Interview with Sertaç Çoğal, General Manager of Çukurova Mühendislik

We conducted a pleasant interview with Sertaç Çoğal, General Director of Çukurova Mühendislik. Çoğal shared with us the founding story of his company and his new projects.

Can you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your education and your professional background in the industry?

I was born in Istanbul in 1978. After studying in the Electrical Department at Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Anatolian Technical High School in 1997, I graduated from the Electrical Engineering Department at Kocaeli University in 2001. I worked as a project engineer at an industrial automation company serving heavy industry until 2007. From 2007 to the present, I have continued my professional career as a second-generation manager at Çukurova Mühendislik, our family company.

Can you tell us about the development process of Çukurova Mühendislik from its founding to today?

Our founder Ali Can Çoğal graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Istanbul State Architecture Academy Galatasaray Engineering High School in 1978 and subsequently worked in various factories in positions such as production engineer and production manager. By 1984, he established his own company and laid the foundations for Çukurova Mühendislik. Our company operated as a sole proprietorship until 1999, after which it continued its commercial activities as a limited company. Ali Can Çoğal, who managed our company alone until 2007, included myself and my sister Burcu Aybi in the company at that time. We held various positions until our founder Ali Can Çoğal made the decision to hand over company management to us second-generation managers in 2015. From 2007 onwards, our company was restructured like two companies within one, and alongside our existing mechanical department, we established a strong automation department. With this new department, we provided our customers with a comfort zone where they could control their investments in both mechanical and automation aspects from a single source. Our company currently has a core staff of approximately 60 people, including 20 engineers and nearly 30 blue-collar workers. With this staff, our company primarily serves the chemical, steel and energy sectors, as well as many industrial establishments domestically and internationally in the areas of industrial furnaces, mechanical contracting and industrial automation. Our activities span a wide range from equipment procurement to factory setup. Since 2015, our company has undertaken numerous projects in the chemical sector, ranging from facility modernization to the establishment of turnkey (EPC) chemical plants excluding construction. [gallery size="medium" ids="eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvd3d3LnR1cmtjaGVtLm5ldFwvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAxOVwvMTBcL2MyXy5qcGciLCJ0aXRsZSI6ImMyXyIsImNhcHRpb24iOiIiLCJhbHQiOiIiLCJkZXNjcmlwdGlvbiI6IiJ9,eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvd3d3LnR1cmtjaGVtLm5ldFwvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAxOVwvMTBcL2MzXy5qcGciLCJ0aXRsZSI6ImMzXyIsImNhcHRpb24iOiIiLCJhbHQiOiIiLCJkZXNjcmlwdGlvbiI6IiJ9,eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvd3d3LnR1cmtjaGVtLm5ldFwvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAxOVwvMTBcL2M0Xy5qcGciLCJ0aXRsZSI6ImM0XyIsImNhcHRpb24iOiIiLCJhbHQiOiIiLCJkZXNjcmlwdGlvbiI6IiJ9"]

Our company currently carries out sales to countries such as Turkey, United Arab Emirates, China, Iraq, Bulgaria, Romania, Algeria and Mexico, while continuing to seek expansion into new markets.

 

What are the distinguishing features of Çukurova Mühendislik in your view?

The main distinguishing feature of our company is that we incorporate both mechanical and automation expertise within our organization, conduct design work meticulously, and carry out manufacturing according to the project requirements while relieving our customers of certain difficulties they would face, thereby ensuring work is completed without deficiencies or errors. This characteristic of ours eliminates our customers' burden of working with two separate firms; it saves them time and provides convenience.

Can you tell us about Çukurova Mühendislik's automation capabilities?

Our company's automation department was established with my joining in 2007 and has been serving factory automation for 12 years. In terms of hardware, we use Siemens brand S7-300, S7-400, S1200, S7-1500 series PLCs and use Simatic Manager, TIA Portal, WinCC software. Our company, which can serve high-capacity projects, has completion certificates with 3,500 I/O capacity. [gallery columns="2" size="medium" ids="eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvd3d3LnR1cmtjaGVtLm5ldFwvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAxOVwvMTBcL2M1Xy5qcGciLCJ0aXRsZSI6ImM1XyIsImNhcHRpb24iOiIiLCJhbHQiOiIiLCJkZXNjcmlwdGlvbiI6IiJ9,eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvd3d3LnR1cmtjaGVtLm5ldFwvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAxOVwvMTBcL2M2LmpwZyIsInRpdGxlIjoiYzYiLCJjYXB0aW9uIjoiIiwiYWx0IjoiIiwiZXNjcmlwdGlvbiI6IiJ9"]  

Can you provide information about the engineering services you provide to the polyurethane sector?

