Creating value for the region and the Turkish economy with its Çanakkale plant and port, Akçansa is focusing on having a positive influence over all of its stakeholders with its innovative, environment-focused and social projects.
Heading towards future in partnership with Sabancı and HeidelbergCement; Akçansa is creating value for the Turkish economy and the society it belongs to with its cement plants in Çanakkale, Büyükçekmece and Samsun Ladik, Ambarlı and Çanakkale ports, Aliağa, Ambarlı, Marmara Ereğlisi and Yalova terminals, and nearly 30 Ready-Mixed Concrete Plants.
The technology of the future is at Akçansa from this day
Having implemented the ‘Expert System’ application, Akçansa carries out cement production autonomously in the rotary kilns and mills in its Çanakkale plant using sensor data and human-independent operations supported by artificial intelligence and fuzzy logic algorithms. The said system has led to an improvement in product quality, a 3 percent capacity increase, a 1.2 percent decrease in variable costs and a 1.1 percent reduction in electricity consumption in the first phase. The Expert System project became successful in the ‘Most Value Creating Company’ and ‘Most Value Creating Project’ categories at the SabancıDx DnA Awards held with the participation of the Group companies.
The company aims to increase the number of plants carrying out autonomous production, to increase remote workability through infrastructure improvements, to optimize energy costs through transformations in the manufacturing process and to continue its industrial support for digital twin academic studies carried out in collaboration with Sabancı University in its sustainability journey towards 2030.
Setting sail to the future with innovative and environmentally friendly products
Developed as an exclusive product by Akçansa which is also the ready-mixed concrete supplier of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge and utilized in this mega project which features the longest mid-span suspension bridge in the world, 1803 Concrete makes a significant contribution to the national economy by having the feature of being maintenance-free for at least 100 years. The concrete produced with 1803 cement was used in the caisson foundation sections of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge abutments which remain in the sea and in the approach viaducts. Also, with the Smart Concrete product, Akçansa instantly monitored the concrete strength through use of the smart sensors placed in the concrete. The company had previously developed the ‘100+ Concrete’ product for Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge under its Betonsa brand.
DUOCEM which produces 10 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than Portland cement thanks to its mineral additive content of up to 20 percent, and SOLIDCEM which contains 21-35 percent mineral additives are among the company’s environmentally friendly products . ASTM Type I/II 52.5 cement product that the company has been exporting from the Çanakkale port for many years is also standing out.
Akçansa also continues to invest in fly ash storage and feeding system that will minimize the utilization rate of clinker in cement production. The fly ash available in the region is utilized in cement production with this investment and the fly ash to be used in substitution of clinker not only reduces the total cement CO2 emission rate but also enables the recovery of fly ash, which is a waste material.
Major efforts for a sustainable future
Being listed in Borsa İstanbul’s (BIST) Sustainability Index which lists the shares of the top companies in terms of corporate sustainability performance as of April 2022, Akçansa takes responsibility for minimizing the impacts of climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The company has joined the Climate Ambition Accelerator Program led by the UN Global Compact in order to have a faster progress in the emission targets it has set and to strengthen its climate strategy. Akçansa aims to fortify its roadmap by working on the best practices together with companies from different countries during the program which will go on for 6 months.
Considering the aspect of Gender Equality in a sensitive way, Akçansa carries out studies within scope of ‘Target Gender Equality Program’ under UN Global Compact, it participated in 2021-2022 period.
The goal of being a “good neighbor” with people-centered projects
Akçansa places importance to the needs of all segments of the society with its people-centered activities and by adopting the understanding of “being a good neighbor” in all regions it operates and develops projects with the intent to improve the quality of life and to contribute to the creation of a more peaceful and prosperous world.
In the sixth year of Benim Mahallem (My Neighborhood), a social responsibility project designed to raise children’s awareness on different educational topics, training was given to 1000 students in the age group of 6-14 on ‘Waste and Recycling’ and ‘ Gender Inequality Based Peer Bullying’ at primary and secondary schools in Ezine between 23 May and 6 June. Intending to improve children in their communication with themselves and the environment, and to increase the awareness in their friendship relations, the scope of the project aims at reaching 15 thousand students with the trainings to be held in Çanakkale, İstanbul, Samsun and İzmir.
Focusing on projects that will create value in all regions where it is located, the company, launched the ‘My Profession, Your Choice’ project in Samsun with the vision of ‘being a good neighbor’ in line with its 2030 Sustainability Goals. Engineers from Akçansa came together with the students of Samsun Ladik Akpınar Science High School within the scope of the project and shared their choices of profession and experiences in professional life with the students preparing for university.
Celebrating its 55th anniversary this year, Akçansa Plant in Büyükçekmece is moving towards the future with all of its stakeholders through innovative projects, including the My Neighborhood project, and Neighborhood Council meetings.
6 Focus Areas of Akçansa’s 2030 Sustainability Goals
“Achieving Excellence in Occupational Health and Safety”, “Minimizing our Environmental Footprint”, “Innovation and Digitalization”, “Circular Economy”, “Being a Good Neighbor”, “People, Compliance and Transparency”
- Achieving excellence in Occupational Health and Safety
- Zero Accident
- Minimizing our environmental footprint
- Minimization of CO2 emissions,
- Improvement of environmental performance
- Increasing the use of renewable energy
- Continuing our efforts with growing momentum in Innovation and Digitalization,
- Reducing the use of clinker in cement and concrete
- Increasing the number of plants operating with autonomous production,
- Optimizing energy costs through innovative digital transformation practices in the production process
- Making the circular economy more effective,
- 35 percent goal in alternative fuel use
- 15 percent goal in alternative raw material use
- Being a good neighbor,
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Volunteering Activities
- Conducting social impact analyses
- Continuing to focus on people-centeredness, compliance and transparency
- Unique work culture
- Ethics trainings
- Supporting women employment
- Women employment goal of 30 percent in white collar and 40 percent in reserve occupancy
- Mainstreaming sustainability throughout the entire value chain