Interview with Burak Darcan, General Manager of Tila Kompozit

We conducted an enjoyable conversation with Burak Darcan, General Manager of Tila Kompozit, about the company's development process and the products they have offered to the sector.

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

I was born in Istanbul in 1981. I graduated from FMV Ayazağa Işık High School in 1999 and from Istanbul Technical University Mining Engineering in 2004. I completed my master's degree in E-Business at Westminster University in London. After working for 8 years at my family company Boytek A.Ş., I founded my own company Tila Kompozit at the beginning of 2012.

Could you tell us about your company's development process from its founding to today?

Tila Kompozit was established with the aim of filling gaps in the Turkish composites sector and increasing its added value. We provide services in education, consulting and sales. We started our business activities with 2 distributorships and now represent more than 15 brands. We are a dynamic team of 10 people covering 2,000 km per week.

Could you provide detailed information about your products targeting the composites sector?

Resins (epoxy, unsaturated polyester, vinyl ester), reinforcement fabrics (carbon, glass, basalt fiber and core materials), auxiliary materials (gelcoat, pigment paste, mold release agent, putty-polish, flexible mold systems, filler materials, cleaners), consumables (occupational safety equipment, brushes and rollers), repair kits and phase-change materials. We supply these products to the sector through business partners AGY (USA), Akpa (Turkey), Boytek (Turkey), Chemtrend/Zyvax (Germany), Diatex (France), Guard (France), GRP Tools (United Kingdom), Lavesan (Italy), Nidaplast (France), Owens Corning (USA), Paiboat (Italy), Saertex (Germany), Sicomin (France), Smooth On (USA), TFP (United Kingdom) and SMRE (Italy). In short, we supply all the products you need to manufacture a composite part. In addition, with our glass fiber, basalt fiber, PU and silicone mold materials and nano-cleaning products specifically for the rapidly developing construction sector, we are recently diversifying significantly and increasing added value in this sector as well.

You also support the Turkish composites industry through your training programs. Could you tell us about the content of these training programs?

As you know, the word "Composite" appears in our company name. Since the definition of composite is still not well known, we receive invoices or pronunciations from people in meaningless ways like cosmetic or composit. Like all companies in the Turkish composites sector, we tried to explain this, but we wanted to take a step further and started our training programs in 2013. Currently, we organize training sessions every month with sector associations, industrial and trade chambers throughout Turkey, as well as universities. In addition, we organize customized training programs according to packages from companies. Our most requested training programs are: Introduction to Composites, Composite Raw Materials, Composite Production Methods, Quality Control in Composite Production, Composite Mold Making, Composite Mold Repair. Upon completion of these trainings, we issue certificates, and we will soon start providing Professional Competency Certificate trainings in the Composites field.

What areas do your consulting services cover? Could you provide information about your services?

We serve here with a varied package. We can summarize it as new raw material research, new production methods, feasibility analyses, R&D and innovation support, and investment consulting. While companies new to the sector receive consulting from us in many areas, visionary companies in the sector request that we share our experience with new raw materials and production methods to increase productivity. For training and consulting work, we invite not only experienced personnel from our own organization but also sector veterans both from within Turkey and abroad to our projects.

Could you tell us about your projects and goals for 2018?

2018 will be a restructuring year for Tila Kompozit. We have transformed into a strong structure where we will make rapid progress specifically with our personnel and business partners. This year we will achieve our goal of double growth like in previous years. We will work to support the development of business partners like Saertex who are investing in Turkey and the contributions they will make to the Turkish market. Besides, we aim to close the year with record turnover on our Polyesterciyiz.biz internet sales platform, which is the most comprehensive e-commerce site in the sector.

What do you think about the composites sector in Turkey? What do you think should be done for the sector's development?

In my opinion, the Turkish composites sector is very dynamic and very open to development. All sectors in Turkey need composites, and we need to work harder to demonstrate this need. If we act with the awareness that composites are valuable, we will raise the value of composite materials to a higher level on the added-value scale. For example; all domestic projects such as automobiles, jets and submarines will use composites, and if explained well, these products can be used more. As a final step here, it is necessary to further increase and diversify domestic production of inputs in the supply chain.

Do you have a message you would like to convey to the sector?

Trust in composite products and the dreams of those who create them. Thank you.