We had a very pleasant interview with Sinan Bülbül, General Manager of Reaksiyon Kimya, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Mr. Bülbül shared valuable information with us in many areas from her company’s R&D studies to training activities.
Could you please tell our readers about yourself and your professional background?
I have a bachelor’s degree from Boğaziçi University, Department of Mathematics. I have been working as the General Manager of Reaksiyon Kimya since 2018 after working in global companies for many years.
I carried out intensive studies on improving the institutionalization of the company and its place in the global market, with my knowledge and assessments in the fields of IT and finance. I’m married and have two kids.
Could you please tell us about the development process of Reaksiyon Kimya and the sectors it serves?
Our company was established in 2003 in Istanbul. Reaksiyon Kimya started with the trade of raw materials for the paint industry and continued in 2008 with a different vision after pigment paste and wax emissions production activities.
The acquisition of the Turkish representation of the South Korean company KUMHO in 2012 is a milestone for Reaksiyon Kimya. Reaksiyon Kimya is one of the most important players in the Turkish distributor market in terms of epoxy resin at the point we have reached
today.
Since we focused on epoxy resin brought with it the production of epoxy hardener, and today we have more than 20 types of epoxy hardener products. I can proudly say that KER series epoxy resins and Reaksiyon Kimya RECURE series epoxy hardener product groups have been used together in various applications such as floor coatings, furniture, 3D applications, and epoxy paints.
We have expanded our portfolio over time with both our product groups and new representations. We moved to Dilovası Organized Industrial in 2020. In the same period, we bought a land of 25,000 m2 in GEBKİM and a year later, we invested again to another
area in Dilovası OSB, the total area increased to 35,000 m2 with this investment.
We are increasing our production capacity by 4 times in all our products with our new production facility, which is planned to be completed in May especially for the super plasticizer MAXFLOW group.
Our sales operations take place in 19 countries of the world in addition to Turkey. Reaksiyon Kimya has TSE ISO 9001 Quality System Management Certificate and is a member of IMMIB, Composite Manufacturers Association, and Turkish Chemical Industrialists Association.
What are your product groups that you offer to the paint and coating industries?
Our most well-known product groups in the sector are epoxy resins which belong to the South Korean company KUMHO, for which we are the official representative in Turkey.
In addition, our own production of epoxy hardeners are also complementary to this product group. The Other product groups we supply to the paint industry are AFROMER series defoamers, dispersing agents, surface conditioners, epoxy accelerators, acrylic resins and isocyanates, polyol groups, wax emulsions, pigment pastes, resins and additives for
the ink industry.
Could you please tell us about your R&D activities and investments? What are your primary goals in R&D studies?
As you know, we can develop tailor-made products according to the demands of our customers, in line with the needs of the industry, on the axis of Reaksiyon Kimya R&D studies. In addition, we stand by our customers in terms of after-sales support with our knowledge and experience.
We know and understand the difficulties of being a manufacturer. We are aware of how important it is for manufacturers to manage material supply processes in the most effective way and to ensure product reliability.
This aspect, which is our distinguishing feature, is occur by the support of R&D studies and can find space for the most accurate solutions. We have developed many of our products with TUBITAK and KOSGEB projects, and we still have ongoing projects.
We are on the way to becoming an R&D Center, we have created the entire infrastructure for the establishment of an R&D Center in our new facility, which is under construction at the moment.
The application and approval processes will be completed by the end of the year. We are already making preparations for the innovative new product groups and wanted to focus on environmentally friendly sustainable products, we will make announcements with new launches when the projects are finalized.
Could you tell us about Reaksiyon Academy and your other training activities?
We believe that success will be achieved by working with the right team and being in continuous development. We established the Reaksiyon Academy for this purpose, within our company in 2018.
We aimed to create social projects within the framework of education, environment and social equality, to support the training and development of employees, to provide service to the sector with a more qualified team, and to raise awareness in areas such as environment and education.
We also included our customers and stakeholders in these events. we invited our customers and held workshops with the support of experienced experts by organizing technical seminars for the paint and construction fields. We are planning to organize another launch for the construction sector in 2023.
We also evaluate the training demands of our employees. we also started training for personnel who want to improve their foreign language with the sponsorship of our company this year.
We also carried out valuable studies in the field of social equality with Reaksiyon Academy. We increased the rate of female employees in particular and supported them to take a more active role in our company. As a result of these devoted efforts, we increased our female employee rate from 22% to 40%. We will continue to support the effectiveness of women in management levels in the future.
As a company, we know that you recently held a Leadership Manifesto workshop, could you please tell us what kind of work you have done on this subject?
I believe that our values have a decisive role in the journey of leading the raw material supply chain and innovative products. The core values of our company have been formed with the conscious choices of all management levels and special studies and have been implemented together with behavioral indicators.
In addition, our Ethical Codes were meticulously written and then we started working on the adoption and internalization of employees. We implemented our Leadership Manifests with workshops held in 2021. This work enabled us to lay the foundations of a company constitution and çato align the entire management team with certain values.
We have adopted a profile that believes in teamwork and cooperation, is determined to manage proactive processes, is agile, and leads change., Preparing the Leadership Manifesto caused all management levels to align on certain principles and develop a common understanding.
A transparent and simple management approach was adopted and the value indicators of the leaders, as well as the employees, became clear. Reaksiyon Kimya supports the development of its employees both in terms of technical and ethical stance and to train them as leaders of the future.
How will global warming and climate change affect your company’s activities in the future, do you have any work in this area?
We are also aware of our responsibility in the climate crisis that the whole world is facing. We also demonstrated our determination by signing the Responsible Care commitment in 2021 and started to improve our performance in this field.
We carried out a Kaizen study in order to reduce the use of water in our production stages, and we designed a recycling mechanism where we can use the waste water as washing water, passing through the pre-treatment system.
The hyper-plasticizing powder polycarboxylate ether, which we produce as a concrete additive, is our sustainability product. Polycarboxylate ether was developed to provide fluidity in concrete, reduce the need for water, as well as increase the mechanical
resistance of the structures and contribute to the earthquake resistance of the structures.
We also work in the field of renewable energy. In our new production facility, which will be commissioned in May 2023, there we will obtain all our electricity needs through solar panels integrated into the building. I would like to express that we are determined to continue and develop works that add value to environmental awareness.
You are celebrating the 20th anniversary of your establishment this year, can you share your thoughts on this? What are your goals and expectations for the future as Reaksiyon Kimya?
We are celebrating our 20th year of anniversary in 2023. We are pretty excited. Since our establishment, we have progressed in continuous growth and development. At the point we have reached, our employees, customers and all our stakeholders, who follow the same path as us, also have a share of this success.
Thank you very much to everyone for being a part of it. I hope we will achieve precious success together in many 20 years. I would like to mention our goals and expectations;
The entire industry has been tested by the difficulties of the pandemic processes during the last 3 years.
The importance of digitalization and being able to make dynamic and agile decisions was clearly understood in this period. We evaluated these hard times as an opportunity and on the one hand, we accelerated our investments and production by taking all necessary precautions, on the other hand, we expanded our area of activity in foreign markets by
developing new products.
Reaksiyon Kimya’s most important goal is to become an important player in the global market as well as in Turkey. We are determined to increase the share of exports in our turnover to 30% in 3 years.
We will make breakthroughs that will further strengthen our position in the sector and carry our country to the future in this field by developing sustainable and innovative products with our R&D studies and projects. We will continue to produce for a better tomorrow and to develop together with all our customers and stakeholders.
