KYK Yapı Kimyasalları Chairman of the Board C. Onur Sürmeli answered our questions.

KYK Yapı Kimyasalları Board Chairman C. Onur Sürmeli answered our questions. Sürmeli noted that the company has achieved steady growth by taking the right steps, and provided information about the company's current structure.

 

Could you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your education and professional background?

I was born in Eskişehir in 1973. After completing my education at Eskişehir Cumhuriyet High School, I completed my undergraduate degree in 1997 in the Interior Design Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Anadolu University. In 1996, while continuing my university studies, I opened an architecture office called Eskişehir Tasarım and began my career. In 2001, I opened a new chapter in my career and entered a new business field by founding KYK Yapı Kimyasalları. Thus, I began producing adhesives, grout, insulation materials and edge trim for the construction sector. In addition to the building chemicals and insulation sector, I also have an investment called Alfatec, which operates in the defence and aviation sectors. Alongside my business life, I am committed to fulfilling my social responsibilities. In this context, in 2006 I became a candidate for the Board Chairmanship of Eskişehir Industrialists and Businessmen Association (ESİAD). I served as Board Chairman of ESİAD for 6 years. Since 2006, I have served as Board Member of Marmara and North Anatolia Industrialists and Businessmen Associations Confederation (MAKSİFED), and since 2011 as Board Member of Turkish Enterprise and Business World Confederation (TÜRKONFED). At the same time, I am also a Board Member of Eskişehir Automobile Motor Sports Club. Between 2009-2013, I also served as Board Member of Eskişehir Chamber of Industry (ESO).

Could you provide information about KYK Yapı Kimyasalları's founding process and the stages it has gone through to reach today? What is your company's current structure, taking into account production facilities, machinery parks and number of employees, as well as data such as turnover and production volume?

Our company was established in Eskişehir in 2001 with 100% domestic capital. Today we serve the sector with 4 production facilities in Eskişehir, Adana, Samsun and Diyarbakır. Our 4 production facilities have a total annual production capacity of 600,000 tonnes. With our factories located in important locations across Turkey, we have the ability to supply products quickly and with transport advantages throughout the country. Over a short 15-year period, considering production and tonnage figures, we rank among Turkey's top 3 producers with rapid and steady growth. We currently operate with 116 different products and 400 product varieties with TSE, CE and ISO certificates and management system activities. To ensure the continuity of our steady growth, we had to be certain of the correctness and sustainability of every step we took. While growing with new products and investments, we adopted the EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) Excellence Model as a management approach to achieve sustainable excellence at every stage of our operations.

In 2012, we became the first and only building chemicals company to receive the "EFQM Excellence Competence 5 Star" certificate. We view quality as our management philosophy, provide products and services in accordance with internationally recognised management systems through ISO 9001 Quality Management System, and guarantee the continuity of this.

We view the environment as our legacy for the future and exercise due diligence in continuing our activities without harming the environment through ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. At the same time, we continue our efforts to obtain the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Certificate for all our product groups, and with our Mantotherm heat insulation system carrying ETAG 0004 certificate, we reduce carbon emissions by providing energy savings in buildings. We view occupational health and safety as our priority and demonstrate the importance we place on people, our most valuable resource, through OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System. For the security of stakeholder information, we base information security on ISO 27001 Information Security Management System, ensuring the protection and continuity of stakeholder information assets. We aim for 100% customer satisfaction. With ISO 10002 Customer Satisfaction Management System, we aim for sustainable success, believing that this can only be achieved with increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

What are the main sectors served by KYK Yapı Kimyasalları and what types of products does it supply? Can you provide detailed information about your products, brands and services?

With ceramic adhesives, grouts, waterproofing materials, thermal insulation systems, exterior facade paints and coatings, repair mortars, flooring systems, plasters, primers, additives and auxiliary materials in our portfolio, we serve the construction sector. We provide system solutions developed with the right products and correct application methods for field problems.

"To produce reliable, environmentally friendly, universal solutions for healthy and durable living spaces and to be a pioneer in the sector by contributing to professional education" is our mission. We increase our focus on customer satisfaction and raise the percentage of satisfied customers above standards every year.

We are aware that application quality is as important as product quality in customer satisfaction. We are proud to be the only manufacturing company that regularly organizes applicator training throughout the country every year.

With KYK Education Bus Roaming and Education Truck Explorer, we deliver educational services to the finest details across all corners of Turkey. While continuing these trainings without interruption for many years, we have reached a total of 130,000 applicators to date.

Through Ceramic Application and Exterior/Interior Facade Coating-Insulation Applicator trainings that we conduct in partnership with the Ministry of National Education, we have so far awarded master's certificates to 1,300 applicators from different provinces of our country.

We continue our work to obtain the Professional Competence Institution Examination and Personnel Certification Authority, and we expect this to be completed shortly.

