Netzsch Turkey General Manager Mr. Hayri Ünal

We conducted an interview with Netzsch Turkey General Manager Hayri Ünal to discuss the technologies employed by the company, its targets for the coming years, and the benefits these will bring to the sector.

 

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

My name is Hayri Ünal. I am General Manager of Netzsch Turkey. I have been working in this sector since 2006. I maintain close contact with numerous chemistry, coating and paint companies and continue to serve them. I graduated from the Mechanical Engineering department of Glamor Technical University. I also completed an MBA in International Trade in Canada.

Can you tell us about your company's success in the sector and your company policy?

Netzsch is one of the world leaders in this sector and has achieved significant success. The main reason for our success is our ability to serve a wide range of industries. In addition to wet and dry milling, we provide services in general chemicals, paints and coatings, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food, confectionery and industrial minerals, and develop appropriate technologies and machinery. This diverse range of capabilities has driven our success. As you would understand, if a company develops its technology to a certain extent and then remains focused on that sector, it cannot remain open to innovation. However, our company operates with broad possibilities. In a sector where you use wet grinding technology, you can also work on dry milling. When you master the technology, your horizons expand, and this allows the company's horizons to expand as well. "Proven Excellence" is our company's new slogan and represents the foundation of Netzsch's success.

Which sectors do you serve?

First, I would like to discuss Netzsch Holding. Netzsch Holding was founded in Selb in 1873 and originated from the ceramics industry. Netzsch Holding has 3 business units: pumps, grinding and dispersing, and thermal analysis. Netzsch Pump is the largest group within our company, and Nemo pumps account for 25% of the world's helical pump market. These mud pumps are used in the food industry, but our largest revenue comes from the petroleum industry. Netzsch thermal analysis equipment is used for materials research and development, quality assurance and process optimization. As Netzsch Turkey, we provide grinding and dispersing technologies across 5 different sectors. Our primary business is chemicals: paints and coatings, inks, resin production, agrochemicals, and so on. We handle dry grinding, wet milling and dispersing as an integrated solution for these sectors. The second field is the food sector, which we divide into two categories: confectionery machinery and technologies, and dry food technologies. The third group is the cosmetics and pharmaceutical sector. Turkey has a significant cosmetics market with approximately 1,200 companies, and our company works with around 20-25 of them in our immediate vicinity. In pharmaceuticals, we work with international players in the field. The fourth is the minerals sector. We focus on large-scale operations such as mills, classifiers, and all types of turnkey projects with industrial machinery. We will launch a "Global Service" division as our fifth sector this year.

What is your product portfolio? What criteria do you consider when determining product diversity?

First, I will explain our product criteria. These are divided into several segments, including factors such as environmental sensitivity and energy consumption. When developing our product technologies, we act completely according to the needs of countries, industries and technology. We always formulate ideas about how to develop the products companies need or conduct R&D studies for new products in collaboration with our related departments or sometimes with the customer. Our product portfolio is quite extensive. It includes dispersing machines operating on different principles, various types of wet milling mills, and dry and wet milling systems for nano-sized milling. In addition, we execute turnkey projects in the minerals sector, cosmetics sector and confectionery industry. Therefore, our portfolio is very broad, and there is no international company with a more comprehensive portfolio than ours.

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

Netzsch Global has developed milling technologies for grinding lithium battery materials. These lithium-ion batteries are long-lasting batteries used by companies producing electric vehicle batteries worldwide. We completed a turnkey project for the company that produces Tesla car batteries. We are the leader in this sector, which is a significant achievement. This clearly demonstrates Netzsch Global's direction. Another recent success has been our turnkey projects with world-renowned agrochemical companies, and our reference list is very extensive in this sector. Our activities in Turkey extend to serving chemistry, minerals, and food companies, supplying mills, machinery and projects. Currently, we have also started a turnkey project for a paint company from abroad. All these experiences result from synergies within the Netzsch family.

What does technology mean for Netzsch? How do you associate production with technology?

Netzsch products are manufactured according to certain technological criteria. Generally, we produce user-friendly machines that are easy to use, comfortable to maintain when breakdowns occur, and deliver high performance. All of this results from extensive technological knowledge. Technology is therefore very important to us.

Could you please tell us about your research activities, product development and process optimization?

In our R&D activities, we aim to ensure that all our machines are manufactured with the most optimal spare parts, at the lowest cost, and with the fastest maintenance possible, all while being useful for the customer. Additionally, we optimize our systems using certain technologies available worldwide. For example, ceramic inner liners accelerate heat transfer. This allows companies to prevent their products from reaching maximum temperature points. We eliminated overheating problems through the use of Silicon Carbide (SiC) inner liners. How did we accomplish this? Because our technological knowledge provided us the opportunity to use Silicon Carbide (SiC), which we immediately applied to our products. As a result, we achieved successful R&D work. The most important innovation in this area began with digital ceramic inkjet technology at our facility in Spain. Today, 70% of machines worldwide that produce digital inks are supplied by Netzsch.

Could you tell us about your activities in personal care and home care?

Netzsch acquired Vakumix, located in Bremen, Germany, four years ago, and we now serve the world as Netzsch Vakumix. We produce homogenizers and mixing machines for pharmaceutical and cosmetics applications. For example, our main products for home care include shampoos, creams, toothpastes, hair products, gels, colored makeup products, and various cleaning products. As another example, one of the world's leading companies produces toothpaste using 6 Netzsch machinery production lines in Germany and sells this product worldwide, including in Turkey. Therefore, we pursue ambitious efforts in the personal care sector. Our references are also strong in the pharmaceutical sector. Apart from documentation, I can say that our cosmetics and pharma machinery are similar.

Can you tell our readers about the product you recently presented to the sector? What technology and features does this product have?

We are continuously releasing new products in line with developments in each sector. For wet milling, the unique Epsilon dispersing machine and the highly efficient, high-performance Neos bead mill are the newest on the market. For dry milling, particularly for the minerals sector, we have a new product called Pamir. The name is derived from the Pamir Mountains. This is dry ball mill technology, but it provides high-throughput micronized minerals with low energy consumption. We will release this new product shortly. We are conducting trials with special production at a customer facility in Kütahya using this machine. For example, we can produce 20 tons of product with a 1,000 liter mineral mill, which is a small size. This pilot plant represents important innovation and technology for both the industry and us.

What innovations do you want to realize in the coming years? What advantages will these innovations bring to Netzsch and your customers?

In line with our country's development in the coming years, we are introducing new technologies, systems and technological products to our customers. Our greatest goal is to help companies achieve a quick return on investment. If we succeed, companies win, the industry wins, and Turkey wins. Innovations create breakthroughs. Like Eti Maden and TUBITAK, there are studies on many minerals that are currently known but not yet viable for processing. These minerals must be mined and presented to industry and then to the world market. As Netzsch, we are working seriously in this direction. We know that our work will bring high-value-added products to our country. If customers invest quickly in various technologies, all of this is reflected in their products, improving product quality. This creates a more competitive environment in the world market. Netzsch's targets are aligned with this direction.