Altermak General Manager Mustafa Acıpayamoğlu Answers Our Questions

In this interview we conducted, Altermak General Manager Mustafa Acıpayamoğlu answered our questions. Acıpayamoğlu provided information about Altermak's development process and its current structure.

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

I was born in Istanbul in 1967. I completed my primary, secondary and high school education in Istanbul. After finishing Industrial Engineering at Istanbul Technical University, I also completed my Master's degree at Istanbul Technical University. I have a good level of English. I am married with two children, one daughter and one son. I started my professional career in 1992 at Nuri Baylar A.Ş., which was Turkey's general distributor for Wagner at that time, a company from which I learned many things in various stages of my life and which I have always spoken about with pride. I served as sales manager for 3 years. We must have climbed the ladder quite quickly, because after 3 years, driven by the excitement of that period and our desire for commerce, we founded Altermak in 1995 as 2 partners together with Rahmet Çağatay, who is also a mechanical engineer, and began sales activities related to our sector. Since 1995, we have been conducting sales, service and spare parts operations for Wagner throughout Turkey for exactly 24 years. Our aim has been to supply machines that perform coating applications for every colour we see around us related to paints and to deliver them to all sectors. Today, in every field where paint exists and is used—from industry to furniture, from construction to white goods, from automotive to heavy industry—we serve with these machines and will continue to do so.

Could you provide information about Altermak's founding process and the stages it has gone through to reach today?

Altermak was founded in 1995 by 2 partners, as I mentioned earlier, with the aim of establishing modern and automatic painting lines required by the sectors it has worked in. Since its foundation, Altermak has worked with Wagner, a leading company in the global paint machinery market, and over time has also become the Turkey general distributor for brands such as V. Alberti, an Italian-origin company operating in CNC woodworking machines and major production lines, Italpresse, and Striebig from Switzerland. Today, Altermak serves as a specialist company that has set up the production lines of the vast majority of major companies operating with paint spraying in Turkey's metal, automotive, furniture, white goods, construction and heavy industry sectors, and provides technical service and spare parts services. With a total of 21 employees, Altermak has become a leading, respected and pioneering brand in its sector, capable of meeting the needs of these companies with the knowledge accumulation, technology and effective and specialist team of facilities producing at every point in Turkey and becoming an important technological supporter.

Which main sectors does Altermak supply, and what types of products? Could you provide information about Altermak's products, brands and services?

Since our foundation, we continuously update our product diversity in line with demands in the markets we serve. Our main focus is painting systems, automations, equipment and machinery, providing consultancy on establishing turnkey paint facilities, and also supplying paint equipment to be used in these facilities. In wet paint, powder coat and enamel systems where we operate intensively, we identify the needs of very different systems and present the most optimal products. We work effectively to supply Wagner brand painting systems, of which we are the Turkey distributor, to our existing portfolio in the most effective manner, provide post-sales service and introduce them to our new customers. The quality service provided to our existing customers also provides very important support in reaching new consumers and markets.

Additionally, as an auxiliary side service sector, all machinery and equipment needed by small, medium and large enterprises in the woodworking sector, which is directly highly related to paints, are also present in our product range.

Could you tell us about your domestic and foreign sales operations? What types of products do you mainly sell to which regions domestically and abroad?

Our operations in the domestic market, where economic dynamics are continuously active and open to surprises, continue uninterrupted. To adapt as quickly as possible to changing economic and market conditions, we make maximum effort to maintain our dynamic structure. Unfortunately, global economic downturns occurring in the world and political turmoil in our region cause negative effects on all markets. The experience gained during similar difficult periods in the past has provided important contribution to our making correct and effective decisions. As Altermak, our faith is endless that this period will pass and better days will come. We will continue to present the latest innovations and developments related to our products to the Turkish market. In the competitive environment, high-capacity error-free production gains importance with each passing day. Our customers working in the painting sector are increasing their existing capacities or renovating their production lines to adapt to changing market conditions. We always support our customers with our high-quality Wagner brand wet paint, powder coat and enamel application systems. We mainly conduct product sales to regions where industry is more concentrated domestically. The leading ones are Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. However, cities such as Bursa, Kayseri and especially recently Konya, Antep and Denizli are also rapidly developing regions. As for products we import from abroad, we also supply them through re-export to some Turkic republics and North African countries as well as the Middle East market.

Could you provide information about Altermak's environmental policy and sustainability approach? What can you say about your work related to occupational health and safety?

The companies we distribute for, as leading companies in their sectors, pursue a sustainable environmental management policy based on international environmental regulations, relevant environmental standards and the best technologies in this field. To minimize environmental and social risks that could arise from our activities, we have placed sustainability policies at the forefront and have selected and continuously improved environmentally friendly production technologies. The painting and enamel systems we implement have been developed with a working principle based on sustainable waste management that reduces pollution at source, minimizes waste generation, reuse, recycling and recovery.

What criteria are prioritized when Altermak's investment plans are drawn up? Does Altermak have investment plans for the upcoming periods, and if so, what are they?

From our foundation to today, in the products that constitute our business, we have tried to present products with the latest technology by working with world-leading manufacturers. We have built a well-functioning bridge between manufacturing companies and end consumers, ensuring that needs are met to the maximum degree. All local and global problems occurring today have unfortunately affected us as they have all other sectors. We are trying to minimize the effects of this difficult period on our company while continuing our current service quality. Additionally, we continue uninterruptedly our work on expanding our new market and new customer portfolio.