Interview with Alen Hamurkesen, General Manager of Galvano Mondo

We conducted an interview with Alen Hamurkesen, General Manager of Galvano Mondo. Hamurkesen provided information about the products and services offered by Galvano Mondo.

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

Since my family has been involved in industry for a long time, I have been part of working life for as long as I can remember. I studied at the Faculty of Economics at Marmara University. My father would take me to work with him during school holidays when I was younger. Whenever school was not in session, I always worked at some job. I was never a child roaming the streets. Only on weekdays after school, and only when I had time from my studies, of course. Back then our business was producing galvanized products, a business passed down from my grandfather to my father. My grandfather started this business around the mid-1940s, and my father continued it. It is work close to coating chemicals, doing zinc coating through hot-dip galvanizing.

Could you provide information about the founding process of Galvano Mondo and the stages it has gone through to reach today? What is the current structure of Galvano Mondo?

The founding of Galvano Mondo actually dates back to 1968. Mıgırdiç Sertşimşek, one of the pioneers of the coating sector in Turkey, establishes a company under the name Galvano Şimşek and begins selling and producing coating chemicals, becoming the distributor for many Italian companies and providing their technical services. Mıgırdiç continued this business for about 30 years. Later, his son Sarven Sertşimşek, after completing his university education in galvanization in Italy in 2000, returns and establishes Galvano Mondo, taking over the coating chemicals business. Subsequently, from 2006 onwards, we combine our accumulated experience, expertise and knowledge with a partnership, and as a result gain momentum and reach where we are today. Today we are a developing company with our own offices and manufacturing facilities in 4 countries, offices in the setup phase in 2 countries, and distributors in many countries.

What sectors does Galvano Mondo primarily serve, and what types of products does it supply? Could you provide information about Galvano Mondo's products, brands and services?

Galvano Mondo's main lines of activity are divided into coating chemicals, pre-cleaning processes and protective chemicals following coating. The main sectors we supply materials to include automotive, door handles, door hardware, electrical equipment, drawer handles, chandeliers, fasteners, screws, windows, electronics, jewelry, costume jewelry, furniture, gift items, leather auxiliary industry and many other sectors. In fact, almost every product around you contains a piece of what we produce. We do not only produce chemicals. We also ensure the correct use of the chemicals we produce. Through the training we provide to our customers, technical service and the feedback we receive from them, we make them feel that they are not alone in the work and projects they undertake.

Could you tell us about your domestic and foreign sales activities? What types of products do you predominantly sell in which regions domestically and abroad?

Abroad, we have a sales and technical support team in what we call the SEA region, covering India, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. This team, directly reporting to the headquarters, carries out product sales and technical support. For Europe, we have our own office and semi-finished goods manufacturing in Bulgaria. Our team there manages operations in Bulgaria, Romania and neighboring countries. We also have offices in Egypt and Iran operating. Our Poland office setup is currently complete and material shipments are about to begin. We are also in the decision-making phase for our office, storage facility and personnel recruitment in America. What I mentioned earlier are offices within our organization, operating under our headquarters in Istanbul. We also have distributors in many countries selling our products. Our domestic sales are conducted only from our headquarters and warehouse in Istanbul. Our main product sales focus on flowing varnishes, zinc and zinc alloy coatings, passivations, chromium coating chemicals and nickel coating chemicals.

What kind of work do you undertake in the areas of innovation and R&D as Galvano Mondo? Do you have projects developed within the scope of university-industry cooperation, and if so, what are they?

Last year we completely renewed our laboratory at our headquarters with the latest technology equipment. We also have work being conducted with Varna University abroad. Again last year we have had work done with a laboratory specializing in our field of work in America on raw materials and final products. This company provides product development consulting and raw material quality improvement to many companies like us. Previously we had many collaborations with universities in Turkey, but currently we do not. Only in our Alkaline Zinc Coating Chemicals project approved by TUBITAK last year did we receive support from professors from some universities. We have several more projects submitted to TUBITAK awaiting approval. These are projects we have developed ourselves that are innovative and will bring ease to the coating sector.

Could you provide information about Galvano Mondo's environmental policy and sustainability approach? What can you say about your work regarding occupational health and safety?

Galvano Mondo must do its best to maintain the sustainability of green and life in nature. We all must. Therefore, in recent years we are removing +6 valence coatings and cyanide processes from our product range and trying to develop new products in their place. The cyanide-free alkaline copper coating and +3 valence chromium coating processes currently available on the market are the results of this work. We also provide training to our customers on waste management. I think these trainings are very beneficial. Occupational health and safety is a very important issue. It is our obligation to ensure the health and safety of every employee. We have long since adopted the criteria of the European companies we work with and implemented them. For this we receive support from several companies. Our company has a dedicated department dealing solely with this matter. They produce very productive and excellent projects.

Could we learn your thoughts on the industrial paints, coatings and surface treatment sectors in Turkey? In terms of these sectors, what do you think are Turkey's advantages and disadvantages?

Turkey has recorded very rapid development in paints, coatings and surface treatment in recent years. However, we have not yet produced a globally recognized brand. Nevertheless, we follow the work being done by companies and in the near future we see that several brands with very high-quality products could become influential worldwide. Raw material shortage is Turkey's biggest disadvantage. Our dependence on imports for many products prevents us as a country from growing faster. However, I think this will be overcome with time. I argue that companies producing or considering producing high-tech chemical raw materials need a bit more support. Turkey's greatest advantages are its location and labor. We have the opportunity to obtain higher quality labor more cheaply in our country. And we have the opportunity to transport the materials we produce to European, Asian and African markets more cheaply. I think these are very big plusses for producer companies.

What criteria are given priority when investment plans for Galvano Mondo are formulated? Do you have investment plans for Galvano Mondo for the coming periods, and if so, what are they?

Last year we undertook a complete overhaul of our production lines; we now have a more technological and controlled production capacity. We took the production control and quality control stages much further. With this improvement we have achieved the quality control levels of European companies. We completed the missing links in our supply chain; now our raw materials enter our warehouse in a more controlled manner and any product that does not meet our criteria can be easily identified and excluded from production. We also staged our quality controls after production, which ensures that only controlled and ready-to-ship products enter our shelves. Thus we have completed our investments on the production side. I think our investments in the near future will be on the sales and marketing side. We are thinking about new distributors and new offices in new markets and countries. Our latest project is in America; we plan to complete our office and warehouse in the near future and increase our product sales in this market. America is also the key for us to better serve Mexico and Brazil. I think it will be a major opening for our company.