Interview with Abdullah Bayrak, Chairman of the Board of Elsisan

Elsisan Board Chairman Abdullah Bayrak shared his views with us. Bayrak provided information about Elsisan's development process and its current structure.

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

I was born in Afyon and Sincan. My father worked as a foreman on highways. I am the youngest of three siblings. Before military service, I worked as a Research Assistant in the Electronics Laboratory at the Nuclear Research Centre. In 1979, I founded Yı-Ba Engineering with my classmate Necat Yılmaz, thus beginning my professional career.

Could you provide information about Elsisan's establishment process and the stages it has gone through to reach today? What is Elsisan's current structure?

In 1986, we moved Yı-Ba Engineering to the Duaçınarı district of Bursa. In those years, mini washing machines were found in every home. We partnered with Kurtaran Isı and started producing these machines. However, we received returns due to paint scratching on the machines. While researching solutions to this problem, I became acquainted with powder coating technology. As a result of an article I came across in a German magazine, I contacted Germany and obtained information about powder coating technology. This conversation changed my life. The foundations of Elsisan Makine were laid with the importation of the first powder coating machine. With the limited knowledge of that period, we manufactured ovens and booths. It gained considerable attention in a very short time. We started painting and facility work. After Duaçınarı, we moved Elsisan to Bursa Barakfakih Industrial Zone. After 16 years there, we moved to our current 10,000 m² facility in Bursa Organized Industrial Zone, which continues to serve us today.

Which sectors does Elsisan mainly serve and what types of products does it provide? Could you provide information about Elsisan's products, brands and services especially for the paints and coatings sectors?

Powder and wet paint booths and applications, powder enamel booths, paint drying and curing ovens, automatic painting machines - OBM, surface cleaning lines, industrial washing machines, robotically controlled cataphoresis lines, aluminium thermal spraying ovens and roll test booths are among our diverse product range. The main sectors we serve include glass, defence industry, automotive, metal, furniture and similar fields. In line with the importance we place on Industry 4.0, we have recently been designing facilities that incorporate sensors in our products and where more parameters can be automatically controlled. We develop necessary systems for these facilities to work with other machines in factories and carry out their integration into other machines. At the same time, we set up facilities that can be managed and controlled remotely.

Could you tell us about your domestic and export sales activities? What types of products are you primarily selling to which regions domestically and internationally?

We export to numerous countries including Europe, North Africa, South America, Asia, Russia, the Middle East and Turkic republics. We have fully automatic painting facilities operating in 47 different countries. Domestically, we primarily continue our projects with major companies. For all facilities we produce, we encourage our customers to use high-technology spray guns to reduce material consumption, directing them from manual systems to fully automatic facilities. Our fully automatic machines feature automatic loading and unloading capabilities and paint faster, providing increased product capacity and time efficiency. Another user-friendly feature of these machines is that they minimize maintenance costs.

What types of work are you conducting in innovation and R&D as Elsisan? Do you have projects developed within the scope of university-industry collaboration, and if so, what are they?

In accordance with our R&D and innovation policy, closely following technological developments of the age, our company presents ISO 9001 quality and CE certified products compliant with TS EN280 standards and offering competitive designs for the international market, targeting continuous improvement through sustainable growth strategies and value-added investments in production. To date, we have implemented seven different TÜBİTAK R&D projects. Our university-industry collaboration work with Bursa Technical University continues. In this direction, we meet annually with BTÜ students as speakers within the "CEO Meetings" event and attempt to create awareness about production, industry and qualified workforce. In addition to our university work, we participate in the "Vocational Education for a Strong Turkey" project, which focuses on training qualified workers in vocational technical high schools, and continue our support in this area.

Could you provide information about Elsisan's environmental policy and sustainability approach? What can you say about your work related to occupational health and safety?

As Elsisan, we take care to produce environmentally friendly products within an environmental management system based on continuous improvement, in compliance with national and international legal regulations and requirements. Each year, we participate in the "Environmentally Conscious Production Clean Future" competitions held in Bursa Organized Industrial Zone to raise awareness about environmental sensitivity. Furthermore, in accordance with our annual training calendar, we conduct personal and professional development training within our company to contribute to our employees' development.

What criteria are prioritized when Elsisan formulates investment plans? Do you have investment plans for the coming periods, and if so, what are they?

The most critical part of our work is the project design phase. For this reason, we attach considerable importance to project design. As each year brings new technological innovations, we focus our investments in this direction to make progress in our production line and products. As close followers of global innovations, we will continue to develop high value-added products.