To put it briefly, we provide solutions to our customers. Our main solutions are; process equipment: P&ID design, reactor system design and manufacturing, blender system design and manufacturing, premix tank design and manufacturing, masterbatch system design and manufacturing, pilot reactor system design and manufacturing, storage tank design and manufacturing, wall mixer design and manufacturing, IBC and drum filling and emptying systems manufacturing, industrial piping (process fluids, steam, hot oil, cold & hot water, nitrogen, etc.). Industrial Automation: reactor and blender system automation, PLC, HMI and SCADA system setup, factory automation, weighing and filling automation, reporting software.

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

For many years, our company did not conduct sales and marketing work; we mostly had the opportunity to meet new customers through the recommendations of our existing customers. In 2018, our company decided to begin sales activities and started active sales and marketing work with the formation of a business development group. Our sales work, which we conduct primarily through direct communication with customers and visits, will expand further from 2020 onwards with trade fair participation and magazine advertising. Our company currently carries out sales to countries such as Turkey, United Arab Emirates, China, Iraq, Bulgaria, Romania, Algeria and Mexico, while continuing to seek expansion into new markets. [gallery columns="2" size="medium" ids="eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvd3d3LnR1cmtjaGVtLm5ldFwvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAxOVwvMTBcL2M3Xy5qcGciLCJ0aXRsZSI6ImM3XyIsImNhcHRpb24iOiIiLCJhbHQiOiIiLCJkZXNjcmlwdGlvbiI6IiJ9,eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvd3d3LnR1cmtjaGVtLm5ldFwvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAxOVwvMTBcL2M4Xy5qcGciLCJ0aXRsZSI6ImM4XyIsImNhcHRpb24iOiIiLCJhbHQiOiIiLCJkZXNjcmlwdGlvbiI6IiJ9"] Have you recently introduced any innovative polyurethane machine manufacturing that makes a difference to the sector? Our company has implemented many innovative solutions because it is structured to meet customer needs in both automation and mechanical matters. With our fully automatic reactor and blender designs, we combine our customers' production procedures with appropriate mechanical equipment and automation systems, thereby reducing human-related errors to a minimum level. In addition, our automation software allows work orders and recipes to be retrieved from the SAP system and creates and records production reports. When requested, the recorded information can be sent to the SAP system or other higher-level software, thus ensuring traceability and sustainability.

What technologies do you use when designing machines that will bring innovation to the sector?

Our company carries out mechanical designs in 3D, obtains customer approval before production, thus maintaining customer satisfaction at the highest level and reducing manufacturing errors to a minimum. Our company uses 4 SolidWorks and 1 AutoCAD Mechanical Desktop program for designs.

Our company carries out mechanical designs in 3D, obtains customer approval before production, thus maintaining customer satisfaction at the highest level and reducing manufacturing errors to a minimum.

In 2020, our company plans to reach a more powerful level by incorporating one of the AutoCAD Plant or Solid Plant design programs to conduct our system designs more quickly and without errors.

Nowadays, all sectors are keeping pace with Digital Transformation. To what extent do you think the polyurethane sector is undergoing this transformation?

I would like to answer this not just for the polyurethane sector but in general. In our view, large-capacity manufacturers in the sector have already begun this transformation; they have even completed it and are continuously improving their systems. Small-capacity manufacturers, on the other hand, continue to conduct mostly manual manufacturing, which makes it difficult to monitor production quality and maintain consistent quality. For this reason, we believe that all sector members, regardless of their size, should use automatically controlled systems to the extent their budgets allow. In this direction, our company designs automation systems at the most cost-effective level for both large and small-capacity manufacturers without distinction, and stands alongside all sector members who wish to modernize their facilities in terms of digital transformation.