Interview with Koray Göğebakan, General Manager of Kar Kimya

Turkchem 17 Jan 2017 63 8 dk okuma

TURKCHEM

We conducted an enjoyable interview with Mr. Koray Göğebakan, General Manager of Kar Kimya, about his professional background, the company's development since its founding, and the importance of quality control equipment in the paints sector.

We conducted a pleasant interview with Kar Kimya General Manager Koray Göğebakan about his professional background, the company's development since its establishment, and the importance of quality control equipment in the paints sector.

Mr. Koray Göğebakan, could you first tell our readers briefly about yourself and your professional background in the sector?

I was born in Ankara in 1974. I graduated from Hüseyin Avni Sözen Anatolian High School and subsequently from the Chemistry Engineering Department of Ankara University Faculty of Science. I became acquainted with the paints sector in 1998 during my university internship at the German company Worlée-Chemie GmbH, where I worked in the technical application laboratories. I have been working at Kar Kimya since 1999.

Could you outline the development process of your company since its establishment for our readers? How long have you been serving the paints sector?

Our company, Kar Kimya, is a family business founded in 1990 by my father, Kerim Göğebakan. After a brief period of work experience in the sector, it became an entrepreneurial story born partly out of necessity as well... For me, even though it is difficult to imagine how international business connections were made in those days without the internet, the company's operations were designed to work on the basis of representation by taking on the representation of several well-known companies in sectors well-established in Europe, such as Worlée-Chemie, VMA-Getzmann, and Gebr. Liebisch. Over time, with the addition of some new representations and distributions, and in accordance with customer demands, our activities in the import and domestic distribution of products have continued to grow.

Could you provide information about your product groups and the sectors you serve?

During the company's establishment period, in the early 1990s, the most important and sole focus customer group was paints, printing inks, and powder coating manufacturers; over time, it expanded to include paint-consuming industries as well. Today, although we are a structure that touches every sector directly or indirectly related to the paints/printing ink industry, such as Automotive, White Goods, Aerospace, Packaging and Packaging industries, our first concern—paints, inks and powder coating manufacturers—constitutes the largest and most important part of our business. We divide our products into 3 groups. The first is raw materials, where our activities include products manufactured by Worlée-Chemie, founded in 1851, or those for which we conduct distribution in Europe. In this group, we have Water-Based Alkyd Resins, Solvent-Based Alkyds, Thixotropic Resins, Water-Based Acrylic Binders, Water and Solvent-Based 2K Acrylics and Polyester Resins, Natural Resins such as Shellac and Dammar, Foam Suppressants, Surface Modifying Additives and other Special Additives, Special Function Pigments, comprising over 3,000 items in a very broad chemical range. The second group of our products includes laboratory, pilot and production-scale dispersion and wet grinding equipment. Probably everyone in the paints sector has heard of the DISPERMAT® name. This term, which has become a generic name for high-speed laboratory mixers, is actually a trademark of VMA-Getzmann. In this product group, we have high-speed mixers for dispersion ranging from 50ml to 2,000 liters, vacuum mixers, basket mills and horizontal bead mills.

The third group consists of Quality Control Test Equipment;

unlike the first two groups, here every company that wishes to test the quality of paints and coatings they consume, in addition to paint manufacturers, is our potential customer. In this group, we represent the German company Gebr. Liebisch GmbH, a manufacturer of Salt Spray, Humidity Condensation and Cyclic Corrosion Test Chambers, with over 80 test cabinets still in operation, some of which have been in service since 1990. Additionally, we represent the Dutch company TQC for physical paint testing. As a result of the German company Simex GmbH, whose representation we have maintained since 1990, being incorporated into TQC in 2003, we began working with them. In this product group, there is a broad range of products for paint quality control, such as film applicators, gloss meters, density cups, hardness, elasticity, adhesion, rub resistance. The flow cups produced by TQC are apparently widely known in the market, as the TQC logo has been counterfeited. We have also been working with RKPrintCoat, a company that manufactures laboratory-scale printing proof equipment for gravure and flexo printing inks, since 1996. There is also a business relationship with the French company Lamy Rheology for viscometers and rheological analysis that has been ongoing since 2007. We represent the German company Phynix for dry film coating measurement, and finally, since the beginning of this year, we have been working with the American company Taber Industries. The name "Taber" is associated with an industry standard friction and surface wear test instrument, so I don't think much promotion is necessary, but it is an established company with different test equipment for scratching, scuffing and mar testing.

Could you provide information about your sales activities?

I think 2016 was a year in which no one in Turkey had high expectations. With the unpleasant events that occurred in the summer adding to this, we also observe that the market's appeal has been significantly diminished. Nevertheless, when we look at our revenues, we interestingly observe increases. Approximately two-thirds of our revenues come from raw material sales. In the raw materials area, in the January-November 2016 period, we are 26% above 2015 and 20% above the five-year average. I think the breakthrough we have been waiting for years in water-based alkyds is finally happening. For this reason, we expanded our team in this area during the year. We expected a slight decline in dispersion equipment, but there was a recovery towards the end of the year. Corrosion equipment is performing far beyond expectations. In test equipment, there has been incredible intensity in the last two months.

