Haznedar Durer Refrakter
CEO
Salih EREZ
As Haznedar Durer Refractories, you provide services in various fields. Could you please tell us about the company’s structure and its lines of business in general?
Our companies, namely, Haznedar and Durer, have been engaged in the production of shaped and monolithic refractories. In October 2020, they were merged into one single entity called Haznedar Durer Refractories. We produce basic and alumina silicate-based bricks and monolithics. Therewithal we are the only company in our country that produces many products with very high added value such as nitrite-bonded products.
Recently, we have combined our powers with Calderys, one of the biggest players in global markets in monolithic and precast refractory solutions, with over 100 years of experience. We have created a structure where we are able to meet all the needs of our customer from product supply to technical consulting, from project engineering to audit and installation supervision. As Haznedar Durer, we now supply Calderys products in the markets we operate.
Our main customers are in the iron & steel and cement industries. Besides, our key growing markets include non-iron metallurgy, refineries, power plants, waste incineration plants, recycling and recovery factories and petrochemical industries. Materials manufactured for these industries constitute a significant portion of our sales. About 60% of our sales are local and the other 40% is exportoriented. Our customers cover 5 continents. As exports account for a significant share of our total sales, we follow international criteria for our production standards and procedures.
You have been offering numerous solutions in the cement industry for a long time. What are the services and solutions you offer to your customers in this field?
Our company has the largest market share in the Turkish cement industry in the fields of alumina-based bricks and monolithic refractories. We are the industry leader with our wide product range and high-performance and long-life products thanks to the quality level we have achieved. We also have the same diversity in the refractory bricks. HAZAL T 2AR is one of the most important products of our company. HAZAL T 2AR allows us to offer services in all points of the cement production that require superior performance.
We need to prepare ourselves for changes in customers’ expectations and preferences in times marked by economic adversities and setbacks like the one we are living in right now. We create solutions that meet the customers’ strategic preferences through a proactive working system.
As you have mentioned previously, Haznedar Durer has recently started to cooperate with Imerys and its subsidiary Calderys, engaged in the production of alumino-silicate monolithic refractories. Could you please tell us about the details of this cooperation?
2020 was a year where we have taken important steps. In December, we have transferred 60% stake in Haznedar Durer Refractories to Imerys, a worldwide leader in industrial mineral solutions. With this deal, we have joined our forces with Calderys, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imerys in high temperature materials and solutions segment.
Particularly considering the supply chain of Haznedar Durerand Calderys, we don’t have major overlaps with Calderys either on geographical terms or the product range. Therefore, while we are increasing our market share, we will be able to offer our service with a comprehensive product and service range that addresses the needs of our customers. Moreover, as part of our cooperation, while Haznedar Durer will offer Calderys products to its markets, Calderys will also supply Haznedar Durer products throughout the world.
What kind of structure you are planning to build to move forward following this cooperation?
Imerys has acquired 60% of shares in Haznedar Durer. During this acquisition, Imerys wished Erez family to have a control over the remaining 40% of shares. The main reason is that they are aware of the contribution the company’s senior management made to the company’s success, and they believe that the management will also have a valuable role in the company’s success in the future. Therefore, the company’s management will continue to maintain its role as strongly as before.
We, as shareholders, have been observing for years how effectively Imerys manages the integration periods in mergers and acquisitions. Their approach gives us great confidence both for the future and for our joint works with Calderys.
Both companies have lots to learn from each other. Employees of both companies will get trainings to move this integration period forward in a most accurate manner. We want to make sure that the transformation and improvement processes will be managed efficiently. Therefore, we will proceed without rush and without creating chaos through sudden changes.
What kind of a change and future does this new deal entail for both companies? What are the products, services and innovations that the new cooperation will offer to the industry?
Haznedar Durer’s merger with Calderys will deliver many advantages to both companies.
High-quality brick production, which is the field of expertise of Hazendar Durer for many years, is a new segment for Calderys. To the present, Calderys has been supplying acidic monolithic products to its customers, and only a limited number of customers are using these products solely. Hence, Calderys has complemented its portfolio as the result of its merger with Haznedar Durer.
