Interview with Sinan Bülbül

We conducted an enjoyable interview with Sinan Bülbül, General Manager of Reaksiyon Kimya, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Mr. Bülbül shared valuable information with us across many areas, from the company's R&D activities to its educational initiatives.

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

I am a graduate of the Mathematics Department at Boğaziçi University. After many years working for global companies, I took on the role of General Manager at Reaksiyon Kimya, which we established as a family business in 2018. With my background and experience in IT and finance, I have undertaken intensive work on the company's institutionalization and establishing its position in the global market. I am married with two children.

Could you describe Reaksiyon Kimya's development process since its founding and the sectors it serves?

Our company was established in Istanbul in 2003. Reaksiyon Kimya started with raw material trading for the paints sector and, following pigment paste and wax emulsion production activities in 2008, continued with a different vision. The acquisition of KUMHO, a South Korean company's Turkey representation in 2012, was a milestone for Reaksiyon Kimya. At the point we have reached today, Reaksiyon Kimya is one of the most important players in Turkey's epoxy resin distributor market. Our work on epoxy resins also led to epoxy hardener production, and today I can proudly say that with more than 20 epoxy hardener product varieties, our KER series epoxy resins and Reaksiyon Kimya RECURE series epoxy hardener product groups are used in many areas ranging from floor coatings to furniture, from 3D applications to epoxy paints. We significantly expanded our portfolio over time with both Reaksiyon product groups and new representations. From 2020 onwards, we decided to continue our activities in the Dilovası Organized Industrial Zone. During the same period, we purchased 25,000 m² of land in GEBKİM and, a year later, launched another investment in the Dilovası OSB area, bringing our total area to 35,000 m². With our new production facility scheduled for completion in May, we are increasing our production capacity four-fold for all our products, particularly the MAXFLOW super-plasticizer group. Our sales continue in 19 countries worldwide, in addition to Turkey. Our company holds TSE ISO 9001 Quality System Management Certificate and is a member of IMMIB, the Composites Manufacturers Association, and the Turkish Chemical Manufacturers Association.

What are the product groups you supply to the paints and coatings sectors?

Our most well-known product groups in the sector are the epoxy resins from the South Korean KUMHO company, for which we are the official Turkey representative. In addition, our own epoxy hardeners complement this product group. Other product groups we supply to the paints sector include AFROMER series foam suppressants, dispersing agents, surface additives, epoxy accelerators, acrylic resins and isocyanates, polyol groups, wax emulsions, pigment pastes, and resins and additives for the inks sector.

Could you tell us about your R&D activities and investments? What are your priority targets in R&D work?

As you know, Reaksiyon Kimya, through its focus on R&D work, can develop tailor-made products suited to the sector's needs and in line with our customers' demands. In addition, with our knowledge base and experience, we stand by our customers in terms of after-sales support. We understand the difficulties of being a manufacturer and are aware of how important it is for producers to manage material supply processes most effectively and to ensure product reliability. Of course, this distinctive feature of ours is supported by R&D work and finds room for the most correct solutions. We have developed many of our products through TUBITAK and KOSGEB projects, and we have ongoing projects as well. We are also progressing towards becoming an R&D Center; in our new facility under construction, we have established all the infrastructure for R&D Center setup. By year-end, application and approval processes will also be completed. We are already preparing for product diversity and innovative new product groups. Recently, we want to focus on environmentally friendly sustainable products. When projects are concluded, we will announce new launches.

Could you tell us about Reaksiyon Academy and your other training initiatives?

We believe success is achieved through working with the right team and continuous improvement. For this purpose, we established Reaksiyon Academy within our company in 2018. Under the Reaksiyon Academy umbrella, we aimed to create social projects within the frameworks of training, environment, and social equality; to support the training and development of our employees; to provide service to the sector with a more qualified team; and to raise awareness in areas such as environment, training, and social equality. We also involved our customers and stakeholders in these activities. We organized technical seminars for the paints and construction sectors, invited our customers, and conducted workshops with support from experienced experts in the field. We plan to carry out one more organization for the construction sector within 2023. We also evaluate our employees' training requests. This year, with our company's support, we started training for personnel who want to improve their foreign language skills. Through Reaksiyon Academy, we have also carried out valuable work in the field of social equality. In particular, we increased the proportion of female employees in our company and supported our female employees in taking more active roles. As a result of these dedicated efforts, we increased our proportion of female employees from 22% to 40%. In the future, we will continue to support women's effectiveness in management levels.

We know that as a company you recently held a Leadership Manifesto workshop. Could you tell us about the work you are doing in this area?

I believe that the values forming the foundations of our company play a very decisive role in our journey to take the lead in the raw material supply chain and innovative products. Our company's core values were created through conscious choices and special work by all management levels and were put into practice with behavioral indicators. Additionally, our Ethics Values Manifesto was written with care, and subsequently we began work on ensuring employees embraced and internalized it. Through workshops held in 2021, we implemented our Leadership Manifesto. This work both laid the foundations for a company constitution and ensured that all management team members were aligned on certain values. We adopted a profile as our manifesto that believes in teamwork and collaboration, is determined to manage proactive processes, is agile, and leads change. Preparing the Leadership Manifesto caused all management levels to align on certain principles and develop a common understanding. A transparent and lean management approach was adopted, and the value indicators for both employees and leaders became clear. Reaksiyon Kimya supports the development of our employees both technically and in terms of ethical stance and their training as future leaders.

How will global warming and climate change affect your company's activities in the coming period, and do you have work in this area?

We are aware of our responsibility in the climate crisis facing the entire world. In 2021, we also signed onto a triple responsibility commitment, demonstrating our determination to improve performance in this area, and quickly began our work. For example, we conducted Kaizen work aimed at reducing water consumption in our production stages and designed a recycling mechanism through which we can use waste water that passes through our pre-treatment system as wash water. The hyper-plasticizer polycarboxylate ether powder we produce as a concrete additive is, as you know, our environmentally friendly product. This product, developed to provide fluidity in concrete, reduces water requirements and, moreover, by increasing mechanical strength, contributes to structures' earthquake resistance. We also have work in the renewable energy field. At our new production facility, which is under construction and will be commissioned in May 2023, we will obtain all our electricity needs through solar panels integrated into the building. I want to express that we are determined to continue and develop work that adds to environmental awareness.

This year you are celebrating your company's 20th anniversary. Could you share your thoughts on this? What are your targets and expectations for Reaksiyon Kimya regarding the future?

Reaksiyon Kimya is marking its 20th year in 2023. We are very excited. Since our establishment, we have moved forward in continuous growth and development. At the point we have reached, our employees, customers, and all stakeholders who have progressed along the same path with us have played a part. We are very grateful to everyone. We hope to sign many more successes together in many more 20-year periods ahead. Regarding our targets and expectations; since 2020, the entire sector has been tested through the challenges of pandemic processes. During this period, the importance of digitalization and the ability to make dynamic and agile decisions was understood once again. We viewed this crisis period as an opportunity and, on one hand, took all necessary precautions and accelerated our investments and production, while on the other hand, we developed new products and expanded our effectiveness in foreign markets. One of our most important goals is for Reaksiyon Kimya, with its dynamic and young staff, to be an important player in the global market, as it is in Turkey. We are determined to bring the share of exports in our revenue to 30% within three years at the latest. Through our R&D work and projects, we will develop sustainable and innovative products, further strengthen the position we have gained in the sector, and make breakthroughs that will carry our country into the future in this area. We will continue to produce for a better tomorrow and grow together with all our customers and stakeholders.