Could you please tell us about yourself and your professional background?
After getting my undergraduate degree from Boğaziçi University’s Department of Business Administration, I did an MBA at Exeter University in the UK. I started working at Sabancı Holding in 1994.
• In 1994, I started working at Sabancı Holding Cement Group as a Finance Specialist.
• In 1996, I was appointed as the Management Support Manager at Akçansa.
• In 1998, I was appointed as a Strategy and Business Development Specialist.
• In 2000, I was appointed as the Planning and Controlling Manager.
• In 2004, I was appointed as the Strategy and Business Development Manager.
• In 2008, I was appointed as the Logistics, Strategy, and Business Development Directorate.
• In 2009, I assumed the role of Vice General Manager of Financial Affairs at Çimsa.
• In June 2013, I was appointed as the Vice General Manager of White Cement and Special Products at Çimsa.
• In September 2014, I became the General Manager of Çimsa. I am currently working at this position.
Afyon Factory was incorporated in Çimsa in 2012. What advantages did this bring to the factory?
Afyonkarahisar is one of the leading cities in terms of the national economy. The city has many rich resources that investors may be interested in. In addition to the city’s Organized Industrial Zones boasting great infrastructures, the city government happily welcomes investors and quickly solves any potential problems. All these characteristics make the city valuable from an economic point of view and increase its importance for Çimsa.
At Çimsa, we continue working non-stop in order to add value to the Turkish economy, as well as to Afyonkarahisar and its surroundings. We are moving Afyon Cement Factory, which was incorporated in our company in 2012, to a new production facility equipped with state-of-the-art technologies.
Could you please tell us about the Afyon Cement Factory’s new establishment equipped with the latest technologies? What are the changes to your production capacity and range?
Afyon Cement Factory opened in 1957 and was incorporated in Çimsa in 2012. Having been reached an annual capacity of 450,000 metric tons of clinker and 550,000 metric tons of grinding thanks to the capacity increases and modernization investments carried out over time, Afyon Cement Factory is now being moved to a new production facility which was made available with an investment of $165 million. Our production will become more efficient at our new state-of- the-art factory established in Halımoru Village and reach a capacity to meet the increasing needs of our customers.
Once Afyon Cement Factory’s moving and modernization process concludes, we first plan to triple our annual production capacity to be able to produce 1.5 million metric tons of clinker a year. We are establishing the new factory on the raw material mining site that we have been operating for years. The factory will cover about half our area of over 40 hectares. The remaining area, on the other hand, is getting completed with afforestation and landscaping. So when we complete our factory, it will also provide the region with a large forest.
As is the case with our four other factories, our Afyon Cement Factory continues its operations in accordance with the international standards and its goal to produce high quality and reliable products.
Many factories invest in alternative fuels. Could you please tell us about the investments you make or are planning to make in this area?
As Çimsa operates in a sector with an extensive consumption of energy and raw materials, it contributes to the preservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions and disposal of waste in accordance with its understanding of sustainability. In this sense, our Eskişehir Factory is leading the cement sector with its alternative fuel usage rate. The alternative fuel consumption rate of the gray cement line gradually increased in 2015 compared to the previous years, reaching 47,600 metric tons. In order to safely include alternative fuels to the system and maintain the process efficiency, Çimsa makes waste pre-treatment and feeding investments at full speed and continues to increase alternative fuel usage rates with each passing day.
With an environmental and social awareness, industrial and municipal solid waste disposal solutions are being developed in areas home to Çimsa cement factories. To this end, Eskişehir Factory maintains its eco-friendly approach by using industrial waste materials. In 2015, through a Waste Feeding and Waste Energy Recycling Plant, 47,600 metric tons of waste was burned in Çimsa Eskişehir Factory’s 2nd furnace. This amount of waste that is equal to 18 football pitches in size helped meet 30.6 percent of the thermal energy.
Similarly, our Afyon Cement Factory was also designed to produce alternative fuel from waste. However, the alternative fuel obtained from the area is currently used by Eskişehir Factory. But if the amount of fuel exceeds the Eskişehir Factory’s production capacity, our Afyon Factory will also start using alternative fuel.
How important are R&D and innovation to Çimsa?
What makes Çimsa stand out among its rivals is the resource that is reserved for research, exploration, development, innovation, and change related investments. We have been developing value-adding special products and different applications for specific needs at our Cement Research and Application Center established in Mersin in 2000. With the works carried out at this center, we aim to shape the market trends and dynamics by anticipating the needs and expectations of the construction sector. Our Cement Research and Application Center, which is a first of its kind in Turkey, was audited and certified by the Ministry of Science, Industry, and Technology on March 1, 2017. As a 45-year- old young company constantly investing in innovation, we continue to crown our advantageous position in our sector with each passing year.
While increasing the quality of life and improving the environment with its products and services, Çimsa also recognizes innovation as a strategic tool in developing its competitive advantage. In addition to being the first Turkish company to produce white cement, we are also a company that develops and produces special products such as Calcium Aluminate Cement, Self-Cleaning Cement, and Antibacterial Cement. We offer our special products developed at our Çimsa Cement Research and Application Center through an innovative approach.
