An Enjoyable Interview with Ayhan Doruk, Founder and General Manager of Unica Boya

We conducted a pleasant interview with Ayhan Doruk, Founder and General Manager of Unica Boya. Doruk provided detailed information about Unica Boya, a brand specializing in sports flooring coatings.

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

I graduated in 1985 from Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering. After military service, I entered the workforce for the first time in 1987. I worked at different companies until 1994. I served both as a Manufacturing Manager and as an Assistant Export Manager. That same year, from 1994 to 2000, I founded my first company as a partner. I initially started with epoxy floor coatings and heavy-duty paints production.

Could you provide information about Unica Boya's establishment process and the stages it has gone through to reach today? Which regions and countries are among Unica Boya's target markets?

I established Boytem in 2001 and created the Unica brand. In addition to industrial floor coatings and heavy-duty paints production, we began to develop interest in sports floors. We conducted the research and development for these through approximately one year of work. By the end of 2001, we began producing the first acrylic-based tennis court floor coatings. That same year, we started producing Tennis Court Coating Systems certified by the International Tennis Federation for the first time in Turkey. Until 2004, we operated entirely in the Turkish market, but after 2004, we understood that exports were extremely important and that opening up to the world was necessary. India was our first foreign market. Despite having nearby locations around us, we started with India, a distant location, and received our first order from India in 2004. India was followed by Syria, then Lebanon, Saudi Arabia. Today, in 2017, we have customers on 5 different continents. All of North Africa, all of the Middle East except Syria at present, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea among our customers in East and Far East. All Balkan countries, all Turkish republics, Russia and Ukraine. From European countries, the United Kingdom, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovenia are among the countries we work with.

"We currently have direct exports to over 45 countries."

Of course, each year we select target markets and countries, and trade fairs we participate in abroad have a very significant role and contribution to our exports. We participate in fairs in the specific regions we target. We conduct market research beforehand and identify potential customers. After the fair, we conduct performance evaluations and select relevant customers from them, then establish direct contact. Our methodology is to translate business and potential market opportunities more into practice. Since we are internationally focused, we have not participated in many fairs domestically. We currently sell 70% of our production abroad, We serve the domestic market at 30% level. But of course we will give more importance to the domestic market, this year we will have marketing activities aimed at the domestic market, the most important of which is participating in this year's construction fair. We plan to make a visual presentation along with technical presentations here.

What types of products does Unica Boya primarily supply to which sectors? Could you provide information about Unica Boya's products, brands and services?

Unica is a medium-sized family business, most of the company's employees come from the family. As Unica, our primary goal is to produce specific and differentiated products and present them to the market. We do not produce conventional products, that is, we do not produce plastic paint, furniture, metal paint, shelf paint type products. What we do is specific paints, generally focused on floors, mainly sports floors. We currently conduct production processes while meeting all legal requirements. Product certification, accredited test reports – whatever legal requirements come to mind for a product, we provide all of these while producing. For example, we are the only Turkish member institution of the International Tennis Federation. If we ask what advantages this provides, it ensures we have very close relations with the International Tennis Federation, and therefore through technical information exchange, we receive very tight and fast information regarding newly updated technical regulations and regulations, and adapt to them. Second, we are the only Turkish company in the world that can perform this test in our own laboratory, especially in tennis coatings. Therefore, our difference from other tennis court and sports floor material producing companies in Turkey is that we are the only company in Turkey that has 100% of the legal requirements in this field. We have a fully equipped laboratory and capacity to measure all technical values expected from a floor coating. Therefore, we evaluate product quality with measurable numeric values and standards. Innovative products are among our priorities. Most of our product portfolio currently consists of products that have no equivalent in Turkey. We conduct research and development very regularly and product development is a continuous process for us. That is, a product never remains in its previous year's form; we always add an innovation, a feature that will increase its performance. We are also recognized in the market with this characteristic.

Unica primarily manufactures floor coatings.

In addition, albeit in small quantities, we are also a company producing industrial-type, very special-purpose specific products. We primarily produce sports floor coatings and industrial floor coatings. Industrial floor coatings are already epoxy-based, familiar products; they have already entered the conventional product category in the market. We don't have much focus on epoxy in the domestic market, but we certainly have specific customers for a product we produce, we still produce, sell, conduct research and development, and add innovative products. However, we don't have high expectations from the market regarding epoxy floor coatings. But we develop many different products related to sports floor coatings, from bicycle lanes to ice skating rinks, badminton, volleyball, handball, futsal, squash courts, athletics tracks – we produce the components of all floor coatings for open or enclosed facilities. We have these products we produce tested in accredited laboratories abroad, obtain quality control certificates and then submit them to production. Beyond this, for example, children's playgrounds – rubber coatings were used in old systems, now very different systems have come into play. Classic colored rubber products are extremely harmful to health, they are petroleum-derived products after all, but we evaluate these types of coatings as a base material and cover them with a more environmentally friendly product, therefore the recycled rubber underneath is not affected. Epoxy acrylic systems have better UV values, are more environmentally friendly and especially very long-lasting products, we provide these. It prevents odor, creates a more hygienic surface. In addition, we have water-based, low-VOC single or two-component polyurethane acrylic products used in sports floor coatings. These environmentally friendly products are highly preferred abroad, but while it's somewhat difficult to go beyond conventional things in Turkey, we hope that with proper promotion these products will find demand in the domestic market as well. One of our most important customers is vacation villages and hotels like tourism facilities.

