Mr. Andre Yanco, Managing Director of Metrohm Turkey

We had a pleasant interview with Mr. Andre Yanco, who is the Managing Director of Metrohm Turkey. In this interview you can find 5 basic principles (Independence, Prudence, Generosity, Solidarity and Reliability) of Metrohm's success story, high technologies and future goals of Metrohm Turkey.

 

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your professional career?I have graduated from Bosphorus University Faculty of Education, Department of Teaching Chemistry with a B.S. honors degree in 2000. However, in line with Metrohm traditions as well as having been raised in a family whose members all have an analytical chemistry background, I had the privilege of receiving extensive training within the Metrohm Group on analytical laboratory and process chemistry methodologies as well as analysis instruments starting with my high school years, through my university studies, and during my professional career. During this time, I was able to develop a broad range of skills extending from that of an application chemist all the way through to management. Between 1996-2008, I filled the positions of senior application chemist and general sales manager in our family-owned company, Dr. Kimyager İ. Yanço (which had a long history with Metrohm in Turkey for more than 25 years), and later moved into management at the position of managing director between 2008-2014, also becoming the owner. Following the establishment of our new Metrohm subsidiary, Metrohm Turkey Ölçü Aletleri Ticaret ve Servis Hizmetleri A.Ş. (Metrohm Turkey for short) at the beginning of 2014, I also took the responsibility of working as the CEO/Managing Director of this new organization.

How would you define Metrohm's 75-year history in the market? Can you reflect on the brand's success in this process and its adopted underlying principles?

This year we are globally celebrating the 75th anniversary of our brand. Established by a young Swiss engineer named Berthold Suhner in Herisau, Switzerland on 1 April 1943, Metrohm has grown to become a leading global brand that is present in more than 120 countries with its own subsidiaries and exclusive distributors. In today's fast-changing global economies, companies and brands can change hands quickly—unfortunately with ever-unpredictable consequences both for customers and employees alike. Thankfully, this is not the case for Metrohm. Since 1982, Metrohm belongs to the "Metrohm Foundation". Having no direct involvement in the commercial activities of the company, the foundation supports scientific education in the natural sciences, gets involved in cultural and charitable projects, and above all secures the heritage, independence and future of Metrohm AG. Behind Metrohm's success story lie five founding principles that have remained unchanged for the last 75 years: Independence, Prudence, Generosity, Solidarity and Reliability.

Independence

Independence stands out both as a core value as well as a business principle for Metrohm since the day it was founded. This is visible throughout the entire value chain of the company, from technological innovation to product development, and from production to sales and distribution. Our founder expressed this with the following words: "A company must evolve from the inside out, i.e., with self-acquired assets, even if that means that it will grow slower. It's like a plant whose growth is being forced by artificial fertilizer. This plant will be less resilient than one that grows by its natural strength in its natural soil."

Prudence

Sustainable growth has always been, is still and will continue to be the main goal for Metrohm in the future. Large financial investments are always weighed carefully and carried out with the company's strategic targets kept in mind. All activities, including acquisitions, are always planned so that they will under no circumstances place the company's existence at risk.

Generosity

The non-profit Metrohm Foundation safeguards the independence and future of Metrohm AG, while continuing to provide funding for cultural and charitable projects as well as support activities fostering scientific education, predominantly in Eastern Switzerland, where Metrohm is based. Solidarity In Metrohm culture, valuing the entire group and its individuals as inseparable parts of a whole under team spirit and the pursuit of inherent belonging is a founding principle. What can be summarized as "We stick together - in good times as in bad" has helped Metrohm weather all of the major storms the market has faced in the past decades and ensured that it came out even stronger. Metrohm is also one of those rare companies able to stand in solidarity with society: In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami disaster in Asia, Metrohm supported those affected with very generous donations. With Metrohm's help, 146 solid concrete cabins with electricity and plumbing, as well as a community center, could be built in a fishing village on the east coast of India. In addition, the fishermen received new, motorized fiberglass boats fully equipped with nets, fishing rods and lifejackets.

Reliability

Metrohm's success is based on the relentless trust of its customers. Be it sales and marketing or support and service, our customer-focused philosophy of combining professional service, superior quality and technological innovation under our corporate vision, "People you can trust", has recently been awarded the "Silver Recognition Level" award by the Ecovadis Group, an organization that assesses the quality of companies as suppliers.

What kind of product portfolio do you have? Which sectors do you provide services to?

