Board Member of Üstyapı Inc.
Yiğit Gündoğdu
As Üstyapı, you have been carrying on important operations in different industries for many years. Lastly, you have been carrying out construction works of Marmara Cement Plant. Would you give some information about Factory? When will it start production?
Üstyapı is a company engaged in public road contracting business and large-scale contracting works for 1985. However, since we have also had expansion targets in manufacturing industry and other industries, we diversified into and engaged in different business lines. Our business lines include industries such as tourism, energy and real estate. We entered in the cement industry once we developed, constructed and commissioned the Samsun Kavçim Plant project. We have been a part of the industry for 10 years, and we are committed to the industry in bad times just like in good times.
Our recent investment, Marmara Cement Plant, is an ultra-modern facility equipped with Europe-origin cutting-edge technology, with some Turkish-origin equipment. Among them included are some proprietary crushers, adjustable sieve and similar equipment, which are completely developed and produced in-house. As our factory is just 30 km away from the port, in my opinion, it has competitive advantages in terms of export and coal supply. We are striving for meeting the domestic market demands with the highest quality cement, while targeting at creating substantial export markets at Black Sea, Mediterranean and Overseas destinations. Yet, along with these targets, we will construct a large port which will have a 16-meter Draft and 3 Loading-Unloading Wharfs.
At our factory, all equipment are undergoing hot-tests as of the end of December 2021, we plan to procure Clinker during February. Even though our industry is vibrant in these periods, we will go on our commissioning works without rushing, acting cautiously in terms of occupational health and safety. During 2020, we had to suspend installation & construction works almost completely for a period of 4 months due to the global pandemic. Therefore, we are now at the home stretch, and do not want to take a risk by completing the works in a rush.
Would you inform us about production capacity, technical features, employment rate, etc. features of the Marmara Cement Plant?
Marmara Cement Factory will have a substantial capacity such as daily 6,000 ton of clinker production, and 11,000 ton of cement grinding capacity, compared to that of region. We target at carrying out sustainable and eco-friendly production thanks to our fullyenclosed raw material storage of 50,000 ton, fully-enclosed clinker storage of 135,000 ton, and fully-enclosed coal storage of 35,000 ton, and 30,000 ton cement silo.
For technical features, many units are equipped with a bypass system. This means that we will not allow any equipment failure to shutdown entire production in the plant as practicable as possible. Thanks to state-of-the-art bag filtering dedusting system and Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS), we will also make an eco-friendly production. We selected high capacities for our raw meal and cement mills. Once commissioned, we will set up a Waste Heat Recovery System (WHRS) in the shortest time possible. Currently, all draft project and calculations have been completed, pending to collect actual data. As an advantage of our region, we also made our plans to use alternative fuels in large amounts. For kiln and preheater, entire refractory materials are selected so that it will burn alternative fuels in the highest amounts, considering the future. From the technical side, our process is capable of burning alternative fuels in highest quantities.
When we come to the employment, I think, our factory will employ at least 250 to 300 personnel permanently at any time of production. This figure does not include the workers and staff who will work during logistics, port construction and port operations.
What state-of-the-art technologies have you used while installing the factory? What difference will it create in terms of cement production?
We installed a factory equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, ready for the future. I am constantly keeping up with the new equipment and technologies. This initially begins with having a vision, followed up by putting it on the paper and finally successfully applying it in the field, then you will have achieved your target. I believe in we have done all these things. I hope that our targets in theory will not mistake us during practice. We determined, constructed and commissioned our technology with the aim of ensuring a highest quality production with the lowest energy and fuel consumption per tonnage. As I mentioned above for cement, I hope that it will create a difference, which will ensure producer-customer satisfaction thanks to the lower energy consumption and high quality.
How will Marmara Cement Plant contribute in your export operations?
In the second quarter of 2021 we will have substantial export potential, however, looking at the future projections, I think, Marmara Cement Plant will contribute an added value in our country by boosting our export potential in 2022 and 2023. Our main target in export will be in our speed in ship loading, which will be realized during 2022 if everything goes smooth.
You have experienced in many different industries such as tourism, cement, surface structures and energy. What do these experiences and industries contribute in your company?
Each contributes a different vision; eventually, we are a company run by a family. But, personally, my favorite industry is especially cement industry, as it is industry and production. It integrates in itself everything from process to energy, machinery to the mining, physics to chemistry, construction to operation management, etc. Naturally, we can make use of the experience, know-how and knowledge from this industry in our other business lines. We have also future plans in other heavy industry investments, but currently at the research phase.
What will be your growth strategy in cement industry for 2021 and beyond?
For 2021 and beyond, we will not have a growth strategy in terms of clinker production capacity. In the near future, we will have some overseas terminal projects, and also Marmara Cement Port investment. We currently focused on bringing them into life. Our target for 2021 and beyond is to produce the highest quality cement with the lowest electricity and the lowest fossil fuel consumption. With current technology and know-how, this is not that difficult to achieve and, in fact, we can and will achieve.