Could we learn your assessments about the paints sector? What can you say about the importance of quality control equipment in the paints sector?

Fifteen years ago, quality control was a topic addressed only in large paint companies and large industrial paint users. Today, particularly for marine and industrial paints, quality control has become a topic that both paint manufacturers and paint applicators place importance on. I believe the most important reason for this is our country's advances in the automotive and automotive component industries. When supplying products to the automotive sector, the quality of the paint and coating on the product is of great importance, because the cost of product returns is much greater than the cost of paint or coating. Similarly, in the powder coating sector, even small coating shops are striving to obtain Qualicoat certification. Industrial paint applicators and their customers are quite meticulous about quality testing. The area where this transformation has occurred the least is decorative paints and construction paints. Since the "do-it-yourself" sector has not developed much in our country, the sector is determined by the demands of "painting masters" and price/payment options. The construction and decorative paint market is largely consolidated, and the remaining players in the market already have equipment to very well evaluate the quality of their own products. Nevertheless, the TS5808 - TS EN ISO 13300 changes made in recent years have been very positive in terms of paint quality classification. Now consumers need to become aware and, in addition to the price label of the paint they purchase, they also need to consider the label that includes consumption and quality classes. It is quite important that TSE also routinely and carefully checks the declared paint classes for compliance.

What do you think is the reason why your customers prefer your company? What services do you provide to ensure customer satisfaction?

I would like to answer that it is because of our low prices, but unfortunately we know that Kar Kimya is not a company known for low prices. I think our customers know that if the Dispermat they purchased in 1992 breaks down, Kar Kimya, with the support provided by the manufacturer as well, will come and service the equipment if it can still be repaired technically and spare parts can be found, regardless of how old it is. I think companies that calculate that although the initial investment costs of our products are higher, they are more economical in the long term thanks to their long service life prefer us. This situation is not limited only to Dispersion Machines and Test Equipment. A similar situation exists with raw materials. For example, we have a customer to whom we sell a 2K acrylic resin. The company already produces dozens of tons of a similar 2K acrylic resin in its own reactors. However, I believe there must be a technical difference in our products because they purchase this product from us in small quantities. We also know our products well and can solve any technical problems that arise very quickly with support we also receive from Worlée. When necessary, we can visit our customers in their own laboratories and directly help them formulate paints in which our products are used. To be able to help firms with insufficient laboratory-scale dispersion capabilities even more, we established a laboratory within our company in 2003. We invite such customers to our laboratory, carry out their work in our laboratory, conduct initial tests together, and send them off with product samples. For a company of our business volume, investing in and even allocating space for a laboratory used only 15-20 times a year might be considered unusual. However, we do not sell commodity products, and technical products require technical sales. The feedback we receive from the work we do here shows how correct a decision we made thirteen years ago.

Could we get information about your employee profile?

A customer asked us this recently. When we asked for their estimates, we received the answer "15-20 people." Our customers probably think we are larger, but we have a staff of 6 people. Together with the "Manager," there are 7 of us in total. Of course, this is also an indication of how well "Manager"—our labrador who comes to work with us every morning and goes home with us every evening—manages us (!).

What issues do you focus on to ensure your products' long-term presence in the market?

For us, every sale is actually a seed sown for the next sale. A satisfied customer always leads to meeting another customer. Especially given the personnel circulation in our sector, the potential of your old customer to become a new customer cannot be ignored. Within this framework, we care about customer satisfaction, and fast, reasonably priced and reliable service is essential to this business. Of course, it is impossible for us to provide this without the support of our supplier partners. For this reason, we are very careful when selecting our suppliers and particularly avoid products and suppliers from the Far East. Most of our supplier partners have business relationships lasting over a quarter century, which makes our business considerably easier.

What are your targets and expectations for 2017 as Kar Kimya?

The world is going through difficult times, the situation in our region is known, and our country has difficulties stemming from its own internal dynamics. The exchange rate fluctuations experienced in the last quarter of 2016 make it difficult to set targets and form expectations. For people to make investments, especially for easily postponable projects like the test equipment and laboratory equipment we sell that do not directly concern production, they need to be in an optimistic mood. Nevertheless, our basic target is to commercially repeat 2016, which has been a very good year for us. As for raw materials, many of the seeds we have sown are on the verge of sprouting; we hope for the realization of these projects we have been carefully working on for many years.

Do you have a message you wish to convey to the sector?

For 2017, I wish our friends in all paints, powder coatings, printing inks and related sectors first health and peace for our country, region and the entire world. It is difficult to understand the value of these two without losing them. Sometimes we get lost in our daily work and forget their value, and without these two, what is gained has no worth. First health, then peace, and then abundant high value-added production and abundant profits are my wishes.