Our organization's primary field of activity is the provision of marketing, sales, installation, qualification, training, technical support, spare parts procurement, calibration, maintenance and repair services for high-performance analytical chemistry laboratory and process analysis systems under the Metrohm Group brands. Our main product groups can be summarized as titration, ion chromatography, direct measurements (pH, ISE, conductivity), electrochemistry (voltammetry, CVS, potentiostats/galvanostats), spectroscopy (near-infrared and Raman), oxidation stability measurements, liquid handling, and the application of these technologies in production environments through atline/online/inline process analyzers. As the specific properties of virtually all substances and materials are ultimately determined by their chemical composition, our instruments and know-how can be found in the laboratories of almost all industries, research institutes and official bodies. Our customers primarily come from pharmaceutical, food, petrochemical and water industries as well as the general chemistry, detergent/cosmetics, textile and automotive sectors. Our products are also preferred for use in the public sector for environmental control and academic training and research.

Can you tell us about your domestic and foreign sales activities?

In line with the global quality principles of our brand for the past 75 years, our priority is to supply our products and services to our customers directly in their home country of operation, without any intermediary. Consequently, as the Metrohm subsidiary charged with the task of looking after the Turkish market, Metrohm Turkey operates only within Turkey and caters to its customers with its own local sales representatives, application and support chemists and service engineers. Our instruments and services are not available from any dealers.

How would you describe the connection between technology and laboratory instrumentation?

In today's industries, the utilization of state-of-the-art technological system solutions in laboratory analytical chemistry methodologies is quite widespread in the market. Carrying out fast, precise and accurate measurements under ever-increasing time pressure within the multi-layered quality chain ranging from R&D all the way to production and quality control is crucial for success. This results in the fast accumulation of both the number and frequency of required analytical parameters to be measured in the laboratory. Nowadays, manufacturers invest in new and faster laboratory technologies, while also trying to step out of the laboratory and bring such technologies directly into the production process. The inevitable outcome of this is the emergence and prevalence of atline, online and/or inline analytical platforms that run directly on the production floor and enable real-time, uninterrupted and autonomous monitoring of required parameters at various points of the process cycle. In this context, as a leading manufacturer that is able to develop its laboratory analytical techniques and methods for use in process applications with the same speed, precision and accuracy, we—under the Metrohm Process Analytics brand name—have been offering a wide range of solutions that can cater to many process monitoring requirements for decades. Given the recent advancements in production technologies, I personally believe that monitoring techniques that can enable non-interfering, high-speed and high-frequency measurements (e.g. online/inline near-infrared and Raman) throughout the process cycle ranging from raw materials to intermediate and final products will define the market within the next 10 years. This will be the leading factor driving the trend in moving quality assurance and control from laboratory to in-process analytics.

Can you tell us about the type of after-sales services you provide? How would you describe the role of sales representatives within the scope of such services?

As a member of the Metrohm Group, we offer our customers a comprehensive range of services which have been globally defined and standardized according to our headquarters' content and quality principles. This cycle, known as "Metrohm Quality Service", begins with consulting, support and developing application-specific solutions to assist our customers in making the most appropriate and accurate investment to meet their requirements. It continues with the provision of comprehensive installation, analytical instrument qualification, application support and expert-level training services for the purchased system(s), and concludes with customized preventive maintenance, calibration and repair services to ensure uninterrupted operation, accurate and reliable results for the entire lifetime of their instrument(s). All services offered throughout the Metrohm Quality Service cycle are provided by expert and certified specialists. In other words, we do not view Metrohm Quality Service as limited to after-sales services only. Consequently, all Metrohm employees (including those in sales) are viewed as inseparable parts of a whole that provides comprehensive services to the customer. Starting with our product managers and specialists, all of our marketing, sales, support and service experts each have independent targets that they pursue within this framework, with specific focus on providing Metrohm Quality Service to the customer so that it will enable him or her to acquire maximum value, efficiency and benefit.

Can you provide our readers some information about the most recent product you launched into the market? What technology and features is this product equipped with?

Metrohm is the global leader in analytical instruments for titration and defines the market's standards when it comes to technological innovation as well as product quality. Launched in 2016, the OMNIS Platform is nowadays pioneering a new technological change in the industry, as it sets new standards for the next generation of titrimetric technologies, which had already been defined by Metrohm in the past. OMNIS offers a modular platform that puts the user first—always and at all levels. For a start, OMNIS is the OMNIS Titrator. This basic module offers a platform around which you can gradually build up your analysis system—anytime you want, and according to the requirements of your analytics. Hence, you need not worry about whether your system will meet your requirements in the future: With OMNIS you are always prepared.