What are the fundamental principles of Çimsa’s leading policy “Occupational Health and Safety”?
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) has always been our priority. In order to increase the occupational safety awareness among all the company departments, we regularly offer educational and training programs. The company’s priority goal is to take anticipated OHS risks under control and make sure that all Çimsa employees always go back home safe without facing any accidents at work.
Our company closely follows international OHS regulations in addition to the regulations stipulated in the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331 of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. To this end, the safety of workplaces is constantly taken to higher levels with the aim of “Zero Accidents.”
Occupational Health and Safety has three dimensions: system, field, and the human factor. The OHS system is considered a corporate strategy at Çimsa where risk identifying, controlling, and managing is very important.
All our factories have OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety system certificates. The OHS Management System designed by determining proactive development areas is always supported through education, information, supervision, and development. The OHS Education Committee gathers at the beginning of every year to prepare the Occupational Safety Education Program and holds monthly OHS Board meetings in accordance with this program.
Cement factories, ready-mixed concrete plants and vehicles on the roads form the field – the second dimension of the OHS issue. Regular risk analyses and inspections are carried out at Çimsa fields in order to dispose any hazardous materials that may cause damage and injury.
The third dimension of the OHS issue deals with a highly important point – the human factor. In the cement and ready-mixed concrete sectors, 96% percent of accidents occur due to unsafe acts while four percent due to unsafe conditions. Identifying and preventing all unsafe acts in the field and warning others are under the responsibility of all employees. With its human oriented approach, Çimsa aims to increase the risk awareness of its employees in order to make sure that they always act cautiously. OHS awareness also help employees, as well as their families and the entire society adopt a behavioral change.
Çimsa is the first and only Turkish cement and construction materials company to join the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI), which was established by the world’s leading cement companies to share the best sustainability examples. By bringing in Turkey the best OHS applications shared in this platform, our company contributes to the development of both itself and the sector.
Çimsa is a leading award-winning company, which serves as an example with its dedicated and systematic OHS approaches both in Turkey and the sector. Çimsa makes and will continue to make great efforts to internalize the OHS concept and turn it into a corporate culture.
Could you please evaluate 2016 for us as one of the leading companies of the Turkish industry?
In 2016, the Turkish construction sector continued its investments without slowing down. Cement production increased by five percent in 2016 compared to the previous year. While the domestic cement sales rose by five percent, the export operations increased by seven percent.
Under these conditions, Çimsa gained a profitable growth momentum with its 2,500 employees in 2016. Our year-end net profit was 246 million TL and our sales revenue was 1.170 billion TL.
Could you offer us a general evaluation for the Turkish construction sector? What are your expectations from 2017?
Turkey is a developing country and, as a result, its infrastructure and housing needs are increasing. As is the case with other developing countries, the construction sector is at the heart of the development efforts. Construction work is behind all dams, productions plants, public buildings, factories, as well as all infrastructures and superstructures.
The Turkish construction sector grew by 7.4 percent in the first nine months of 2016. When we take a look at the sector together with its subsidiaries, we see that the sector’s share in the gross national product is around 30 percent. The cement and construction materials sector, which plays an important role in the economy and construction industry, is one of the biggest exporters. The Turkish cement sector with its export volume and direct employment opportunities is the driving force behind the national economy.
Considering the urban transformation projects, migration, and foreigners’ housing demands, we see that a significant increase will be experienced in housing projects and related infrastructure investments from 2017-2021. This growth will also boost the construction and building materials market.
Along with the recent rise in the construction sector, the cement sector increases its capacity and sales as well. The urban transformation, infrastructure investments, and large housing projects keep the construction sector alive and thus the cement sector continues its growth. This momentum is expected to continue in 2017 with the current and new projects.
What do you think about the cement production that maintains its increasing trend for the last few years in developing countries?
The developing countries are among the highest cement consuming actors. The boost in the number of construction projects in a similar fashion to the countries’ development increases per capita cement consumption and, therefore, the production.
Turkey is a global leader in cement production along with China, India, Iran, and the US. The Chinese economy, which represents more than half of the global cement consumption by itself, directly affects the sector. When we take a look at the European market, we see that Turkey is in a leading role whereas countries such as Spain and Greece are having difficulties due to their economic situations.
Is there any other thing you would like to add?
At Çimsa, we know that the success of our business processes is not just about finances and that the correct and efficient use of social and environmental resources are also of great importance. We create economic, social, and environmental value with our integrated thinking, planning, and operating abilities and shape our sustainability approach with an understanding of integrated thinking. With this point of view, in 2016, we decided to take our conventional financial reporting activities to a higher level and issue integrated reports. As part of the capital categorization suggested by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) of which we have been a member for three years, we analyzed in an integrated way the current operational outputs, our future plans and objectives, and sustainability – which became our corporate culture – and we reported all these analyses to our shareholders in March.
Thanks to our great efforts, we became the first publicly traded industrial company that publishes integrated reports in Turkey. We share our Integrated Annual Report, which is a first of its kind in our sector, in electronic environments so as to be an eco-friendly company and make sure that the report is accessible to all our shareholders. By doing so, we increase the quality of information provided to our shareholders and we aim to be an exemplary company in reporting and a pioneer in our sector.
