We Conducted an Interview with Cavidan Karaca, CEO of Kimpur

We conducted an enjoyable interview with Kimpur CEO Cavidan Karaca, discussing Kimpur's achievements and objectives. [caption id="attachment_127419" align="aligncenter"] Cavidan Karaca[/caption]

Could you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your educational background and your professional experience in the sector?

I graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University in 1992. I am married and have one daughter. For approximately 30 years, I have worked as a manager in procurement and production functions across different sectors, providing management consulting, crisis management and transformation consulting, and serving as general manager. Since 2014, I have been serving as CEO of Kimpur, Turkey's first domestically-capitalized "Polyurethane System House."

Can you tell us about Kimpur's development process from its establishment to today?

It was spun off from Kimteks Kimya in 2015, which was established in 1983, and has continued its activities in the sector under the "Kimpur" brand since that date. It is Turkey's first domestically-capitalized and professional polyurethane system house with the largest production capacity and sales volume. We produce innovative polyurethane systems offering high advantages for the footwear, automotive, construction, furniture, heating-cooling and other sectors. Our company, which has an extensive product range, has achieved 125% growth in just the last 5 years by exporting to more than 45 countries, increasing our export ratio from 25% to 45%. We increased our sales volume from 28,500 tons in 2015 by more than 20% on average each year, reaching approximately 73,000 tons in sales volume in 2020. Our 2021 budget is 90,000 tons and our work continues in line with the budget. Kimpur has gained its strength and leading position in the sector through the "fast decision-making, fast implementation" principle on which it draws strength, innovative and unconventional solutions that create differentiation and efficiency for customers, new product groups and systematic work.

First and foremost, with an "intelligent business model," our approaches that break conventional thinking in all main and subsidiary processes ranging from design inputs to product delivery, efficiency-creating solutions, matrix working teams that power these solutions, and transformation management supported by IT infrastructure represent the most important difference that brought us leadership in the sector.

How do you carry out work within Kimpur's long-standing "Polyurethane System House" and "polyurethane in every aspect of life" motto? What innovations have you brought to the sector?

First and foremost, with an "intelligent business model," our approaches that break conventional thinking in all main and subsidiary processes ranging from design inputs to product delivery, efficiency-creating solutions, matrix working teams that power these solutions, and transformation management supported by IT infrastructure represent the most important difference that brought us leadership in the sector. Both our production and R&D processes are optimized through Six Sigma methodology; not only identifying our own possible needs but also those of our customers' sectors, with transformation management reflected across all our solution partners. Our company is the only polyurethane system house among the top 10 companies with the highest R&D spending in the Chemical Substances and Products sector in 2020, according to Turkishtime's research. R&D, where we have made serious investments for many years, has strengthened both in infrastructure and human resources since 2017 as an "R&D Center." Beyond product groups that address the sector's daily needs, we have many new product development projects that will enable our customers to create differentiation, and these projects continue. Our company is the only polyurethane system house among the top 10 companies with the highest R&D spending in the Chemical Substances and Products sector in 2020, according to Turkishtime's research. R&D, where we have made serious investments for many years, has strengthened both in infrastructure and human resources since 2017 as an "R&D Center." Beyond product groups that address the sector's daily needs, we have many new product development projects that will enable our customers to create differentiation, and these projects continue.

As Kimpur, you were listed this year in the ISO 500 "Turkey's 500 Largest Industrial Enterprises" and Fortune 500 "Turkey's Largest Companies" lists. How do you evaluate this success? What efforts led to this achievement?

We continue to rank higher each year on the ISO 500 company list. In 2020, we ranked 314th and hold a clear leadership position in our sector. At the same time, we successfully entered the top 500 of the Turkish Exporters Assembly's annual list of the top 1,000 exporters. Our real competitors are not domestic producers but global companies that produce most of the raw materials. We compete with global producers not only in the Turkish market but also in our export markets, particularly in nearby geographies. Behind these successes lies our commitment to sustainability principles, investments in R&D, innovation and technology, customer focus, technical support services, and human resources policies structured in proportion to our objective of being a good employer. In this regard, following evaluations and analyses conducted by the Great Place to Work® Institute according to global standards, we earned the right to use the Great Place to Work® Certified designation by meeting the criteria of a great place to work with positive employee experience and a strong culture of trust. Since 2015, we have continued to accelerate the momentum in our steady growth and implement large-scale initiatives. Over the last 5 years, we have made approximately EUR 5.5 million in investments. With our competitive advantage technologies, innovations and strategies, over the last 5 years we increased production capacity by 84.6%, raising it from 65,000 to 120,000 tons. Between 2016-2020, our employment grew by 132% and our sales volumes increased by 156%. As Kimpur, competing with the world's largest chemical companies in international markets, holding a leadership position in exports within our sector, and ranking 314th on the ISO 500 in 2020 by jumping up 36 places, we were among the winners of the pandemic period.

Kimpur was one of the Export Stars in 2020. Could you tell us about your export activities within this context?

