Altuğ Kimya A.Ş. General Manager Mr. Altuğ Tuğsuz

We spoke with Altuğ Tuğsuz, General Manager of Altuğ Kimya A.Ş., about the company's development process and the products it has offered to the industry.

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

I was born in 1976. I am married with two sons. After completing university and military service, I began my commercial career at our own company, and since then I have served as General Manager. My first and only professional background is Altuğ Kimya. I am the eldest of three sons of a lawyer father and a homemaker mother. The three of us brothers work together, and we have four nephews. We are a large family and equally close-knit. Our success actually stems from our family unity. However, I should also note that I have experienced the disadvantages of not working professionally at another company. I would not recommend becoming an employer at your own firm without having worked at other companies. Unfortunately, we learned everything through our own efforts, but you can only truly own the things you have paid the price for. As Altuğ Kimya, we have reached where we are today and achieved our success through hard work.

Could you provide brief information about Altuğ Kimya's founding process, facilities, production focus, and market share?

It is a chemical company founded in 2003 to produce and formulate auxiliary (process) chemicals for polyurethane systems. We are three brothers, and we have worked together since the company was founded. We each head a department. We have two separate modern production facilities in Gaziantep and Istanbul. Currently, we have a staff of 65 people, which will increase to 85 by the end of 2019. We have a highly valued, well-equipped and well-trained workforce. Our main production focus is pigments and their dispersions, wax dispersions, emulsions and esterification reactions. If we calculate based on the tonnage of polyurethane system raw materials consumed in Turkey, we appear to have a significant market share large enough to influence and direct the sector in the domestic market.

Could you tell us about your product groups and product properties? Which sectors do you serve?

Our main product groups are polyol color pastes, water and solvent-based mold release agents, solvent-based decorative effect surface paints, and water and solvent-based in-mold coatings. Our mold release agents provide properties such as matte, gloss and semi-matte in the footwear, automotive and furniture sectors, enabling products to be easily removed from the mold without damage. We have paintable mold release agents. Additionally, our water-based mold release agents perform much better with our newly developed formulas. Our sprayable solvent-based surface paints, in particular in polyurethane sole manufacturing, bring the sole to the forefront as a decorative element. Water-based in-mold coatings are a production method applied in slipper manufacturing where spray paint is applied inside the mold without washing or subjecting the slipper sole to special treatment.

Could you tell us about your sales activities? Which regions do you primarily serve?

Altuğ Kimya serves both domestic and foreign customers in a wide variety of industries. Altuğ Kimya, primarily the footwear sector along with the automotive, construction and furniture sectors, manufactures and sells liquid colorants and mold release agents. We have production and storage facilities in both Istanbul and Gaziantep. We also conduct sales activities in Russia, Ukraine, Turkic republics, Iran, Egypt and North African countries including Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. Our experienced and technical sales team continuously supports our customers through routine customer visits. Our production and R&D departments continue to work intensively to serve our customers in the shortest time possible. Our goal is to supply products to our customers as quickly as possible. At the same time, we aim to answer our customers' requests for new products as quickly as possible and increase their competitiveness in their own markets with our customized products. We continuously participate in and visit domestic and international trade fairs to follow innovations. In 2019, a new production facility will become operational in Istanbul. This new facility will feature fully automated production and a comprehensive laboratory. With fully automated production, we aim to achieve high product quality standards in all our products. Our priority goal is to operate our comprehensive laboratory as an R&D Center.

Could you provide information about your laboratory and R&D activities? What can you say about your R&D investments?

Our company established its R&D department in 2017 after completing its managerial organization that year. In 2017, two new laboratories were built for both our Gaziantep and Istanbul plants. Qualified personnel and instrumental analysis equipment were provided for these laboratories. Even before this structuring, since the company's establishment, our laboratories have been conducting all types of sample preparation and development according to customer requirements, creating technological solutions, and testing alternative raw materials. Our company has always operated on the basic principle of providing the best service to the customer in the shortest time within the framework of always being customer-focused and quality objectives. After the R&D department was established, with the newly created personnel and equipment, we began planning and implementing medium and long-term project work that follows technological development and innovations, based on continuous improvement principles, while respecting the environment and people. In the coming period, the implementation of these projects in production will be on our agenda.

What activities do you undertake in terms of environmental protection and occupational safety?

Environmental sensitivity is a very important matter for our company. Our production involves mixtures that do not create reaction products and chemical waste harmful to the environment and human health. We comply with all legal regulations to avoid polluting the environment. In terms of occupational health and safety practices, our company could be cited as an exemplary one. These matters are implemented not only as legal requirements but also sincerely to foster respect for people and a sense of company belonging.

What are your sustainability activities?

Sustainability is very important for our world as well as for our company. Environmental pollution, environmental disasters and global warming are now significantly affecting the future of our world. We are beginning to encounter unexpect temperature variations and atmospheric events more frequently. We are feeling more keenly that our world is very small and that a negative development affects the entire world. All production companies must be sensitive to these matters and fulfill their assigned role. In this context, our company, when selecting new projects, follows technological developments and recommendations in creating low VOC or zero VOC high solid solutions in connection with the world's major raw material companies, and continues its preparations for the production portfolio of the future.

Could you provide information about your objectives and projects?

We are building a new production facility in Arnavutköy, Istanbul and will move there in 2019. We are increasing our production capacity four-fold with that facility. Our biggest goal is to build the workforce to produce and manage this, and to increase our exports. Selling is easy, but sustaining it is very difficult. We want to achieve that continuity in sales. We have two new production projects. These are serious know-how demanding operations. Laboratory trials have been excellent, and now we are beginning serial production trials with customers. With the new facility, we want to enter two new sectors, and we are prepared both economically and in terms of workforce.