We Conducted an Interview with Aromsa Founder Mr. Murat Yasa

Turkchem 07 Apr 2016 63 5 dk okuma

TURKCHEM

We had an enjoyable conversation with Aromsa Founder Mr. Murat Yasa. Yasa, one of the industry's most respected figures, talked about the philosophy that has driven Aromsa's success.

We had a pleasant conversation with Aromsa Founder Murat Yasa. Yasa, one of the industry's veteran names, explained the philosophy that led Aromsa to success.

Mr. Murat Yasa, could you briefly tell our readers about yourself?

I was born in Istanbul. I attended high school at Saint Joseph French High School and studied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the Istanbul University Faculty of Chemistry. After university, I worked as a professional manager for 6 years. I founded Aromsa on 2 February 1982. This year we celebrated my 40th year in Chemical Engineering and Aromsa's 35th year. I am married with 2 daughters.

Could you tell us about Aromsa's founding story and the processes it has gone through since 1982 to the present day?

After finishing university, while doing my military service (I believe every Turkish citizen must complete military service) and in my professional management position, I felt that in countries where respect for individuals has not developed, regardless of your position, my freedom was being restricted by the personal whims of my employer or superior. For this reason, I decided to establish a business based on research rather than imitation, one where I could repay the opportunities my country gave me in my development, a high value-added business, and I thought that if I coincidentally started the aroma industry in Turkey for the first time, I could meet these criteria. Here, vision, proper assessment of my capabilities, and doing the right thing at the right time enabled Aromsa, which I now consider as my third daughter, to achieve success. Over the 34 years that have passed to date, we have not focused on anything other than our main field; we have not overlooked that Aromsa employees have been the most important element in success from the very beginning; for all our investments and new projects, we have started with a pilot facility and after the products were established, we have implemented the main investment with our own resources. We have never forgotten that our customers have played a major role in our progress today, that we are business partners with them. We summarized all of this in one sentence and used it as our slogan: "Amateur Spirit with Professional Service."

What can you tell us about the quality standards of your products? Can you provide information about your product variety and application areas?

In Aromsa's early years, when I first went to new countries for export sales, the greatest difficulty I encountered was that all customers did not believe that a company from Turkey would develop a quality product suitable for market conditions. The years that passed helped us overcome this prejudice. It was difficult but it was good. Last month, we went to Egypt, where our business has been at a low level due to political tensions between our countries for a long time. When Egyptian customers saw us, their comment that "There is no aroma on your aromas" made both me and my colleague who traveled with me very pleased. Aromsa holds almost all quality and food safety certificates valid in the food industry at both its Turkish and German facilities. My colleagues pursue these certifications not to hang them on the wall for customers to see, but to contribute to the development of the company and the industry. On the other hand, our EFQM Excellence journey, which we started in the last quarter of 2015 and will continue until 2019, is being conducted with our 50-person team under the name MAP'19 - Excellent Aromsa Project. Another important matter is that the more than 30,000 formulas in our aroma library are compliant with current global food regulations, and by continuously monitoring the studies and regulatory changes related to flavor compounds, we take the necessary action regarding our products and ensure that both the competent ministry and our customers are informed immediately. Four colleagues work in our Legal Affairs department. Two of them are members of the experts committee of EFFA, the association of manufacturers that provides technical assistance to official authorities in the regulation of food aromas in Europe, while I serve on the board of directors. Turkey is a member of EFFA through the Association of Food Flavorings and Essential Oils Manufacturers in Turkey (AREP). Our products are used in all branches of processes in the food, tobacco and pharmaceutical industries. Generally, flavor compounds are used at levels around 0.1% in food manufacturers' formulations. Flavor compounds self-regulate their usage; when you use more than the required dosage, they spoil the product's taste. In addition to flavor compounds, Aromsa produces fruit preparations and sauces for the milk, ice cream, bakery and fast food industries.

What can you tell us about your R&D investments? What are the projects you have recently implemented based on your R&D efforts?

R&D is essential to our business. Our closed area of approximately 50,000 m² in Gebze and Germany, 11% of which consists of R&D and laboratories where our aromas are applied to finished food products before being presented to customers. Our Quality Control laboratories account for 2.5% of the total area. 32% of our personnel work in R&D, Application and Quality Control Laboratories.

Does Aromsa have any work related to sustainability and environmental issues? Could you provide information on this subject?

All our processes have the characteristic of being environmentally friendly. For example, in the organic molecular synthesis unit we use in our production, which we started 15 years ago, we only synthesize molecules that are light in payload, heavy in price, and do not pollute the environment. Vapors leaving the factory are captured in gas scrubbers, and we plan all our activities to produce and recover the least waste possible. We are operating one of our factories experimentally with solar energy. By tracking our carbon footprint, we are improving our carbon emissions to a better value each year.

If you were to make a general assessment of the chemical industry, what do you think Turkey's position is in the global market? How would you evaluate the food industry, both past and present?

The chemical industry in Turkey is the way education is provided. People do not like to produce; buying and selling is easier for them. A colleague of mine from the chemistry faculty has held top-level management positions in Canada, America and the Middle East since the early 1980s and is one of the most knowledgeable Chemical Engineers in the world on the subject and is leading a large investment project in Turkey. Projects are drawn up, machinery arrives, and when the engineers implementing the project are told: "Assembly is starting, accompanying the assembly engineers will greatly contribute to your career," instead of being pleased, all young engineers ask my colleague whether there will be a salary increase. This is how Turkey's chemical industry can progress to a certain level with this understanding. The same applies to the food industry from another perspective. If the industry does not prioritize agriculture, production and R&D, and if it operates only with a limited vision of being a contract manufacturer for global supermarkets, the dark clouds hanging over the textile industry today will cover it as well. Production is the path to long-term success. Buying and selling generates money for people in the short term but is not a useful investment for the country in the long run. In countries where the level of education is high, freedom of thought is free, and the rule of law operates, people trust their country and are more inclined to invest in production.

Could you tell us about Aromsa's targets and projects for 2016?

As Aromsa, we opened our German facility with the aim of getting closer to companies that give more importance to production and innovation. Our activities there were developed to work with the innovative product-producing industry in the European market and to keep ourselves at the same technical advantage as our foreign competitors, and this investment will continue in 2016. Additionally, our 6th factory will also start operations in Gebze towards the end of 2016, and we are also thinking of establishing a small museum there regarding the history of the aroma industry.