Thanks to this cooperation, we have now become a single address, that offers full-fledged refractory solutions and meet all customers’ needs, particularly in Turkey, Europe and the Middle East. Today, customers expect from refractory suppliers to be a one-stop shop that answer all of their requirements from product supply to offering expertise in technical and engineering matters and even to organising installation process. Therefore, our new structure has been designed in a manner that addresses these multiple needs.
As the result of this merger, Haznedar Durer will benefit from Calderys’ occupational health & safety standards, HR systems that focus on training and development of employees, reliable supply chain, industrial processes that guarantee consistency in performance and quality, product knowledge and level of operational excellence, and global sale network. A good enhancement period is beginning for us.
What is the importance of this new deal for the cement sectors?
Merger of Haznedar Durer and Calderys will be the beginning of a new era in the cement industry refractories. We will immediately share the synergy that will come out of the merger of the two most important suppliers of the industry with our customers.
The import products currently supplied by Calderys will also be offered to our customers as locally manufactured products. Moreover, we will be able to make all the technological improvements of Calderys, World #1 monolithic supplier in cement refractories, available to the Turkish cement industry without any delay.
As a company, you invest new technologies through R&D programs. Could you please tell us about your organisation and projects in this field?
One of our main strategies is to improve our products and offerings. For this reason, we closely monitor the market conditions and the changing needs of our customers, and we do our best to provide the most appropriate solutions. Our R&D programs constitute an important part of this process.
At this stage, our main focus is to combine Calderys’ and Haznedar Durer’s technical expertise with a view of improving the quality and product performance of our brick and monolithic products in a seamless manner. As per our agreement, Haznedar Durer will now be a part of the Calderys’ global R&D strategy.
We have left behind a very challenging year both professionally and personally on many levels. How did you spend 2020 as Haznedar Durer Refractories? Did you manage to close the year at a targeted level?
During 2020, though the pandemic has brought life to a near standstill in the entire world, we have not faced any severe problems that would put us in a difficult situation as the heavy industry continued production even if at a slower pace.
While the global iron and steel sector has suffered a more severe blow, we could say that the domestic market was not acutely affected by this. However, the cement industry was adversely affected due to the sharp fall in new investments. As Haznedar Durer we managed to minimize these obstacles since a significant part of our production goes to sectors that use high-quality materials, such as refineries, petrochemical industries, power plants, waste incineration plants, recycling and recovery factories, iron compound metallurgy.
Although we have experienced some delays and sudden price fluctuations in raw material supply, flexibility of our production facilities and the stocks on our hand gave us an edge during those periods. We have closed 2020 not far off the targets we have set at the beginning of the year.
The most important development for our company in 2020 was the deal we have signed with Calderys. A new era begins for us as a result of this merger. We are excited for the future.
How will you define your strategies for the future? What will be your goals?
Our main priority in the upcoming period shall be to upgrade our occupational health and safety standards to the levels applied by Calderys on a global scale. Furthermore, with our new HR organization, we will diversify and intensify the training given to our employees and support their personal development.
Besides, due to our customer-oriented approach, we will continuously work to keep our customer satisfaction at the highest level possible. We are also working on improving performance in production, enhancing reduced energy consumption and increasing capacity to attain operational excellence. We will use 2021 as a year to achieve significant improvements and advancements for the three main pillars of our strategies: people, sustainability and innovation.
We will also focus on improving production efficiency, minimizing energy consumption, and increasing our capacity to achieve operational excellence. We will approach the year 2021 as a period of improvement and development.
Although we don’t know when the pandemic will end, we expect to see its effects continue in 2021. At this point, our exports as well as the sectors to which we offer very high-quality products shall be to our advantage once again. With environmental awareness deepening globally, we are witnessing an ever-increasing demand for bricks we supply to waste incineration plants. Besides, we believe that the merger with Calderys will increase our market share and lead to a growth in demand.
There are a lot of fluctuations in industries such as iron and steel, where competition is highly competitive. These fluctuations have also adverse effect on the refractory manufacturers. However, since refractories are heavily used in these industries, refractory manufacturers have to live together with these industries. Therefore, it is an important goal for us to keep the share of sales to these industries balanced in terms of quantity-turnover.
