Interview with Ufuk Özgen, CEO of Terralab

We conducted an enjoyable interview with Terralab CEO Ufuk Özgen about the company and the sector. Mr. Özgen shared information about the company's objectives, criteria and R&D activities. Enjoy your reading.

Could you tell our readers about yourself and your background?

I was born in Ankara in 1984. I completed my secondary and high school education at TED Ankara Lyceum. At university, I graduated from the Chemistry Department at METU. I started my working life in 2006 as a Service Engineer at Terralab, and since 2016 I have been serving as CEO managing the company. In 2019, I completed the ODTÜ Executive MBA program, furthering my development in management and completing my academic education.

What would you like to say about your company? What are the criteria that shape your success policy?

Our company was founded in 1997 in Ankara by Chief Chemical Engineer Bülent Atamer and is the exclusive representative of numerous foreign manufacturers in Turkey. We provide solutions to the R&D, quality control and inspection units of industrial establishments and laboratories of public inspection organizations under four main product groups: Chemical Analysis and Environmental Analytics, Biotechnological and Chemical Processes, Surface and Material Characterization, and Fluid Transfer. Our company, which operates through the sale of products in its portfolio and post-sales service support, has more than 1,500 installed units throughout the country. Since our establishment, we can say that making customer satisfaction a primary priority and approaching our customers' problems with the awareness of being a solution partner is the secret of our success.

Last year was a year when pandemic effects were felt intensely and these effects continue today. How was your company affected and what measures did it take?

The effects of the pandemic were felt at our company as they were in every sector and every firm. By closely monitoring all global and national developments, we foresaw the situation and, as of March 2020, acted preventively by switching to remote work before legal measures and lockdowns began. To be honest, during remote work we once again realized how much face-to-face contact in the field made a difference to our work, and how efficiently we could run our business processes when we were together. As time progressed, after taking the necessary mask-distance-hygiene measures gradually, we returned to our offices. Within the scope of some measures we continue to observe meticulously, our priority remains protecting the health of all our colleagues and their families.

Which sectors do you serve? What are your product varieties?

We group our product varieties under four main categories: surface and material characterization, chemical analysis and environmental analytics, biotechnological and chemical processes, and fluid transfer. Our company, which operates in sectors such as environment, energy, pharmaceuticals and clinical, chemicals, materials and metallurgy, agriculture and food, mining, and biotechnology, provides solutions in these fields with more than 250 units in its product portfolio.

What is the importance of R&D for Terralab? Could you tell us about your recent R&D projects?

Our company has always valued R&D and took its first action on this subject in 2007 when it felt ready. The Terralab R&D unit, which we launched as a KOSGEB project, transformed into a separate legal entity under the TRL-Instruments brand as a "spinoff" in Terralab's 10th year. TRL-Instruments, which started its work with equipment and process development activities in areas such as environmental protection and agricultural productivity and has continued as an independent structure since 2017, is now one of our leading agencies. It develops and manufactures Online Total Organic Carbon (TOC) analyzers, gas mixers, specially designed reaction and catalyst characterization systems, fermenters and bioreactors for small-scale production. It has equipment and systems in more than 10 countries. Terralab also acts as a provider by contributing to its suppliers in the R&D field in areas where it is not in a manufacturing position, with new methodologies developed by our representatives with respect to their equipment, for which we provide field installation and training.

If your company has launched or pioneered a corporate social responsibility project, could you provide us with information about it?

Terralab has not addressed social responsibility independently of its main activities, but has carefully monitored how the processes and issues in which it is a stakeholder contribute to its surroundings, and has explored ways in which it could make a difference in this direction. In this context, by being aware of the social circles it is part of, it has adopted an understanding that is committed to ethical codes, environmentally conscious, and considerate of the progress of both primary and secondary external stakeholders alongside itself.

What measures have you taken in manufacturing for a more sustainable world? Could you define Terralab's perspective on sustainability in this context?

Being able to respond to our customers' analysis and measurement needs in many valuable projects that will shape our future in many areas such as environment, energy, and materials, and that place the sustainable management of resources at the center, has always been a source of pride for us. In our own processes, being conscious that we are consuming the world's natural resources, we have tried to implement and include basic topics such as recycling and reuse in our quality policy.

Could you talk about your objectives for the coming years? What innovations await Terralab in the coming years?

As Terralab celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2022, the first of its future objectives is of course to maintain the values that make us who we are; maintaining a sustainable structure that first and foremost considers the satisfaction of our customers, followed by our employees, solution partners and ultimately all stakeholders, committed to ethical codes and fundamental human rights. Establishing our growth trend on sound foundations and creating new partnerships and entering new markets in this direction are of primary importance to us. Strengthening our training processes to ensure our own development and reaching an organizational structure that brings teamwork to the highest level are also necessary steps for us to achieve our objectives.