We Had a Pleasant Interview with Mr. Arınç Aktan

Sun Chemical General Manager Arınç Aktan granted us a pleasant interview. Arınç Aktan shared valuable information with us about Sun Chemical's structure in Turkey, its operations and future-period targets.

Could you tell us about yourself and your professional background so our readers can get to know you?

I was born in Denizli in 1971. I graduated from Saint Joseph Middle School, Tevfik Fikret High School and ODTÜ Chemical Engineering. During my studies, I had numerous seasonal and part-time work experiences. I started my first full-time career in 1995 as a Process Engineer and Team Leader at Procter & Gamble Turkey. In recent years, I also served for about 3 months at the same company's Russian plant. After briefly supporting my father at our family company at that time, I returned to professional work as Marmara Region Sales Manager at what is now Ravago. I started working at DuPont in 2000. I served as Sales Manager for various product groups in Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Israel and the Caucasus. In 2008, I joined Sun Chemical as Assistant General Manager. In 2010, when my manager at the time retired, I took over the General Manager position. Since then, my responsibilities, those of my colleagues and the company have continued to grow. As of this year, I am responsible for Turkey and the company's 3 main plants in Turkey, as well as our operations and facilities in Egypt, Bulgaria and Russia, and export and sales activities in the Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia regions.

Could you share Sun Chemical's structure in Turkey, its production facilities and the sectors it serves?

Sun Chemical, a member of the Japan-based DIC Group, is the world's largest printing ink and pigment producer. With annual sales turnover exceeding USD 8.5 billion, Sun Chemical has more than 22,000 employees worldwide. Our management headquarters is in Parsippany, New Jersey, USA. In Turkey, we operate with a team of approximately 300 people and produce in Izmir (Çiğli Center, Aliağa) and Gebze. Our beginning in Turkey was under the name Bakim in 1987 with a core team of 10 people and first solvent-based ink production in an area of 1,000 m². From 1990 onwards, we added water-based inks and other products to our portfolio to meet the needs of the entire packaging sector, and in 1993 we moved to our first factory in the Çiğli Atatürk Organized Zone. [caption id="attachment_158970" align="aligncenter"] Sun Chemical General Manager Arınç Aktan[/caption] In 1995, Bakim became Bakim Coates Lorilleux through a partnership with the Coates Lorilleux Group, which was among the world's leading companies in the ink field. In 2000, the French Total group, which owned Coates Lorilleux, decided to exit the ink sector and sold all its ink plants worldwide to Sun Chemical. In September 2000, by purchasing the shares of local shareholders, it became a 100% foreign-capital company. In 2004, Sun Chemical acquired some assets of Printaş Printing Inks, which belonged to the ÇBS Group, extending its leadership in liquid inks to newspaper and offset inks. As demand for packaging ink grew over time, Sun Chemical decided to separate the production of water and solvent-based inks at its Çiğli plant and move solvent-based ink to a new facility established in Aliağa. Construction of the new facility, which covers an area of 50,000 m², began in 2014, and production started in the first quarter of 2016. Our three production facilities in Turkey are important not only for the local market but also for the global market. Each of the three plants operates as a main plant and supplies finished products and color concentrates (intermediate products) to other Sun Chemical operations on a European and even global basis. In general, the sectors we serve include the packaging sector, press, magazines, publishing, textiles and advertising.

What are the products you offer in the ink field?

As Sun Chemical, we offer our customers a wide product portfolio including liquid inks, offset inks, metal packaging inks, coatings, adhesives, digital color management solutions and brand color management. In addition to all of these, spray inks and coating solutions for OEM printers prepared with special formulations for digital printing and supported by application expertise are used in many industrial product groups such as packaging, decoration, labels, tiles, textiles, décor, ceramics and plastic cards.

How do you conduct work to develop your products and what resources do you allocate to these activities?

To support the circular economy, we focus on the eco-efficiency and sustainability of packaging. We make significant investments in our R&D work. Within the scope of R&D activities, we develop our university-industry and industry-industry collaborative projects in a manner that supports sector trends and the circular economy. Through our Center of Excellence and Global Color Management functions in Turkey, we continue to increase our contribution to sustainability and the circular economy with our stakeholders.

Can you assess the development of the ink sector in Turkey and what is the importance of the Turkish market for Sun Chemical?

There is continuous growth, development and change in Turkey's packaging sector. Turkish packaging manufacturers' goal is to grow through exports. It is one of the country's important and strategic sectors with a current account surplus. As Sun Chemical, we are proud and honored to fulfill a locomotive function for the sector and its development by continuing to contribute to our customers in terms of purpose-appropriate products, cutting-edge technologies, efficiency, digitalization and sustainability.

Finally, how was 2023 for your company, and what are your expectations and targets for 2024?

We have growth targets in the digital and textile markets, and we believe we have made a good start with our new products. We are transforming our approach to the packaging sector under the name "packaging solutions." We have worked as solution partners for our customers for years. Henceforth, they will see this approach in more concrete form. We are in constant communication with brand owners in the sector and mutually share developments and conduct joint projects on certain issues. As always, by working closely with our customers and through productivity, efficiency, cost-saving and digitalization projects, we will continue our efforts to make the sector more competitive and sustainable.