Kayalar Kimya continues to accelerate sustainable investment
Kayalar Kimya is one of Europe's largest manufacturers of furniture paints and varnishes. Today, the company is recognised globally for its capacity to produce 3,000 different types of products, and continues to strengthen its competitive position day by day.
Kayalar Kimya, recognised globally, has successfully continued its operations since 1976 and expanded them with each passing day. Ersin Kenan Kayalar, Chairman of the Board of Kayalar Kimya, described the company's history and development, which makes it one of Europe's largest furniture paint and varnish manufacturers.
Kayalar Kimya is a well-established company with approximately 50 years of history. Could you briefly tell us about the journey from the day your company was founded to today?
The foundations of Kayalar Kimya were laid in 1976 by our father Yılmaz Kayalar with thinner production. I believe the secret of our success lies in Yılmaz Kayalar's principles and entrepreneurial spirit. His advice such as "know the world well, never compromise on honesty and quality production" and "work hard and continuously develop your vision" continue to be at the centre of our lives. I can say that our company's transformation process began in the 1990s. In family businesses, founders generally struggle to hand over responsibility to those who come after them, but Yılmaz Bey showed the exact opposite attitude and handed over the flag to me. With my brother Tolga Kayalar also joining the company, our father completely stepped down from his duties. This taught us responsibility and quick decision-making at a young age. We already knew our targets and priorities. We worked tirelessly to wave the flags of our brands both domestically and internationally. Today, through the strategic partnership we have realised with Gençel, Düfa, Woodsol and Noroo Paint, we serve a wide range of areas from paint to varnish, water-based exterior wood paint to industrial paint with our Gençel Noroo brands. We are one of Europe's largest furniture paint and varnish manufacturers. In 2005, we completed our new factory with high automation.
With our strong R&D centre, application and simulation centre and our investments in these areas, we create differentiation in our sector. We export to nearly 55 countries. Our Gençel brand was included in Turquality, the world's first state-supported brand development programme. Gençel was the first brand in its field to be included in this programme. Our goal for the period ahead is to continue on our path with sustainable growth. Within the scope of this goal, we have made a second factory investment in Gebze to produce water-based binders, antifreezes, anti-freeze agents and wood adhesives. Although this year is challenging, we are still targeting investments. We have started a new warehouse investment at our Tuzla factory. Together with our machinery investments for capacity increases, our investments in renewable energy systems for sustainability and investments for energy and water consumption efficiency continue. We are a technology-focused company and with this focus we will advance our factories further with new equipment. As Kayalar Kimya, we aim to keep pace with changes, represent our country with our products in different regions of the world, and progress by developing together with our employees.
Your product range is extremely broad... Could you tell us about your brands and products?
As Kayalar Kimya, we are today one of Europe's largest manufacturers of furniture paints and varnishes. With our Gençel, Düfa, Woodsol and GençelNoroo brands, we serve a wide range of areas in the furniture, construction and metal sectors from solvent and water-based exterior wood varnishes and paints to industrial paints. We provide fast and innovative solutions to our customers' needs. In addition, with our second factory investment in Gebze, we have entered the industrial adhesive sector with our KayaColl, KayaTherm, KayaPur, KayaPren, KayaSit, KayaSil and KayaFlex brands. We aim to achieve sustainable growth in the adhesives and binders sector and demonstrate the success we have achieved in the paint and varnish sector in this field as well.
Could you provide information about your domestic and international operations?
As Kayalar Kimya, we export to more than 50 countries in North Africa, Europe and Asia. In some of these countries, we are in a leading position in furniture varnish paint sales, just as we are in Turkey. We also have offices, warehouses and a laboratory in various regions. We established our structure in Poland to better serve Central Europe and Western Europe, and we are seeing positive results from this decision. In the coming period, we aim to gain more market share in Western Europe, Southeast Asia and Central Southern Africa. In addition, we are working to maintain our success in the areas where we are leaders domestically, develop strategies to increase our success in the areas we have focused on and newly entered, and grow accordingly. In all the markets where we operate in the coming period, we will continue on our path by creating differentiation.
Finally, what would you like to say about the values you hold and your quality policy?
Our company's vision and mission have been shaped around the values we have embraced since its establishment. We define our vision as "to be the company of first choice in the global market in the chemicals sector and a leader in our country by providing innovative and quality products." Our mission is "to add value to our customers' journeys by providing creative, sustainable and inspiring solutions and suggestions to meet their needs." In addition, we place customer satisfaction at the centre of all our work. When developing products and services, we take into account the demands and expectations of our customers. Furthermore, for the continuous improvement of our company, we implement projects that increase the competence and knowledge levels of our employees at all levels through effective human resources management. We are a continuously developing and learning company.
Who is Ersin Kayalar?
Ersin Kenan Kayalar, a graduate of Richmond American University London Business Department, completed his internship at Rohm and Haas after finishing his university education. Starting work at Kayalar Kimya in 1992, Ersin Kayalar served as General Director and Board Member of Kayalar Kimya between 1998 and 2010, and has continued his role as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Kayalar Kimya since 2010. Kayalar, who has experience in establishing partnerships with international companies and factory establishment on an international scale, in addition to the chemicals sector, founded Kayalar Canicas Textile A.Ş. and implemented factory and construction investments, and served as chairman of the company's board for 10 years. Kayalar, who attaches great importance to sustainability, also states that he is investing in nature by thinking of future generations and continuing to look after his olive grove land. As a leader who has devoted years to this field, Kayalar states that no sector can progress without the chemicals sector and continues to work for the development of the sector. Ersin Kenan Kayalar, who is Vice Chairman of the Board of the Paint Manufacturers Association (BOSAD) and a Board Member of the Economic Development Foundation (İKV), also continues to serve as an accounting member and committee chairman in the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (İSO) Council and Istanbul Chemical Substances and Products Exporters Association (İKMİB).