There is no specific device model within the OMNIS platform. The basic titrator employs a modular design which is always capable of being configured to accommodate any titration methodology, measurement technique and capacity increase requirements.

Any feature demanded by the user can be integrated into the system via functional licenses and/or add-on components (e.g. measuring inputs, burets, modules, accessories, etc.) either at purchase or later in the future. The OMNIS platform also sets new standards in the market with respect to reagent safety and traceability. Thanks to the patented new OMNIS Liquid Adapter Technology, any risk associated with accidental contact with the reagent during exchange procedures is greatly minimized. The OMNIS Liquid Adapter also offers 100% guaranteed traceability with an industry first: OMNIS Liquid Adapter compatible reagent options with integrated RFID technology directly from the supplier. Contrary to conventional analysis platforms, OMNIS puts the focus directly on the sample. All independently measured parameters associated with a given sample (e.g. acidity, chloride, vitamin C, etc.) are directly linked to the main sample as sub-samples and displayed in a single database.

OMNIS truly places the sample at the heart of your laboratory applications.

The OMNIS platform is also designed to significantly increase sample throughput at a moment's notice, should you need to cope with an ever-growing number of analyses in your laboratory.By integrating the OMNIS Sample Robot to an existing system, all analyses can be fully automated, while using the laboratory bench space much more efficiently compared to any ordinary disc sample changer. You can start small with the OMNIS Sample Robot S, and then gradually increase the capacity of your system as you deem necessary. When you require maximum automation, you can upgrade your OMNIS Sample Robot to the L version and build a system that can handle 4 simultaneous and independent measurements up to 175 samples. Now, that's what we call true flexibility and time savings! OMNIS is also not just limited to titrimetric technologies. It is also the building block of the complete analytical platform on which all existing Metrohm measurement technologies will be harmonized in the very near future.

Can you talk about the corporate sustainability and social responsibility activities of Metrohm?

Within the scope of our 75 Years Metrohm activities in 2018, we recently had a very colorful anniversary celebration together with our customers. More than 150 customers from all over the country joined the Metrohm Turkey Team at Feriye Palace, Ortaköy for an enchanted Gala Night filled with entertainment and surprises. Once again, we would like to thank all our clients who honored us with their presence, making this a truly unique and memorable event. In addition to the festivities ongoing throughout the year, we also organized a special competition named Metrohm Young Chemist Award 2018 to honor Berthold Suhner, the bright young engineer who founded Metrohm, and his innovative spirit with the potential to reshape the world. The Metrohm Young Chemist Award 2018 takes place globally in all countries where there is a Metrohm subsidiary present, and aims to award young scientists around the world and their work for the betterment of humanity.

In this context, the Turkish leg of the competition had been ongoing since the beginning of 2018, and we have recently crowned its winner. Miss Gözde Kabay from TOBB Economy and Technology University, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, with her research on "Production of Amyloid-like Biocatalytic Membrane by Electrospinning and Electrochemical Analysis of Enzymatic Activity", has been awarded the title of "2018 Metrohm Young Chemist Turkey" as well as the competition's USD 4,000 grand prize

Miss Kabay received her title in an award ceremony held at the general headquarters of Metrohm Turkey in Istanbul. Furthermore, Miss Kabay is also entitled to enter the Global Final of the Metrohm Young Chemist Award, which is being organized by Metrohm International Headquarters among the winners of all national contests around the world, and will be representing Turkey. The results of this grand final will be announced at the end of 2018.

What are the innovations you want to realize in the coming years? What are the advantages of these innovations to Metrohm and its customers?

As I have mentioned above, we at Metrohm think that spectroscopic techniques will have a significant share in laboratory and in-process technologies in the very near future. Consequently, we have made significant investments within the last 5 years in the fields of near-infrared and Raman spectroscopy, including the acquisitions of Innovative Photonic Solutions (IPS), the largest producer of Raman spectroscopy diode-based light components in the world, Diagnostic SERS, an innovative printed SERS substrates manufacturer, and last but not least, B&W Tek, a leading industry provider of Raman, LIBS (laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy), NIR and UV/VIS spectrometer technologies and solutions. With the new innovations we will soon be adding to our spectroscopy portfolio, we are planning to offer more comprehensive and versatile products to our customers in the very near future. Our main goal in this context is to provide our clients with precise, accurate and efficient system options that can respond quickly to the measurement requirements they face.