Interview with Semih İşçimenler, General Manager of Prosim Kimyevi Maddeler

We conducted an enjoyable interview with Semih İşçimenler, General Manager of Prosim Kimyevi Maddeler A.Ş / Reichhold Kimya San. ve Tic. A.Ş., about their new production facility in Izmit Arslan Bey Organized Industrial Zone, the paints sector and future objectives.

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

Our company was founded in Izmir in 1997. The colleagues who are today senior executives and partners of our company joined us in those years and remain in our management team. As our business grew and to monitor our customers more closely, we relocated our headquarters to Istanbul in 2002. Our business, which started with chemical raw material representation and trading, continued to develop. In 2006, we formed a partnership with Reichhold Inc., one of the world's largest composite and paints resin manufacturers, and began production in Turkey. With the excitement and motivation of this new joint venture company, both our representation business and our production operations continued to grow. Ultimately, to have greater presence in the international market and be competitive on a global scale, we established our third production facility in Izmit Arslan Bey Organized Industrial Zone with the latest available technology, know-how and engineering.

Could you tell us about the structure of your new factory? Can we get information about the technology you use, your facility structure and personnel capacity?

Our facility, which began production in August, was completed with an investment of over USD 20 million on an area of 25,000 m2 and is a polyester polymerization facility built with the newest and highest technology in its field. We carried out the engineering design of our facility through Reichhold USA and with domestic and foreign engineers specialized in the field working within our company for 2 years. Our production operates in a closed loop with a fully automatic DCS system from raw materials to final product without manual intervention from outside. Our facility is designed so that the products we manufacture are resins produced with the lowest carbon footprint in the world, and additionally it has a high-efficiency process. We will also be working on certification in this direction in the near future. Due to the sensitivity of the products we manufacture and to ensure that every batch produced is identical, our facility uses real-time process control (continuous recording of 1,800 data points) and is monitored and recorded with the highest technology. This is required by our traceability quality system. This allows us to produce the same quality product each time with minimum standard emissions. This high traceability and automation quality, which is directly linked to the quality of the products our customers produce, is one of the rare examples applied worldwide. Our objective is to build the highest-technology, best and most environmentally-friendly facility producing for this purpose in the world, with high efficiency. We are very proud to receive feedback from domestic and foreign customers visiting our facility after it started operating in this regard.

Can you provide information about your product groups and the sectors you serve? Are there new products to be added to your product range? At the same time, could you tell us about your R&D activities and investments? What are your priority objectives in R&D work?

In addition to the products we currently produce at our Izmit Arslan Bey facility, we will produce new products that our customers need using new monomers. We are establishing both a resin synthesis laboratory and an application laboratory for powder coating resins. Together with our current technology partner Polynt-Reichhold, by utilizing their polymer and raw material technologies, we will develop new high-performance resins in Turkey that are domestic and meet our customers' needs. Our work will focus on fast-cure systems, super-durable exterior facade resin systems and special-effect resins. We will develop projects jointly with our customers in Turkey (we currently have projects we are following) and through these joint projects, we will be a business partner that differentiates our customers against foreign competitors. We will develop different resins, supply bio-origin resins and provide resins with the lowest carbon footprint.

Given that our life resources are in danger today, the necessity of environmental measures has increased even more. What work are you doing in this regard? What are your activities for a sustainable future?

Powder coating is one of the most environmentally-friendly painting technologies in the world. Our company supplies polyester resin to this sector. In line with the sector we serve, we have built the most environmentally-friendly facility. Production in our company is conducted with almost zero emissions and, in addition to using natural gas as energy, secondary heating is used with stack gas. Additionally, due to the automation and boiler technology used, we produce 30-40% less carbon footprint compared to our competitors. Furthermore, a 1,000 m3 biological and chemical treatment system has been installed in our factory. Liquid and gas-form by-products from our company will be treated here. Additionally, we are in talks with a British company regarding the production of secondary products from the used packaging of our raw materials that arrive packaged to our company. In essence, we have many activities to be a factory operating with zero waste and you will hear our news in this regard. Our customers who purchase products from us will not only buy goods from a company manufacturing in Turkey, but will also share the pleasure of contributing to the environment and technology with us.

Finally, do you have a message you would like to convey to the sector?

As is known by the entire sector and Turkish businessmen, we have a wonderful country, magnificent companies and hardworking, experienced managers running them. Unfortunately, over the past few years, particularly due to neighboring countries and the global political situation, an environment has been created that makes long-term planning difficult, but despite all these setbacks, Turkey and the sector continue to grow. This is tremendous strength. With this belief, we invested and we call on all our partners to invest in Turkey. We are currently discussing investment with two foreign companies, again in Turkey. There really is no other country with Turkey's potential, internal dynamics and consumer population, and moreover positioned at the forefront of all developing countries. We just need to explain this correctly to foreign investors. We have a request not just from the sector, but from all Turkish citizens. We believe that awareness of domestic products needs to develop a bit more. Importing means enriching rival countries with our nation's resources. Our suggestion is to use our own resources for investment by our own country and reach the economic and cultural development we need as soon as possible. In short, there is no alternative Turkey; we will continue to work and invest for this beautiful country. We believe in Turkey and the future of our youth.