Interview with Kadir Aksakallı, General Manager of Pluskim Poliüretan

In our interview with Kadir Aksakallı, General Director of Pluskim Polyurethane, we discussed the company's operations and objectives.

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

I was born in Şişli, Istanbul; I completed my entire education in Istanbul. After graduating from the Chemistry Department of Istanbul University Faculty of Engineering, I began my career in the chemistry sector, which is my specialty and has never lost my interest, in the production/quality control department of an international company. Because of my innovative nature, good interpersonal skills and energetic disposition, in 2007 I opened a new chapter in my professional career in polyurethane and technical sales, fields where I believed I would achieve greater success. As of 2013, I have been serving in the management of Pluskim Polyurethane.

Could you tell us about Pluskim's development process from its founding to today?

As of 2014, Pluskim is a 100% domestic, innovative polyurethane systems company that began formulation production. Established in Istanbul, it is a dynamic, young, sincere team that, from its first day of operation, has worked without compromising on quality and service understanding, developing formulations according to customer needs, providing technical support, financial and logistics solutions, and believing in its objectives. With our wide product range, we respond to all types of customer needs in a short time and in a flexible manner, and with our technical support capabilities, we also assist our customers in product development. We are a company that prioritizes customer, employee and supplier satisfaction, follows technology and innovations related to the sector, and operates with maximum efficiency. Among member companies of the Istanbul Chemical Materials and Products Exporters Association, we have been among the top 100 companies in exports for the last 4 years. With the investments we have made in recent years, we have increased our annual systems capacity to 35,000 tons. PLUSKIM INC., established at the end of 2017, is our United States-based company headquartered in California. Our warehouse in the Houston region is ready with polyurethane systems stocks and sales operations have already begun.

What are Pluskim's products and product groups? Which sectors do you serve?

The sectors we serve can be listed as follows: construction, footwear (slippers and soles), furniture, automotive, heating-cooling, polyester, polyols, prepolymers, polyurethane adhesives, raw materials and auxiliary chemicals. If we make a formulation distinction, they are rigid polyurethane systems. These include industrial refrigerators, domestic refrigerators, decorative coatings, spray insulation, wood imitation, cold room panels and doors, solar energy systems and refrigerated display cases. Flexible polyurethane systems include: HR molded foam, integral skin polyurethanes, cold elastomers and filter systems. Footwear polyurethane systems include slippers, soles and fuspet. Filter-integral polyurethane systems are: polyure (water insulation systems); hybrid polyure and pure polyure binders, EPDM and shredded foam binders.

"Among Istanbul Chemical Materials and Products Exporters Association member companies, we have been among the top 100 companies in exports for the last 4 years"

"In this period when new business practices are developing, we are continuing our investments in technology, automation and ERP."

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

At Pluskim, in addition to developing standard products used in the market, we are working on solutions for different sectors. We have many products in the laboratory and industrial trial phases. We are working seriously on open-cell insulation spray, wood-equivalent decorative systems, and particularly integral and flexible systems for the automotive sector. Additionally, with our polyester polyol production, we aim to develop solutions that will make a difference in the locations we serve.  

What are your projects within the scope of new technological trends?

Full automation of a process is our short-term focus. We are also closely following technology for R&D. We want to accelerate quality and new product development processes with advanced analytical equipment. Additionally, through digitalization, we aim to strengthen information flow within the company, between the company and customers, and to further strengthen the R&D-supply-production-quality-customer chain. Innovations in the industrial field, customer demands, product tracking and the digitalization of technical support are important to us.

Digital transformation is essential in our age. To what extent do you think the polyurethane sector has achieved this transformation?

In this period when new business practices are developing, we are continuing our investments in technology, automation and ERP. Systematic tracking of all business processes, planned and predictive management are important to us. Digitalization appears to be the key to the future. In this regard, the polyurethane sector is not far behind other sectors, but greater developments will occur over time. What is important is that we advance these developments together with the world, or even one step ahead of them.

Can you tell us about your work in R&D and Sustainability?

As of 2018, Pluskim made serious investments, particularly in R&D. In virtually every polyurethane sector, we aim for better results with our own formulations. In addition to work directed at customers, we also aim to advance the sector. In terms of sustainability, we work only with approved suppliers. As Pluskim, we want to deliver the highest quality product to customers as quickly as possible and do this at competitive prices. For this, we are installing new reactors to produce raw materials that we source from both domestic and international suppliers.