HERSA Kimya General Manager Erhan Atıcı Answers Our Questions

In our interview, HERSA General Manager Erhan Atıcı answered our questions. Atıcı provided information about the company's production and sales activities as well as the R&D work they have conducted.

Could you briefly tell us about yourself, your education and your professional background in the sector?

I graduated from the Chemistry Department of Middle East Technical University in 2002. I then started working at Ziylan A.Ş. During this period, I completed my MBA in Business Administration at Istanbul University. In 2006, I established my own company to supply materials and raw materials to different sectors as well as to conduct chemical production. In line with our country's current account deficit in chemistry and my education, we concentrated our company's future goals in this field and made an 8,400 square-meter closed-area investment in an organized industrial zone. Currently, our R&D and production activities continue at this facility. [caption id="attachment_158602" align="aligncenter"] Erhan Atıcı[/caption]

Could you describe the development process of your company since its establishment in broad outline?

We started production activities at our manufacturing facility, for which we completed investment, in accordance with different sectors and needs. In addition to general products available in the domestic market, we added new and specialized products to our portfolio by developing solutions in line with our stakeholders' needs. As part of our R&D work, we conducted reverse engineering of imported products available in the market and included these products in our product range. I would like to particularly emphasize the importance of R&D work for our company's development at this point. To illustrate with a few success stories, with our HERSA-EVA101, HERSA-336 and HERSA-A500 primer products, we have provided solution-oriented products to our customers. With the momentum that R&D work has given our company and new products, we will continue to maintain our presence in the market.

Could you provide information about HERSA's domestic and international activities?

Since its establishment, HERSA has been active in both domestic and international markets. Our product distribution continues in all regions domestically, and we are successfully conducting our activities with new business lines and stakeholders. Our country's geographical location makes it an important center in the region for chemistry and raw materials. We are also taking advantage of this advantage by exporting our products to neighboring countries. By participating in domestic and international fair activities, we promote our company and products, thereby developing our portfolio of domestic and foreign customers. Additionally, we closely follow national and international regulations regarding chemical use and direct our product development work accordingly. In particular, transitioning from organic volatile solvent-based products to water-based environmentally friendly products is an important matter, and achieving this is only possible through strong R&D. As a result of R&D work we have been conducting in this direction for some time, we aim to introduce our new water-based products to our stakeholders in the near future.

Could we learn about HERSA's vision, mission and quality policy?

As HERSA, our mission is to provide our stakeholders with innovative and differentiated products on a global scale with a high-quality experience. Our vision is to create major brands in our targeted areas and to be the first choice. In line with this vision, we have set our five-year targets. We attach particular importance to import substitution among these targets, and we are conducting our R&D work in this direction. Beyond these targets, our heart's desire is for basic chemical raw materials to be produced in our country, and we are working with all our strength as HERSA to realize this dream. We follow a quality policy based on sustainability and customer satisfaction. In this scope, we produce our products in accordance with national and international quality standards, including legal regulations, and our stakeholders' needs. Along with our mission, vision, quality, targets and dreams, with our stakeholders' trust and support in us and our passion for chemistry, we will continue to move forward on this path and continue to serve our country by working in our area of expertise. At this point, I would also like to share our slogan "We live with chemistry," which I believe expresses us and our dreams very well.