Reaksiyon Kimya's New Projects and R&D Efforts

We conducted an engaging interview with Gökhan Ceyhan, Deputy General Manager of Reaksiyon Kimya. Ceyhan shared important information about Reaksiyon Kimya's new projects and R&D activities. [caption id="attachment_104380" align="aligncenter"] Gökhan Ceyhan[/caption]

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

I was born in Malatya in 1982. After completing my primary education in Malatya and secondary and high school education in Istanbul, I graduated from Trakya University Department of Chemistry in 2004. I started my professional career in 2005 as Product Development and Innovation Responsible at the quality control and R&D department of Tayf Kimya, our sister company, and later continued in 2008 as Sales Manager at Reaksiyon Kimya. Between 2011 and 2019, I successively held positions in Business Development and Sales Management, during which I secured representations from world-renowned companies such as Kumho and Akzo Nobel (Nouryon). I managed the production and sales network development processes for approximately 18 different products under the Reaksiyon Kimya brand. Since November 2019, I have served as Deputy General Manager. I am married and have two daughters.

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

We started operations in 2003 by providing raw material supply and service in the paints and coatings sector. In a short time, we established our market position with an expanding product portfolio targeting the paints and coatings, construction chemicals, plaster and concrete sectors. With our continuously growing business volume, we acquired important representations to our portfolio. Starting with 2 representations in 2004, we increased our commercial volume to 19 by 2018 with the participation of companies like Kumho and Akzo Nobel (Nouryon). During this period, we established our office in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, in 2014. Our production journey, which began with wax emulsions and pigment pastes in 2007, culminated in 2014 with the production of hyperplasticizer polycarboxylate used in concrete additives, which we developed with TUBITAK support. Many of the products we developed through our R&D projects have also found their place in both the domestic and international markets. We created a sales network distributed throughout Turkey, primarily in the Marmara region.

"Within 5 years, we aim to increase the number of countries we export to above 40 and raise the export share in our revenue to 35% levels."

To meet increasing international demand, Reaksiyon Kimya established its export department in 2018 and opened an office in Algeria. With the help of international trade fairs and our international connections, we initiated work in 28 countries within one year and introduced our product groups. We will soon relocate to our modern production facility in Dilovası, Kocaeli. I believe this relocation process is a milestone for our company. We will further increase our production capacity and continue to expand our product portfolio in line with our customers' expectations. In 2019, we established Reaksiyon Akademi to support sectoral education and development. We undertook an initiative that includes an R&D center and a series of training, seminars and corporate social responsibility projects. We will continue our investments without slowing down in the coming period.

What products and product groups do you offer to the paints sector? Which sectors do you serve?

We provide material supply through brands for which we maintain representation in Turkey in many product groups such as pigments, paint cellulose, powder polymers, epoxy resins, amines, acrylic resins, isocyanates and additives. In addition, water-based pigment pastes, foam suppressants, dispersing agents, wax emulsions, water-repellent and epoxy hardeners produced within Reaksiyon Kimya are among the product groups we serve in the paints sector. We also conduct "tailor-made" work for our paints and coatings products. In accordance with our customers' needs, we develop products specific to their applications and provide R&D support. In addition to the paints sector, we supply raw materials to many sectors including concrete and plaster chemicals, construction chemicals, industrial floor coatings, cosmetics and printing ink raw materials, and provide technical support.

Could you provide information about Reaksiyon Kimya's activities and services?

Reaksiyon Kimya has been providing raw material supply services to the paints and construction chemicals sector for 18 years. We work with manufacturing companies in both raw material supply and, as producers ourselves, we also purchase raw materials. I particularly want to emphasize this aspect because, with our manufacturing capacity, we are among the companies best able to understand the difficulties experienced by the companies we supply with materials. We understand very well how important it is to deliver the right product at the right time, to have a wide range of products and to provide technical support services. With this perspective, we continue our product services to the paints sector with our quality understanding and customer-oriented approach.

Could you tell us about your export activities?

