Can you introduce yourself?
I was born in Ankara. I completed my primary, secondary school and Chemistry Scientific Institute and Chemical Engineering education in Ankara. During my chemical engineering education at the night school of Ankara State Engineering and Architecture Academy (which changed its name as Gazi University), I also met the cement sector, by working for Türkiye Çimento Sanayii T.A.Ş (ÇİTOSAN) Department of Planning. In 1980, I started to work for Turkish Cement Producers’ Association at the position of Research Assistant, Expert, Quality Control and Laboratory Chief. During my employment at TCMA, I took part in several committees and provided the laboratory staff from the plants with several trainings including laboratory and analyses. At the same time, as a reporter in Standard Preparation Group at TSE, I took part in preparation and publication of TS EN series cement standards. I got retired from TCMA in 2001. In the process of my retirement, I started working again for Uzan Group’s Lalahan Cement Plant that was transferred to TMSF as a Quality Control Chief. I carried out documentation preparation, training and audit activities in order to establish the quality system in 9 different cement plants of the group located in several regions. I contributed them to obtain certificates from TSE. In 2006, upon acquisition of Lalahan Plant by ÇİMSA within the framework of TMSF sales, I worked at that corporation until 2012. After I left Çimsa, I worked as a Building Inspection Laboratory Manager for 3 years. I have been working for İZANLAB Laboratuvarları A.Ş. as a General Manager since the day it was founded.
What is the reason for choosing Ankara?
As you know, Ankara is the center of bureaucracy and administration. The city really needed an independent and unbiased laboratory that is really specialized in analysis of building materials in particular. For the purpose of contributing to this need with our experience and knowledge, we started our activities in Ankara with a professional team.
Can you explain your purpose, as a new company?
Firstly, we aim to share the purpose of sharing over 40 years of knowledge and experience. For sure, we will realize this within the framework of our training plans, by organizing seminars for the new and current employees in the cement sector. Furthermore, as an independent and unbiased accredited laboratory, we aim to provide service by making the analyses required for the construction materials and all required analyses for calculation of the emission factor in any kind of fuels and raw materials within the framework of the “Regulation on Control of Greenhouse Gas Emission” of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, in our 6-floor laboratory equipped with the state-of-the-art devices.
To which sectors do you provide service?
As the target sector, cement and concrete sectors are the leading ones. In addition to cement raw materials, additives, supplementary materials and cement analyses, we provide construction laboratories and ready mixed concrete sector with service.
In addition to these, we provide service in a wide range including any kind of solid fuel analyses for Cement, Iron-Steel Plants and Thermal Power Plants, by using both wet and instrumental methods for raw material production and mining sector (XRF/ICP).
What is the scope of your accreditation?
* Cement, concrete and the other construction materials alike,
* Fly ash and blast furnace slag,
* Raw materials such as raw meal, clay, limestone, marn, dolomite, chalk and gypsum,
* Mine ores such as iron, chrome, copper, barite, bauxite, feldspat, fluorite,
* Solid fuels such as coal, coke, petroleum coke and anthracite.
Can you provide information on the analyses you conduct for cement and concrete sector in particular?
For cement sector: We make analyses of and report the components stated in the TS EN 197-1 standard. So we make not only make SO3 and chloride analysis for each cement sample, but also make Insoluble Residue, Loss on Ignition, Pozzolanic Property Analysis; Setting Time (Start-Final), Expansion, Pressure resistance experiments, depending on the cement type. Furthermore, depending on the sample type and request, identification of SiO2, Fe2O3, Al2O3, CaO, MgO, Na2O, K2O, Reactive SİO2 that are the main components are made with our XRF device, S/C Analysis device, Calorimeter device, Total Organic Carbon (TOC) device and the other analysis devices and equipments of ours.
For concrete sector: We assign the resistances in the requested age in the cylindrical or 15×15 cubic shaped concrete samples.
For solid fuel sector: Moisture, ash, volatile matter, sulphur, calorific values, HGI, FSI and Size Tests,
For Thermal Power Plant and Iron-Steel Sector: Analyses such as Reactive SiO2, Free CaO, Reactive CaO, Sülfür, Blaine, Activity Index in the volatile ash and blast furnace slag samples.
What is the problem of the sector in general?
Volunteering is essential in our sector. Laziness, dilatoriness, negligence is never acceptable. Stubbornness to repeat the same analysis for several times for attaining the right result and sustaining it is essential. Therefore, one has to have not only a decent character, but also a researching and implementing personality, to be a real laboratorian. Therefore, hiring the staff is very hard.
Infrastructure, equipping and operation of a proper laboratory is very expensive. Consumables and the required reference materials for measurement, particularly equipment and installation are imported.
Costs of these imports are very high and generally in Euro. You cannot sell these materials to anyone out of a laboratory. Despite that, there is no tax exemption, incentive and the other supports alike in our country regarding laboratory material imports.
As per the conditions of the accreditation standard TS EN 17025, procurement of the certificated reference samples prepared homogenously for ambiguity of measurement, the Inter-Laboratory Comparison (LAK) and Round&Robins Ring Tests that must be made separately for each parameter and is used for validation and verification calculations is very expensive and their import is very troublesome. Because this sort of samples that must not be opened until the analysis is made unfortunately are stock in customs arbitrarily, and import procedures are applied as if they have any commercial value. Furthermore, in some customs, they are opened and oxidized, and the sample loses its original quality and becomes useless.
Furthermore, there are only a few institutions that produce this sort of samples in our country.
2016 was a stagnant year in general, what are your anticipations for 2017?
We have the same expectations as we had hoped for 2016. However, it is obvious that in the near future, there will not be an improvement regarding the future of the sector we provide service with. Besides, foreign capital investments shifted from our competitors abroad to Morocco and Tunisia, in particular to Iran and Egypt put a high pressure on our exporters. Our expectation is that the war environment will end before mid this year and our commerce with our neighbors will improve.