We continue with great discipline the seminars we organize jointly with the Civil Engineers, Architects and Mechanical Engineers Chambers, as well as technical information meetings conducted through site and office visits.

We visit students studying in engineering, architecture and construction departments of universities, who are the future professionals in the sector, at their schools to provide information about the sector and help them prepare for professional work life.

We actively carry out our customer loyalty programs: Master's Club, Master's Wives Club, and Our Team Club for dealer employees. Through club activities, we offer opportunities to gain professional development and win prizes through campaigns.

As I have mentioned so far, we do not look at the sector with only a manufacturer's perspective. At the same time, we aim to be an educator, value creator and awareness raiser, and to be multifaceted.

What type of work do you do at KYK Yapı Kimyasalları in the fields of innovation and R&D? Do you have projects developed within the scope of university-industry cooperation, and if so, what are they?

By closely monitoring developments and needs in the sector, we allocate large budgets to R&D department to respond quickly. Our R&D engineers and product managers carry out work that will provide innovation in products. Our R&D department constitutes 10% of total employment, while the department occupies a central place in company operations. Thanks to the work of our R&D and product managers, we closely monitor developments and needs in the sector, while being able to respond quickly to these needs. Improvement of our current products, cost advantage by preserving the quality of our products, development of new products, finding new test methods and production technologies are among the main responsibilities of our R&D unit. Our aim is to keep pace with the developments brought by the times in our work and produce innovations, provide customer satisfaction while considering the environment and human health, and increase our market share. Developing new products and presenting innovative and value-added products to the market have always been among our priority objectives. We are aware that we need to maintain a strong structure of our R&D department to achieve these objectives. With this awareness, we allocate 2% of our turnover as R&D budget every year. On the other hand, we continue our work in areas such as improvement of our current products, cost advantage by preserving the quality of our products, new test methods and production technologies. Under University and Industry Support Projects, our company's R&D is leading preliminary project work with the relevant departments of a university. After project approval, we will continue to carry out work in a way that will provide added value to the sector and our company.

Could you tell us about your domestic and international sales activities? What types of products do you mainly sell to which regions domestically and internationally?

We provide service throughout Turkey with Regional Offices in Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Eskişehir, Istanbul, Izmir and Samsun, and achieve market penetration domestically with 270 main dealers and 1,000 secondary dealers, and internationally with our distribution network in 20 countries. We mainly export to Middle Eastern countries and European Union countries. Some of the countries to which we export include Germany, Netherlands, France and Belgium in Europe, and Iraq and Iran in the Middle East.

Could you provide information about KYK Yapı Kimyasalları's environmental policy and sustainability approach? What can you say about your work on occupational health and safety?

Environmental pollution has become a common problem for all countries and has even reached dimensions that threaten human health. Industrialisation and high population density in cities have caused environmental problems to increase. Unfortunately, every day certain species are becoming extinct. The warning bells are increasing day by day and sending us alarm signals. In today's world where industrialisation continues at full speed, the importance that companies place on the environment and natural life, as well as the quality of the products they produce, becomes a determining factor in their success. With this awareness, we obtained ISO 14001 Environmental Management System certificate in 2009 and ensure its continuity. Our company continues its activities in accordance with environmental legislation, improves environmental performance, and works to ensure that our employees act with this awareness. The suitability of our practices is checked through inspections carried out every year. Waste from our activities is stored in accordance with standards and legal regulations and regularly handed over to relevant disposal companies. Almost all product waste from production is recycled and can be used again within products.

Natural resource consumption is regularly monitored, and we carry out improvement work to ensure correct and efficient use of resources and reduce waste. For example, our roof coverings are equipped with transparent lighting panels, providing electricity savings.

We provide regular training not only in our activities, but also to create this awareness in the private lives of our employees. As KYK, we aim to produce products that do not harm the environment and human health. In this context, we have been working since 2011 with products we have identified in our basic product groups. In the determined products, we produce low-emission GEV EMICODE licensed products. Additionally, we make environmental product declarations (EPD) in our basic product groups, aiming to see and reduce the environmental impact of our products. The health and safety of our employees is as important to us as their minimum professional qualifications. We work with the principle that personnel working in a safe environment and in good health will also have high productivity. For this reason, we were very pleased that the occupational health and safety work we have been conducting for many years became law with the Law on Occupational Health and Safety No. 6331. To briefly summarise the work carried out within the scope of occupational health and safety: chemicals used are continuously reviewed, periodic environmental measurements are performed, periodic inspections of equipment used are conducted, all employees undergo health checks. Occupational health and safety committee meetings are held regularly, employee participation is ensured to prevent hazards and continuously improve the working environment. At the same time, continuous training is provided to raise awareness among employees. The purpose of all these efforts is, apart from meeting legal regulations, to prevent employees from suffering occupational accidents and occupational diseases.