Interview with Tolga Celayer, Marketing and Business Development Manager at Austrotherm

We conducted an interview with Tolga Celayer, Marketing and Business Development Manager at Austrotherm. Celayer provided detailed information about EPS block technology and its advantages.

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

I am a graduate of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Yıldız Technical University and completed an MBA at Istanbul University. I was born in 1976 and have been engaged in sales and marketing for over 20 years, with the last 10 years in professional management. Previously, I worked in the plastics, food packaging and adhesive sectors. I am pleased to be part of the Austrotherm family, an Austria-based company, and our aim is to maintain the market leadership that the company has acquired through its EPS experience spanning over 60 years, and to establish a pioneering position in the sector by undertaking new projects and pioneering solutions. Through our serious work in this area, we aim to bring the entire sector together under one roof and direct it towards the production of high value-added products.

Could you provide information about Austrotherm? What is Austrotherm's current structure in terms of production facilities, number of employees and other data?

Austrotherm is a subsidiary of Schmid Holding Industrie, a well-established Austrian industrial company with 75 years of history, and is a reputable and long-established firm operating in Europe's construction and building materials sector. Under the holding umbrella, 15 companies operate producing cement, concrete, plastics, building chemicals, and EPS-XPS insulation materials. The holding has a total of 74 factories and over 5,000 employees. As a leading EPS producer, Austrotherm operates 17 EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) production facilities in 11 different countries in Central and Eastern Europe. In Europe, it operates production in Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Turkey. Austrotherm began EPS production in Turkey in 2008 with its Dilovası–Kocaeli factory. With its rapid success in the insulation market, Austrotherm has grown quickly in Turkey and opened new factories and production facilities. Austrotherm Turkey provides products and services to the thermal insulation sector through two EPS factories and 3 production facilities: the Kocaeli-Dilovası and Manisa-Turgutlu EPS factories, and EPS production facilities in Kayseri-İncesu, Ankara-Polatlı and Diyarbakır-Yenişehir.

What are the main sectors Austrotherm supplies to, and what types of products does it provide? Could you provide information about Austrotherm's products, brands and services?

EPS products for all thermal insulation needs of buildings from foundation to roof are manufactured by Austrotherm in accordance with TS EN 13163 standard. As Austrotherm, we offer innovative thermal insulation solutions to all our customers, from end users through applicators and distributors. With our extensive product range consisting of Austrothem EPS®F (white) and Austrothem EPS®F-Plus (carbon-grey) boards, we minimize heat losses and high fuel costs. EPS thermal insulation boards have the advantage of easy application in roof-facade, floor-ceiling areas. These products are economical and, with their superior thermal insulation performance, provide the energy savings sought in buildings. By offering our 60 years of knowledge and experience in thermal insulation to Turkey's thermal insulation market, we play an active role in ensuring that our people live in more comfortable buildings.

Could you provide detailed information about EPS block technology and your product in this category, geoBLOCK®?

Expanded Polystyrene Block (EPS Block) used in geotechnical engineering applications is a lightweight and closed-cell material with a high strength-to-density ratio. With a history of over 40 years, the reliability of EPS Block applications has been proven, and when compared with traditional civil engineering applications, they are seen to offer time-saving and cost-reducing alternative solutions. Today, Geofoam technology is frequently used in civil engineering applications and is preferred over traditional solutions in many different areas. A good example is the prevention of total and differential settlements encountered in highway, railway and bridge approach embankments. Geofoam technology is also used in reducing lateral and seismic loads on retaining walls and basement sheeting. In addition, it is used in the construction of fills to be built on infrastructure facilities subject to high vertical stresses. Geofoam application is effective in increasing slope stability by reducing forces attempting to overturn the slope. With its dimensional stability, compressive strength, high strength, low water absorption and adequate flexibility, Austrotherm geoBLOCK® is reliably used in civil engineering applications such as ground filling and ground elevation in highways, bridges–structures, infrastructure applications and buildings.

What are the differences between EPS block and traditional methods?

With EPS block, it is possible to achieve savings in the project's initial investment cost without the need for soil improvement. As is known, considering criteria such as settlement, bearing capacity and overall durability, engineering fills to be constructed on soft clay soils require special geotechnical solutions. For example, for highway fills to be constructed on soft clay soils, geotechnical engineers carry out a series of work. Traditionally, in the world and in our country, to prevent total settlements and increase stability, the soil at the base of the fill is first improved. In this context, sand columns, stone columns, prefabricated vertical band drains (PVD), surcharge, vacuum consolidation, pre-piling, geopier columns, jet grout piles and impact stone columns are frequently used. Traditional soil improvement methods require the use of heavy construction equipment and result in high fill/compaction costs. As can be seen, these methods have disadvantages due to the length of construction periods and both initial investment and maintenance costs. Considering these factors, an alternative method can be preferred instead of improving the soil. In this context, EPS blocks provide a much faster solution from a soil improvement process perspective. Since 1972, EPS blocks have been successfully used in many projects on the principle of lightening the fill load in such applications.

What advantages does geoBLOCK® provide? Could you explain in detail?

We view geoBLOCK® not as a product, but as a complete engineering solution, and we present it to our customers in this way. Austrotherm geoBLOCK® eliminates the need for heavy construction equipment use thanks to its lightweight and easy application. It also brings a significant reduction in labor costs. Furthermore, as you know, mobilizing earth fill is a serious and costly undertaking, but because EPS blocks are extremely lightweight, they are transported at much lower costs. While the weight of 1 m³ of earth fill is approximately 2 tonnes, the weight of 1 m³ of geoBLOCK® is only 20 kg, illustrating the difference. Therefore, a material 100 times lighter brings many advantages. In addition to its advantage in initial investment cost, geoBLOCK® has the characteristic of being more economical in terms of total project cost. In all our projects and calculations, it has been proven that geoBLOCK® applications bring very significant cost advantages compared to traditional methods. In the geoBLOCK® method, which reduces road maintenance costs to nearly zero, construction time is extremely short and the construction process is quite easy. Moreover, as the lightweight fill material with the highest "strength-to-density" ratio, geoBLOCK® can easily withstand heavy traffic and pedestrian loads. It is a biologically non-degradable, permanent and recyclable material. Manufacturing according to standards means that the mechanical properties and material behavior of the material are fully known. This allows for easy performance measurements in projects. Due to its closed and cellular structure, geoBLOCK® has high resistance to environmental factors. It is resistant to freeze-thaw cycles and is not affected by weather conditions during construction. Records kept on 40-year-old projects prove the long-term performance of geoBLOCK® material. These records also confirm that its water absorption capacity is low and that it is resistant to pests and mold.