Interview with Aslı Alyanak, Industrial Sales Manager at Başak Filtre

We conducted a pleasant interview with Aslı Alyanak, Industrial Sales Manager at Başak Filtre. Alyanak provided detailed information on filters that are critical to the industrial paints and coatings sector.

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

I was born in Istanbul in 1969. I am married and have a 23-year-old daughter who successfully represents our country abroad. Although my entire education took place in Istanbul, my sporting activities meant I traveled extensively during my youth. In 1986, I was one of the players on the volleyball team that brought a world championship medal to our country. I still play sports four days a week. My greatest passion is skiing. Besides that, my family and I read and watch films regularly. The time I spend with my friends and family is invaluable to me. As for my professional life, I began my career in 1990 at Union Carbide Turkey. After working at this company for about 2 years, following marriage and starting a family, I continued my career at Dermak Mühendislik San. Tic. Ltd. Şti. I worked at this company, which particularly serves the automotive sector and established a paint shop with Haden Drysys, for approximately 17 years. During this period, while holding various positions, in the last 7-8 years I have specialized in filtration systems and filters. I attended various training courses in this field both domestically and internationally, and worked extensively in the field to learn the practical aspects of the work. Over time, both ventilation and paint shop filters and liquid filtration filters became my main and sole responsibility. Since transferring to Başak Filtre five years ago, I have served as Industrial Sales Manager. Our company has a very broad range of products in the filter sector. The area that I and my team follow is industrial. In this field, we serve as representatives for both Volz Luftfilter and Eaton. We also have custom manufacturing. We view our customers as fellow travelers whom we try to support in meeting their needs or solving problems they encounter. Despite the stressful environment of business life, I continue to work with pleasure.

Could you provide information about Başak Filtre's founding and the stages it has gone through to reach today?

Başak Filtre San. Tic. Ltd. Şti. is a family company founded in 1995 by Yusuf Işıkcevahir. He and our other company partners Gani Işıkcevahir and Halim Işıkcevahir are actively involved in company management. In our company's first year, the office and storage area totaled 100 m², but today we operate from our current 3,200 m² headquarters building, which we constructed with our own capital. Of course, reaching this size was not by chance. Başak Filtre has never compromised on its commercial perspective centered on customer satisfaction and has continued its path with quality products that have brand value. Despite their high commercial returns, we have always stayed away from products that could harm consumers or the environment. Looking at where we have reached, we can see that the policies pursued were correct. In our view, the most important thing in business is reliability. We do not believe that any institution that cannot provide this will be sustainable.

Which sectors does Başak Filtre primarily supply and what types of products? Could you provide information about Başak Filtre's products, brands and services?

As Başak Filtre, we are the main distributors of globally recognized brands with proven quality in the automotive and industrial sectors. In the automotive field, we are the main dealers for Mann Filtre, Fil Filtre, Fleetguard and Donaldson brands. In the industrial sector, we represent Eaton and Volz brands. We provide services with a total of 45 employees at our Istanbul head office and Bursa branch. 40% of Başak Filtre's automotive group customers are wholesalers, 40% are retailers and 20% are end users. The vast majority of products we sell in the industrial sector are sourced by end users. Regarding our automotive group, I would like to note that we meet the demand of 15% of more than 21 million vehicles in Turkey. Our focus is heavy vehicles and machinery. Abroad, we export to European and Balkan countries. The primary sector we serve for industrial filters is automotive. We take special pride in being able to serve this sector, which has the highest level of sensitivity to filtration. Since filters are products with a very wide range of applications, hospitals, chemical production facilities, facilities with all types of painting processes and institutions using general building ventilation are also among our customers. In general, I would like to state that Başak Filtre is an institution that has specialized in its field and has high brand value.

Could you provide detailed information about the products and services Başak Filtre offers particularly for paints and coatings and surface treatment sectors?

As Başak Filtre, we have intensive work in the industrial sector. Approximately 80% of our industrial group sales are directed to manufacturers in the automotive group. Half of our sales consist of liquid filtration filters used in surface treatment facilities, and the other half consists of ventilation filters used in painting facilities and ventilation. One of the most important factors in eliminating unwanted particles in paints and coatings and surface treatment processes is the use of quality filters. If the correct products are not selected at the various stages of the process to meet requirements, this situation can result in unacceptable costs for institutions. Since I have worked with paint shops for most of my professional life, I would like to mention a few striking facts. Many people do not know that in a new automobile factory investment, the paint shop cost accounts for approximately 60% of the total factory cost. A paint shop is truly the most important area, perhaps what we could call the heart of an automobile factory, and this critical point operates on an extremely delicate balance with the seamless functioning of many components. One of the important elements of this balance is of course filters. Our products, with the Volz brand we represent, are used both in the ventilation process and with our Eaton representation in the liquid area on surface treatment and cataphoresis lines. The importance of filters in this sector is truly very great; in the paints sector, you can see the results very clearly. No one wants to see their vehicle surface with craters or pits. When you buy a vehicle, the first thing you look at is the vehicle's exterior surface. At this point, filters play an active role in achieving the desired quality. Being both critically important and having a multi-layered composition, the paint shop is an area where problems can easily arise. No institution would ever consider or approve using incorrect or low-quality filters in such an area, because the cost of this is unacceptable.

To give an example, one of the major manufacturers in Turkey currently produces 63 vehicles per hour.

