A businessperson association plans to offer certificates to 2,500 people in a test center to be established by 2015, in a bid to improve the quality of labor in the machine tool industry.

Machine tools are known as machinery producing machinery, according to professionals.

Machine Tools Industrialists and Businessperson’s Association, or TÄ°AD, announced it would offer certificates following a proficiency test to people who have been trained in the machine tools field. The establishment and management of the machine tools test center, financed by the European Union, will be conducted by the TÄ°AD.

With the test center, standards will also be qualified in machine tools after sales, according to Erdal Gamsız, board chairman of the TİAD.

The VOC-test center will be an efficient and sustainable project in establishment of machine tools and services, which will operate in accordance with the European Competence Framework, said Gamsız.

The project will last 24 months, he said, adding that TÄ°AD will be authorized to operate a testing and certification center. “TÄ°AD will be the sole accredited institution in the domestic sector,” he said, adding that they will also reach the qualified human resources target within the scope of Turkey’s industry strategy document and machine sector strategy and action plans between 2011 and 2014.

The share of the machine sector in Turkey’s total trade volume is 12.4 percent, according to the Industry and Trade Ministry, said Leyla Aslan, the TÄ°AD project coordinator.

Machine tools are devices that help produce machines, Aslan said, adding that for this reason the production of machine tools is important. “We will provide the improvement of maintenance and repair of machine tools to international standards and contribute to the Turkish trade.”