.
Nazlı: In the last 2-3 years, she has been on a journey of self-discovery, exploring improvisational theater and dance in social settings.
Gökmen: So how did your paths cross here? We already had a working relationship before, but this weather intelligence business is new. Your experiences intersect with various sectors, and there are global developments. We initiated a transformation here, a weather-wise transformation, in Turkey. How do you see the internal potential, these cross-sectoral efforts, and the global trends?
Nazlı: Let me start with how our paths crossed. After working in a corporate setting for 13 years, my focus has shifted from climbing the corporate ladder, seeking promotions, or achieving certain milestones to a point where I am starting to shape what satisfies me in my work.
Yes, numbers matter. Yes, pursuing various goals like growth and increased sales was important, but now, I am also seeking a team that has a social impact on the community, addressing issues that we may not have known before but can empathize with as they develop over time.
There’s a saying in Anatolia that goes, “May it not leave you without problems.” I believe I’ve come to love the challenges of this place. Our endeavors here and the mission we aim to achieve, that’s how our paths intersected.
Gökmen: So, you’re saying we’ve come here not just to find solutions but to become a solution to challenges as well, right?
Nazlı: That’s how it started, actually. I felt there should be another pursuit, another motivation. That’s how I see Buluttan fitting into this space. Essentially, we are trying to fill a gap in operations that is perhaps a gray area, something they haven’t defined or quantified the impact of yet.
We are trying to define and demonstrate the effects of weather and climate change on various operations. We may know the impact, but how it will affect our lives or what considerations we, as planners, need to take into account is crucial.
Thinking about decision-making a year from now, considering what factors will be important when planning operations, these aspects have become a source of motivation for me over a longer time horizon. Undoubtedly, our priorities will be different when making plans or executing operations one or two years from now. I believe we are trying to make sense of this and demonstrate it.
Gökmen: In fact, we are preparing various companies in many different sectors for this adaptation and transformation. Because there’s a changing world, changing conditions. And when we say climate change, extreme weather events, disasters, floods, hailstorms, equipment, and human safety come to mind. But actually, you can use weather as an instrument, both to increase income in certain points. Because people’s behavior, consumption habits, and demands change a lot based on the weather.
Also, you can use it to control expenses and costs. For companies with field operations, weather can delay or expedite many operations. It can affect operations differently than expected. So, I am excited about it. I mean, creating additional income streams, optimizing costs, ensuring human and equipment safety. And while doing all of this, feeling satisfied with the impact you create, experiencing social entrepreneurship, I see it as a great opportunity.
So, there are areas where Buluttan stands out, both with its history, sentimentality, and technically, with what we do here, and in terms of product development and commercialization. How do you see those areas that make it unique, for instance?
Nazlı: For me, it’s about reliability. But within the focus of Buluttan, what I’m particularly honed in on is the accuracy agenda. We are serving a similar purpose within that agenda. Just as you mentioned, if we know it’s going to rain and the service will be delayed, we work to provide our customers’ customers with better and more reliable forecasts.
In this regard, I see Buluttan as a path opener, highly aligned with the word “reliable.” I see it as an entity that follows through on its promises, willing to develop to fulfill those promises. For me, Buluttan is synonymous with reliability and high alignment with what is said and done.
Gökmen: Last month, we had a mid-year review meeting, and we had a great couple of days. It was both fun and instructive. There, you took a significant initiative, especially in activities related to improvisational theater, which you thought would benefit teamwork. Everyone was very happy, improved, and learned a lot.
Let’s touch on that a bit. I mean, it’s not just about work. Here, you’re creating an organism that interacts with each other. An organism with certain rules, relationships, and communication channels, just like any other company. But it doesn’t happen solely through technical capacity or a kind of shared dream. Both need to coexist, and everyone needs to develop individually. I think such activities are very nourishing, and it’s one of the things that makes it special.
Nazlı: I started improvisational theater a year ago. Actually, it began as a journey of self-discovery for someone who has been working as an engineer for 30 years. I am an analytical person by nature. Some things were gray areas for me, and that journey began there. Later, I realized that what we do in our work is very parallel to it.
So, I find it to be a very enriching topic, both in terms of nourishing that microorganism and nourishing ourselves within that microorganism. Because I believe it’s a two-way street. It’s a topic that nourishes Buluttan, just like our approach. There’s no such thing as a mistake in what we do. We try to be as transparent as possible within the destination we want to reach, supporting each other in developing and advancing that microorganism in the best possible way.
I think it’s about how we feed each other and how we support each other in our areas of development, where each of us will shine.
Gökmen: It’s like we’re learning what we do or how we do it, but it’s also important to understand why we do it, both individually and collectively. I think these kinds of activities help a lot in realizing that. Now, my last question from here is for both the partners that Buluttan is walking this path with, the team creating this shared vision, and for the people who will come in the future. Anything you want to say to them?
Whether it’s to the current Buluttan family, our media team here recording this, our meteorology engineers, both the existing team and the many new friends who will join, and also to the business partners. Do you have anything in mind?
Nazlı: I say, “Enjoy the flight.” I think it’s a beautiful journey, a constant process of learning. My recent experience at Amazon had a saying, “Everyday is day one.” So, every day with the same motivation, wondering what challenges we will solve, or how we will contribute to operations, touching lives or operations is precious to me. If our friends share the same motivation, wanting to show improvement and solve new problems every day, then it’s a beautiful journey.
Gökmen: May your weather be good!
Nazlı: Exactly, may your weather be good.
Gökmen:Fasten your seatbelts, get ready to fly.
Nazlı:Exactly like that.
Gökmen:For everything else, there’s Buluttan.