Our international sales gained momentum with our export department, established in 2018 to meet demand for the product groups we produce. For this purpose, we established our office in Algeria and formed our team. The entire African continent, particularly North African countries such as Algeria and Tunisia, is among our priority market targets. Furthermore, we receive significant demand from Turkish Republics and Balkan countries. We have also created distribution networks in these regions and achieved important sales. Within just 1 year, we concluded commercial agreements with 28 countries. Within 5 years, we aim to increase the number of countries we export to above 40 and raise the export share in our revenue to 35% levels. International and domestic trade fairs, seminars, national and international association memberships and sectoral meetings have built us a wide network in this field.

Have you recently undertaken any innovative work that will make a difference in the paints and coatings sector?

In line with our environmental management system and vision, we have undertaken many initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint. Recently, within the scope of our new project, we developed our water-based epoxy resin and water-based epoxy hardener products. We are conducting pilot productions for our product, whose laboratory work has been completed. We will soon undertake their production and distribution.

"The secrets to success both in local and global markets are working with passion, working hard, focusing on long-term goals, and while doing all this, placing the health and safety of employees, team spirit, respect for nature and our responsibility to our country and future generations at the forefront."

Additionally, additives such as foam suppressants and dispersing agents for the paints sector are ready to enter the market very soon. We will share details about our other innovative R&D projects underway to meet the needs and expectations of our customers in due time. Our work continues on new product groups that will bring a breath of fresh air to the sector.

In your opinion, what are the conditions for success both domestically and globally?

I believe that in today's conditions, whether domestically or on international platforms, to be successful, one must think on a global scale and focus on the big picture. In an era when the entire world is in digital interaction, you cannot remain indifferent to globalization. The secrets to success both in local and global markets are working with passion, working hard, focusing on long-term goals, and while doing all this, placing the health and safety of employees, team spirit, respect for nature and our responsibility to our country and future generations at the forefront. When you focus only on financial results and sales, you can be successful for a short period. However, true success is leaving behind innovative products that add value to future generations alongside a healthy and secure world. Our company, with this perspective, has accelerated social responsibility projects in addition to being solution-oriented in production. We plan to implement our new projects on education, environment and children themes within 2021. We believe that the key to success is also achieved through ensuring social equality and giving women their due value. The ratio of female employees has recently increased from 22% to 38%. For the coming periods, our goal will be to prepare all the infrastructure needed for the "Women-Friendly Company" designation and take the necessary steps.

Recently, you established an R&D Center called Reaksiyon Akademi. Could you share the details about this?

Reaksiyon Kimya is one of a few domestic companies that provide important raw material supply services to the sector and also conduct production. Many products for the paints sector are produced by Reaksiyon Kimya. Therefore, R&D and product development are very important parts of our business. In addition to many of our projects realized with TUBITAK and KOSGEB support, we also have ongoing projects. Reaksiyon Akademi has been a long-held dream for us. As you know, the "human" factor is often as important as the work itself. To support employee education and development and provide services to the sector with a more qualified team, we made our training more systematic and consolidated our activities in this area under the Reaksiyon Akademi umbrella. Our customers and suppliers also participated in this training mobilization and shared their experiences with us. Furthermore, as Reaksiyon Akademi, we organize annual "Sector meetings" that bring together leading manufacturers in the sector. At these events we hold annually for the construction and paints sectors, experts from abroad and manufacturers in the paints sector come together to discuss sector problems and have the opportunity to follow the latest developments in products and meet with experts one-on-one. We receive very positive feedback regarding the sector meetings, the third of which will take place next year. Not just training, but also our corporate social responsibility projects under the Reaksiyon Akademi umbrella with the slogan "React with Kindness". We established a library at a high school in Elazığ, and all our employees provided individual support in this regard. Our theme for the coming year will be environment and children. We will continue preparations for our new projects in this regard with suggestions and contributions from all our employees. This year we are relocating our factory to Dilovası Organized Industrial Zone. The relocation process will be completed by the end of September. We have prepared the R&D center infrastructure in our new factory. We aimed to provide laboratory and R&D support, which is the most important gap in our sector. We believe that in addition to the projects we conduct at Reaksiyon Kimya, we can provide significant academic support to the sector by implementing the projects of our solution partners, customers and suppliers under the Reaksiyon Akademi umbrella. We are aware that all these efforts are a responsibility we bear to increase domestic production's share in the sector and take our country into the future.