As you mentioned, in 2020 as the sole polyurethane system house to achieve export records in the "Turkey Plastics and Raw Materials" category, we entered the top 5 and became one of the export stars. Among member companies, we ranked 35th based on our 2020 performance in the "Miscellaneous Chemicals Export" category and 62nd based on our performance in the "Organic Chemicals Export" category. With exports to more than 45 countries, we are Turkey's largest polyurethane company. In recent years, the share of our export and export-registered sales in total sales has reached 40%. With many of our innovative and superior advantage products, over the last 5 years we have been able to sell to many countries beyond our region.

Digital transformation is essential in our age. This transformation and technological developments bring many opportunities. Are you carrying out work in this direction as Kimpur?

First, we completed our work on full automation of our production systems, standardizing our systems and products, and producing quality products at the desired quality level. Over the past 3 years at Kimpur, with SAP and the methodological approaches for data collection and analysis in parallel, we identified all efficiency-providing points and transitioned to full automation. SAP provided us with serious momentum in terms of digital transformation. In addition, all our company's MIS data monitoring, employee target setting and performance monitoring, R&D and all company project plans, their efficiency, project completion, product delivery speeds and similar monitoring indicators became transparent, instantaneous and accessible from any desired point after this transformation.

What are your targets and plans for the coming years? Can you provide information about innovations you will introduce to the sector?

In our 2020-2024 business plan, we aim to reach 120,000 tons of sales capacity at our current facility, which will enable us to achieve 65% more growth. Additionally, since our current facility can no longer meet our growth plans, we have begun our investment process to launch our second production facility in Düzce, Turkey. This investment is initially intended to provide 50,000 tons of additional capacity to our existing product portfolio. Additionally, at our Düzce facility, a 5,000-ton capacity "recycling facility" producing from PET waste will be commissioned; it will be used in our "environmentally-friendly product range" and also sold, serving as a fine example of our sustainability projects. Our growth plans are not limited to our company in Turkey alone. We have signed a preliminary agreement to establish a joint venture with a local manufacturer in Europe with 10,000-ton capacity. After the processes are completed by the end of August, we will be able to share information on the subject.

"We compete with global producers not only in the Turkish market but also in our export markets, particularly in nearby geographies."

Can you tell us about your sustainability efforts?

Starting from 2016, we attached considerable importance to investments and doubled our capacity. In accordance with the Montreal Protocol, an international framework for addressing global warming and climate change, with investments made under UNIDO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, we removed ozone-depleting blowing gases from our products and transitioned completely to nature-friendly blowing gases. We took a major step toward sustainability of our beautiful planet. Kimpur's corporate governance principle is to contribute to creating a more livable world by developing environmental and social responsibilities while conducting economic activities. As Kimpur, while meeting today's needs, we aimed to work in a way that does not deprive future generations of their ability to meet their needs, and we launched our sustainability efforts in this context. First, we accelerated efforts to increase energy efficiency in both our own operations and our products. Through the Plant-Wide Energy Saving project, which was part of Lean Six Sigma projects launched as of 2020, we achieved energy savings approaching 10% annually. Through low thermal conductivity products addressed in our R&D center in line with customer expectations, we contributed to increasing our customers' sales volumes while enabling end users to use energy more efficiently and economically. Additionally, our R&D center carried out and completed a project on environment-friendly, recyclable raw material-derived "polyester polyol." Commercial producibility will be realized with our new investment, the Düzce investment. Our organization, which adopts and implements internationally recognized and prestigious management systems, particularly ISO 50001 Energy Management System, has prepared reports with the help of ISO 14064 and ISO 14046 Standards and by calculating carbon and water footprint in line with sustainability principles on a voluntary basis and to raise awareness. With these reports, in order to examine the impacts of greenhouse gases and water used corporately and to raise awareness among our personnel on this matter, we have adopted the principle of reducing the carbon and water burden resulting from our activities on a yearly and target basis. Based on these efforts, we launched ISO 14001 Environmental Management System work to continuously improve our environmental performance. In 2022, we aim to obtain certification for all our environmental activities and product life cycle work. We also included "ISO 14040/14044 LCA - Life Cycle" work in our 2022 business plan. The statement of our founder Leon Mizrahi that "what would make me happiest is for our company to be one where our employees take pride in working" is an indicator of the value the company places on people. Kimpur, with high ethical values, has prioritized respect for people since its establishment and has shown sensitivity in fulfilling conditions determined by national and international standards regarding working conditions. As of September 2021, efforts are underway to certify current working conditions through SA 8000 certification audit. We continue to systematically improve our processes within the framework of Sustainable Development Goals. We aim to present our sustainability efforts through a report prepared in line with GRI standards to the public in 2022.

Have you recently launched an innovative polyurethane product that will make a difference in the sector?

R&D and innovation are among the most fundamental elements behind our successes. I can say there has been no period without an innovative product of ours. Starting in 2020, along with our corporate sustainability efforts, we conducted serious work on bio-based products and these efforts continue without slowing down. In this context, as of early 2020, we began using bio-based additives of our own production in some of our footwear products. Our work on using these additives in other product groups continues intensively. In addition to these, our new-generation refrigerator systems particularly for the white goods sector continue to create differentiation by providing weight savings, increasing production speeds and providing energy savings.