Interview with Ayça Korkmaz, General Manager of Coim Turkey

We conducted an enjoyable interview with Ayça Korkmaz, General Manager of Coim Turkey. Ayça Korkmaz shared valuable information with our readers about Coim's activities and 2022 targets. Could you tell our readers about yourself, your educational background and professional experience? After graduating from Yıldız Teknik University Faculty of Architecture in 1999, I completed an MBA at Yeditepe University. Following graduation, I started working as a project sales manager at Soyak A.Ş. Subsequently, I served as logistics manager and later sales manager at Enser Endüstriyel Servisler A.Ş. Following Enser A.Ş.'s acquisition by Coim S.p.A in 2014, I continued in my sales manager position until 2019. In 2019, I was appointed General Manager of Coim Turkey based on an offer I received, and I continue in this role today. Could you describe the establishment and development process of Coim Turkey? Coim Turkey was established in 2014 when Enser Endüstriyel Servisler A.Ş., a representative company, was acquired by Italian-based Coim SpA, a leading global supplier of polyester and polyurethane systems and chemicals. Beginning in the 1980s, Coim became known in our country and continues its market development, today serving as an important and leading polyurethane supplier to numerous industrial sectors (footwear, automotive, textiles, building insulation, machinery parts, flexible packaging film lamination, synthetic leather, ceramics, etc.). Could you tell us about Coim's product groups and the sectors it serves? Coim's main product groups are: Diexter (saturated polyester polyols), Laripur and Laricol (TPU thermoplastic polyurethanes), Imuthane (hot-cast polyurethane prepolymers), Larithane (PU solutions for synthetic leather), Urexter (footwear PU systems), Isoexter (rigid foam systems), Novacote (flexible packaging film lamination adhesives), Filco (fiberglass binder resins), Plaxter (monomeric and polymeric plasticizers), Ketanox (organic peroxides), and CoimInks (printing inks). Among these product groups, we primarily supply Urexter (footwear PU systems), Laripur and Laricol (TPU thermoplastic polyurethanes) and Imuthane (hot-cast polyurethane prepolymers) to the Turkish market. Sales of Novacote (flexible packaging film lamination adhesives) continue through Matiş A.Ş., our long-standing distributor in this area. In addition to the product groups mentioned above, as of April 2021, we also serve the Turkish market through warehouse sales of products from Neoflex SL, a Spanish manufacturer of reactive hot melt polyurethane adhesives that joined the Coim Group. Could you describe your export activities? What types of products do you primarily sell to which countries? Coim, with its main headquarters in Italy (Offanengo), manufactures products in its facilities located in Singapore, the United States, Brazil and India, and distributes its products to all world markets through local companies and distributors. In each region, it works with product development, production, sales, technical support and other operations to meet different market needs. As Coim Turkey, our sales area is the domestic market. What is the importance of the Turkish market for Coim? How do you assess the development of the sector in Turkey? Turkey is viewed as a market with continuous growth potential. We know that due to increasing demand, polyurethane applications are growing and diversifying. We know that the polyurethane market's growth performance in our country is above the global average. For this reason, compared to saturated European markets, Turkey still appears as a rising star. In this market where we have been present for years, we want to further increase our market share with our position as an important supplier to many sectors, particularly footwear, automotive and machinery parts, thermal insulation panels, flexible packaging film, and cast elastomers. I must also emphasize that alongside our efforts to increase market share, with our experience of over 40 years in the Turkish market and our technological and innovative vision in production, we always feel the responsibility to help improve the environmental and economic standards of society. What are your company's views and activities regarding environmental protection and sustainability? One of the issues that Coim has been giving serious attention to for some time is environmental sustainability. This matter, which requires full commitment from all our employees, affects many diverse areas of our work. Our research and development laboratories continue to research new generation materials that meet our customers' needs while responding to the need to protect the environment. We want our suppliers to share their improvement visions on this subject, the use of safe and innovative materials, and the procedures established for the protection of our planet, and we make our choices accordingly. During our production, we work to reduce energy and raw material waste through proper planning. The ultimate goal of this policy is to focus on reducing direct water consumption and CO2 emissions. Another important issue in the field of sustainability is Quality Management System. To track the targets we have set in this area, Coim has established an organization that works on processes and procedures to guarantee continuous quality improvement. What are your projections and targets for 2022? Could you share them with our readers? There is no doubt that another difficult year awaits us. We foresee that the ongoing pandemic process, the current raw material supply crisis, logistics problems occurring worldwide, and the difficulties faced in our economy will continue to put pressure on us as a supplier and our customers. Nevertheless, as Coim Turkey, our goal is to continue the growth trend we have experienced in recent years in 2022 and to respond to our customers' needs as effectively as possible. In addition to increasing our market share in our existing product groups, the Coim Inks (printing inks) project is a priority target for us this year. We want to establish Coim's presence in the Turkish printing inks market, and we are taking steps toward this goal.