Nevra Özhatay is at the head of a cement factory that exports to more than 65 countries and has terminals in 7 European countries and has a turnover of TL 1.5 billion with 2700 employees. For Turkish cement becoming a global brand needs to develop quality registered products, to do R&D and innovation-oriented investments as essential elements in the branding process. With Çimsa General Manager Nevra Özhatay we talked about the cement industry and Çimsa.
Will you mention about Çimsa? About its size, what kind of structure are we talking about? How about your turnover, what is the number of employees? What is your position in the sector?
As Çimsa, our adventure which started with the establishment of our first factory in Mersin, in 1972, continues in domestic market with its integrated factories located in Eskişehir, Kayseri, Niğde and Afyonkarahisar, Ankara Cement Grinding and Packing Plant, Marmara and Malatya Terminals, ready mixed concrete plants for more than 45 years. With the experience from ages, wide range of products and innovative sense of work, we are leading Turkey’s cement and building materials sector with gray cement, white cement, ready-mixed concrete and special products. At today’s point we have achieved net profit of TL 228 million with more than 2700 employees; and turnover reached to TL 1,490 million.
At the same time, as one of the leading companies in the field of white cement industry, we export to more than 65 countries with our 7 terminals in Italy, Germany, Spain, Romania, Russia and T.R.N.C (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) and in international field we serve in accordance with the expectations of our customers and trends of our sector and we are producing fast and reliable solutions to the varying needs of our sector.
How was 2017 for the name of your company? How much did the sector, you, grow up?
Thanks to investments in the construction sector, the cement sector, one of the engines of our country’s economy, has contributed directly to the economy of the country maintaining both domestic and foreign market boom, despite the economic fluctuations in the global market during the past year. If we are going to talk about numbers, in 2017, our country became one of the world’s 5 largest cement exporters, exporting a total of 12.7 million tons of cement. Thanks to the exports to countries like USA, Israel and Syria, our sector has gained USD 530 million foreign exchange for to the country’s economy and proved its sustainable success.
We, as of Çimsa, from the day we are established to today, with an open to improvement perspective, have focused on developing our global player identity in the sector, signing leading works and being part of innovative solutions.
As a result of our investments in 2017, we moved our company forward. First, we completed our 3 sizable factory investments. We completed the process of moving to Afyon Cement Factory’s new production facility with 1.5 million tons of clinker capacity, equipped with the latest technology built in Halimoru Village which we have incorporated into Çimsa Plant in 2012. Thanks to the preheater and capacity increasing investment made in our Nigde Factory, we increased our production capacity by about 80%. With the completion of our investment which started in our Eskisehir Factory in the last month of 2015, we realized the convertible modification of Eskişehir Factory’s 1st production line to produce both gray and white clinker which was producing only gray in present condition. As a result of this investment, we were able to further strengthen our position in the international market by increasing our total clinker production capacity to 1 million 565 thousand tons.
In addition to our domestic investments, we have completed the establishment process of our company named “Cimsa Americas Cement Manufacturing and Sales Corp.” in the United States and thus made it possible for our products to be delivered directly to our customers. We believe that we will further increase our share in international trade with these steps we have taken for the strategy of global growth and leading the sector.
What was your goal for this year? How much the sector and you will be grown up through the end of the year? Do you think your estimates at the beginning of the year will coincide with the end of the year?
As we starting to a new year, we measure how much we have completed our previous works and how much achieved our goals and the activities we carried out in the previous year and then we determine with our colleagues a roadmap for the new period. As usual we will continue our sustainable and profitable growth strategy in 2018 too; we are actively seeking to further strengthen our identity both locally and globally as a manufacturer of international cement and building materials that exists. We will continue to develop products and services with a proactive approach in accordance with market needs and expectations with our innovative efforts, for proving our competence in domestic and foreign investments and with research and development and innovation that will add value to our country. In particular, we aim to develop superior products for the more intensive use of white cement, which we are leading the development of, both in domestic and foreign markets, and by following the technological studies in the world to carry our sector forward and thus to contribute to the appeal of white cement to larger masses.
What were the most important issues in your agenda this year? In particular, on which issues you focused on, are you focusing on?
The rapid young population growth in our country and the increasing housing demand depending on this increases the importance of construction sector day by day. Today while the urban transformation projects are intensifying, cement gained importance as the raw material of the substructures and superstructures. Innovation at this point emerges as the most important parameter in order to develop the special products needed and to build the future structures according to the requirements of the century.
As Çimsa, we have an international cement manufacturer identity exporting to more than 65 countries as a result of our gray cement, as well as white cement, calcium aluminate cement and special products and applications which we are developing with customer oriented approach. The year 2017 in terms of our company, was a year in which we proved our competence in R&D and innovation and strengthened our leading identity in the sector.
Our Cement Research and Implementation Center ‘Formülhane’, which we established in Mersin in 2000, is officially registered by the T.R. Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology in March 2017 by, and became the first certified Cement Research and Application Center within the Turkish cement sector. In Formülhane taking into consideration the needs and expectations of the market and our customers we develop special products with high added value and put them into the service for our business partners. At the same time, we aim to be a solution partner for our business partners by bringing in the sector the new mobile application “Çimsa – Formülün Adı” (Çimsa- The Formula’s Name) which we developed in the result of long studies. With this application which can be downloaded to smartphones, our customers will contact with us whenever they want, will learn about our product range and will be able to send their requests. In 2018, we will continue to be a reliable business partner by developing products according to the standards expected by our customers and by producing innovative solutions.