In other words, we are talking about more than one vehicle per minute. You can imagine what consequences would result if such a flow were to stop due to a filter and the vehicle coming off the line were to be rejected in terms of quality and sent back. For this reason, the importance of filters is great, especially in automotive and in general in the painting sector. We also provide consulting of sorts to companies establishing facilities. We provide both technical support and product support in their selection of the correct products. This is because filter selection is critical during project design. There are different types of filters with very different technical performance characteristics. Product selection must be made according to these. Otherwise, the system will not function correctly. The industrial sector is a living field, constantly changing and evolving. The companies we work with have requests, questions and training demands. As Başak Filtre, we try to respond to these demands in a timely manner. The sector never stops; it flows very rapidly. We also support our customers in making necessary changes in a timely and correct manner in line with this flow. If you lack this capability, it is simply not possible to exist in the market. From time to time, with support from Volz, we conduct dust measurements and reporting. At this point, inspections conducted from an objective perspective in the paint shop process mean that companies get to review their situation again, and they are very satisfied with this. To speak briefly about the application: our technical personnel who will conduct the evaluation attach the most advanced equipment to the vehicle. This equipment circulates with the vehicle throughout the entire process and takes particle measurements. We evaluate what amount of dust is at which point, from both the company's perspective and ours, how much is acceptable and how much is not. We prepare a report in this scope, noting that there are particles of this size at this point, this is the density, and so on. Companies themselves do this continuously anyway. However, the evaluation by an independent external eye is certainly beneficial. Within this scope, work is carried out on which areas improvements are needed.  

Could you provide information about Başak Filtre's approach to customer service?

As Başak Filtre, in order for us to help our customers, we must be knowledgeable about the products we sell and their areas of use. In this regard, we receive training support both from experts of the brands we work with and we sometimes organize in-house training sessions. The seminars and workshops we attend also contribute to keeping our knowledge on filters current. Additionally, through our participation as both visitors and participants in domestic and international trade fairs, we closely monitor developments in the sector. In addition, by making factory visits to production facilities, we enable our employees to see the production stages of products, and in doing so, we aim for our employees to gain a more professional perspective on the products. The largest work we have done in the technology field is our B2B working system. Our customers can easily learn about products in our inventory and prepare their orders themselves. Additionally, through the information repository in our cross-reference lists, they can reach the products and information they are looking for in the fastest possible way. As a company, our goal is always to provide the best, fastest and most correct service. For this reason, we follow technological developments and offer every innovation we believe will contribute to us to the service of both our employees and our customers.

Could we learn about Başak Filtre's environmental policy and sustainability approach?

As Başak Filtre, we believe that improvements on environmental issues can be solved through the joint integration of political, economic, social and environmental policies. The use of our products ultimately aims to protect the environment. We are pleased to see that more serious steps have been taken regarding environmental matters in recent years. We make every effort to respond as quickly as possible to support requests on this issue and to do our part in keeping our environment cleaner. I can say that we receive a lot of requests from various sectors, particularly the chemicals sector. We conduct on-site inspections on improving stacks, how chemicals and odors released to the outside can be contained, provide information on the filters and systems that should be used, and follow up so that institutions can implement the necessary changes. The companies we distribute for meet all criteria required by regulations in their products. Standards are fully complied with in products; all that is needed is for institutions to believe in the importance of the environment and want to do what is necessary. The more effective inspections are, the more determined companies become in implementing the necessary adjustments. However, what should be done should not remain on paper. We all must do our part in putting it into practice.

What types of activities do you conduct regarding worker health and safety?

The health of our employees is important to us. Regular health screenings are conducted at our company. We also provide additional support to our employees in addressing any health problems identified in these screenings. Additionally, we have our colleagues receive first aid training for emergency situations.

Could we learn your thoughts on Turkey's industrial paints, coatings and surface treatment sectors? What do you think are Turkey's advantages and disadvantages for these sectors?

About 25 years ago, surface treatment applications in Turkey were not widely known or practiced. One of the reasons for this was undoubtedly our low level of exports. Today, in the modern world, it is not possible to survive with just your domestic market. For this reason, many products in Turkey are manufactured for export. Due to continuously rising expectations regarding quality in the global world, our manufacturers face constant pressure from abroad to improve, and companies are frequently inspected regarding the implementation of necessary adjustments. I believe that this factor is the most important trigger driving development in Turkey's industrial paints, coatings and surface treatment sector. Particularly in the automotive sector, the improvement demands that arise push the sector toward development and change. The presence of truly experienced managers and experts in this field is an advantage to the sector. The continuation of R&D work without slowing down and the transfer of knowledge accumulated by professionals expert in this field to younger generations will help overcome the difficulties currently being experienced. My observation is that we are experiencing difficulties in this regard. The business fields we are discussing are demanding, difficult, patience-requiring areas. The new generation, unlike us, gains access to everything very quickly and consumes very quickly. We will leave to experts in that field the question of whether this situation can be balanced with changes to be made in education policies.

What criteria does Başak Filtre prioritize when formulating investment plans? Does Başak Filtre have investment plans for the coming periods, and if so, what are they?

We are continuing feasibility studies on manufacturing. We must always do the best of what we do and keep it continuous. When we reach a point where we can ensure this, we will press the button. We evaluate the issue from many angles.