Digital transformation is indispensable in our age. Do you conduct work in this direction as Reaksiyon Kimya?

Today, technological changes and innovations have removed all regional, national and international barriers between sectors. It is inevitable that countries and institutions unable to manage rapidly developing technology will fall behind the information society. In recent years, through the development of IT strategy and digital technology for businesses, it has become an effective force in achieving the organization's main objectives. Digital transformation, one of the dynamics of Industry 4.0, is also a priority for our company. Particularly with the IT strategy determined by the board of directors at the end of 2017, all production and sales processes, financial management systems and financial infrastructure have been designed accordingly and efforts in this area have been accelerated. I believe that the importance of digitalization has been even better understood during this pandemic process we are experiencing. As Reaksiyon Kimya, we completed the most important stages in terms of digitalization long ago, so today our employees can access all data safely and securely and continue their work outside the office.

Were there any new decisions you made while managing the pandemic process? What are the activities you have implemented in this regard?

When the pandemic process started, we immediately held a board meeting on the first day and ensured that necessary precautions were taken and implemented a series of measures to help our company employees safely get through this extraordinary period. We formed teams for the planning, implementation and execution of the measures taken. We quickly took health precautions for the team working in production processes and created different shift combinations to reduce the number of workers in the same shift without disrupting production. Thus, we continued to supply products to our customers under health precautions. We reviewed cleaning and hygiene conditions in all areas and also received support from occupational health and safety experts in this regard. We informed all our employees about this and procured the necessary masks, disinfectants and other protective equipment. We created disinfection points in different areas. Our occupational health and safety experts, with the support of our company doctor, individually informed each of our employees. We shared the precautions taken in a transparent manner. In addition, we started remote working systems for our suitable teams. Our most important advantage at this point was that our company had completed its digitalization processes well in advance. With the remote working system, we continued our communication with our customers through phone and online meetings. During this process, we directed visitors from outside the office to online meetings as much as possible; however, when we still needed to receive services, we took the necessary precautions by measuring temperature, using masks and disinfectants and following social distancing rules. As in all crisis periods, we once again understood the importance of active leadership and teamwork in the COVID-19 crisis.

Could you tell us about your sustainability efforts?

As Reaksiyon Kimya, we have undertaken many activities to ensure sustainability in the chemical sector where we produce customer-focused solutions and reduce the carbon footprint in our products. The main theme of our recent TUBITAK and KOSGEB-supported R&D projects was developing and carrying forward products that are sensitive to the integrity of the natural environment in which we live. The weight of solvent-based product groups in our portfolio is gradually being replaced by water-based products and environmentally friendly work. Our water-based epoxy resin and hardener project, which we are currently working on, is just one of these activities. In this regard, we will continue to provide much more innovative and innovative solutions to the sector in the near future. In addition to environmentally friendly product groups, we are implementing our zero-waste projects and corporate social responsibility activities aimed at increasing ecological awareness. We evaluate the customers and suppliers we provide products and services to as our business partners and closely monitor their sustainability processes. In this regard, we also provide support to the sector and further improve our processes in line with the suggestions of our solution partners. As Reaksiyon Kimya, since we are also involved in REACH processes, we continue our work in providing REACH management support to our customers.

"Not just training, but also our corporate social responsibility projects under the Reaksiyon Akademi umbrella with the slogan "React with Kindness"."

Additional remarks… This year we purchased a 25,000 m2 plot of land in GEBKİM. There we will produce many different product groups within our Reaksiyon Akademi R&D Center and Production Complex. We are receiving offers and suggestions from many local and global manufacturers regarding collaboration and joint operational work for our new production complex. We will evaluate all of these and in the coming period create modern, well-equipped systems with digital infrastructure and sustainable operations by meeting the sector's needs and securing many world brands for our country, carrying our company, which is one of the important players in the sector, into the future together with our customers and solution partners.