What kind of studies are you doing in terms of CSR and Sustainability?
As a member of Sabanci family, we aim to add value our society with our studies and innovative approaches, especially we care to add value the cities which we establish. Since the year 2012 we support hundreds of children’s mental, emotional and physical development in Turkey for contributing the education of children who are our futures with our social responsibility project “Summer Children”. We bring together our 7-12 year-old children with expert trainers and pedagogues and we are preparing both educational and funny summer program.
In the scope of the program while giving personal development lessons like creative drama, perception-attention practice, creative dance and rhythm practicing at the same time we support physical development with activities like basketball, volleyball and coordination. We aim to continue and improve this project which reached 742 children in 7 years.
Within the scope of our “People with Disabilities Week” project, which we have been carrying out since 2015 in Mersin, where we first established our company and cooperating with the Mersin Büyükşehir Municipality and with our shareholders we donate wheelchairs to our disabled citizens.
On behalf of sustainability, we have launched an Integrated Activity Report being an example for the sector, giving a new dimension in our successful reporting activities which we were carrying out for many years. In this report, we transparently convey all of our activities, from our financial results to our sustainability studies; and for being environmentally friendly and easily accessible we share them in electronic media.
We take care not to measure success with only pecuniary resources; we believe that creating long-term and broad-based social benefits is also important. We aim to strengthen our internal communication with the projects, applications and training studies that we have developed in all units of our company, to contribute to the development of our employees and to adopt sustainability as a corporate culture.
You established in many parts of Turkey. Is it hard to manage such a big structure?
As is known, the transport of concrete and cement products between long distances can be challenging in terms of the expense of the production materials, durability and safety. From this point of view, we are building our factories and ready-mixed concrete plants in strategic locations and delivering our products and services to our customers and dealers with elegant and fast ways. We have our highly careful and experienced colleagues for managing all of our facilities, and as general management we care being in constant contact with our factories. In order make more active the communication between us, we organize sharing meetings for the name our factories; we meet together on special occasions, so we are feeding from each other by exchanging ideas.
In addition to our domestic structure, we are in constant contact with our overseas terminals, and we are able to contact each other 24/7. Thanks to the integrated management approach which our company owns, we ensure that our extensive organization to be carried out in unity and that all of our units work in harmony with each other.
As Çimsa what are you doing to improve energy efficiency?
In recent years, issues such as global warming, climate change and the sustainability of natural resources have come into prominence within global circles and countries and companies realizing that energy sources play a vital role in sustainable development begun to invest more in this area. We are moving towards our goal of becoming a leading cement company, which creates economically, socially and environmentally sustainable value. With the awareness of that we can not rise to the desired level of economic development without providing environmental sustainability in a world where natural resources are declining day by day; we contribute to minimizing the environmental impacts from waste, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and increasing the use of alternative fuels and raw material resources. With this point of view, in 2016, we invested 11 million Turkish Liras in sustainability, environment, occupational health and safety. As a future-oriented company, while we are leading the sector with our energy efficiency policy and our success in generating energy from alternative fuels, thanks to our cooperation with C3E Platform, we contribute sustainability approach following the clean energy investments made around the world. Therewithal, being the first and only cement company from Turkey as a member of the CSI-Cement Sustainability Initiative which was established by the world cement leader companies and which is a platform for sharing the best sustainability strategies and experiences; we exchange information with other member companies domestically or regionally, and we develop our selves day by day following the latest developments in sustainability.
What is the most important problem in the cement sector?
Like many of the sectors that operate globally, the cement sector also can have many benefits, as well as risks inherent in the manufacturing process. We, as Çimsa, act with the awareness of that the correct and efficient use of environmental resources is very important. Investing in the environment without reducing the amount of cement production and consumption which is used in the construction of our living spaces is very important in terms of the sustainable future of our country and our world. As a result of our investments, our gross carbon dioxide emissions amounted to 4.5 million in 2016; our specific dust emissions have been 19.1 gr/ton clinker.
We will continue to contribute improving the quality of life and the environment with our research and innovative solutions which we are conducting in our R&D Center Formülhane.
What kind of thing could be done for improving the cement exportation, on the basis of companies and government?
Across Turkey the production of cement in 2017 compared to last year increased 6.9% and about 10% of this production is exported. Our country is the leader cement exporter in Europe and is the fourth largest producer in the world. In the light of this information, in order to be able to protect the power of our sector, it is very important following the innovative studies carried out around the world and to be open to new collaborations.
As Çimsa, we believe that companies should adopt sustainable approaches that will achieve success on a global era and we represent Turkey successfully in the cement sector with our successes in global arena. In addition to this we believe that the government incentives for the heart of the economic growth the cement sector has made extremely important contributions to the development of our sector.
Did the Turkish cement become a trademark in the world? What can be done for strengthening it further?
Turkey, ranks among the successful cement producers with the ability of high-quality production. Therefore, in addition to having superior knowledge and experience at the local and national scale, our potential to become a global brand is also quite high. Developing qualified products, investing in R&D and innovation, and creating added value for our country are the basic elements that we need in the branding process.