There is especially sports tourism and tennis tourism in Antalya.

Some facilities have 40-50 courts that need to be renewed after a certain time. Besides these, we sometimes receive individual orders, even carry out applications, but generally our work is project-based. That is, like acquiring and delivering a tennis club from scratch. Our customers are mainly professional facilities, tennis clubs heading the list, universities, military facilities come next, in these areas standards are observed much more strictly.

What kind of work do you conduct in innovation and research and development areas as Unica Boya? Do you have projects developed under university-industry cooperation, and if so, what are they?

We rarely have some activities related to universities, theoretical knowledge sharing is foremost among these. Therefore, we try to create and develop products and systems by combining the theoretical knowledge accumulation of universities with market and needs analysis, while also considering the performance-price balance in the market. Also, nowadays the internet opens very large horizons for us, there are very specific internet sites, related to the chemistry sector, the paint industry, we follow these very regularly, we also attend online web seminars and some organized congresses. We prefer to get the necessary information from the source, that is, directly from people who are experts in that field. If we have a need, large companies have laboratories in various places, and experts in this field as well; when we need information or need to collaborate, we do it with them. Since we are technically equipped, we conduct all our tests ourselves. When necessary, we also receive innovation support directly from abroad.

Can you provide examples of your innovative products?

Certainly, we currently have a product we launched on the market this year. This is a two-component epoxy acrylic water-based product. We produce several different versions; textured ones, smooth ones. This product has extremely high abrasion resistance, excellent adhesion, and at the same time excellent UV resistance. Currently it is used very frequently in America, Australia, Canada but it is not a known product in Turkey. It can be used in all outdoor areas, parks, squares, on concrete or asphalt, parking lot floors. Its application is extremely easy but extremely high-performance product. There is an index called SR for this. It is called Solar Reflectance Index; this product's solar reflectance index is over 30%.

"Especially with environmental concerns, in very hot countries these are preferred, it is desired that the material reflect rather than absorb sunlight."

This product also has very environmentally friendly characteristics. You can use it not only on bicycle or walking paths, but also on pedestrian crossings, you can color any square or sidewalk. Besides these, there are systems we call splash courts where children play, with water fountains, used as non-slip and hygienic coatings with special base construction on these floors. Not common in Turkey but it's a product we currently produce. We are currently using this product in projects in Romania, Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi. We also produced a new range of non-slip products, which absolutely contain no quartz or silica. That is, no powder products are contained in them, we create a certain texture with a chemical additive, it looks like normal paint but when applied to a floor it has a textured appearance. For example, this is also not a system that exists in Turkey, there is no such system, no such technique either. Our customers in our own sector have requests for this type, and this drives us to produce different products and be in a different position in the sector.

What kind of work do you do regarding patents?

We are serious about patent matters. Our company's trademark and logo are currently registered in 26 countries. Every brand we have on the market is patented, registered, and not only domestic but also foreign registered. Currently 26 countries, and in fact we will soon have a patent application to 23 countries, reaching a total of 49 countries. All of our 4 main brands are registered not only in Turkey but also abroad.

Could you provide information about Unica Boya's environmental policy and sustainability approach? What can you say about your work related to occupational health and safety?

We currently have a small facility, but we are extremely careful in our environmental policies, for example we have our own special treatment system. At the same time, in terms of occupational safety, this entire area is equipped with all kinds of legal requirements. Our facility has special fire suppression systems, special ventilation systems. Periodic checks and maintenance are carried out on machinery and equipment, safety systems, and occupational health and safety requirements at our factory. We fully comply with the regulations. We do not release waste products to nature in any way. Here, waste is sorted, separated, and then sent to organizations we have agreements with. Our company has a contractual physician and an occupational safety consultant.

What criteria are prioritized when Unica Boya formulates investment plans? Does Unica Boya have investment plans for the coming periods, and if so, what are they?

We have currently started construction of our new factory building in Düzce Gümüşova. We have 6,500 square meters of factory land within the Organized Industrial Zone with 3,500 square meters of enclosed space. The first phase of this is construction of a 1,750 square meter facility, which will be completed by the end of August. We will be in our new location in June 2017; with this new location we will make very significant changes. These changes are headed by renewing equipment; we will conduct all production equipment in a more technological structure. This includes semi-automatic production systems. We have conducted our studies and preliminary discussions on this. We plan to switch to computer-controlled semi-automatic production. Also, we will make another investment in our new production facility; we conducted preliminary discussions with a German company for rubber roll production. We plan to implement the investment by the end of 2017. Thus, we will begin producing a new rubber system in Turkey, of course we will produce many varieties of these with a new technology method. We can view these materials not only as a sports floor but also as an insulation material; that is, as both sound and vibration isolation systems. Besides this, we are planning to produce aesthetic floors that need to be used in gyms and market them both in the domestic market and abroad. These are our plans for the coming year. Regarding abroad; we currently have three offices abroad, one in Tunisia, one in Algeria, one in Morocco. North Africa is very important for us; North Africa is actually a gateway to Central Africa; our busiest office right now is Morocco, working very intensively. We have ongoing projects, we have pending projects. That's a very good market for us. Within 2017, we need to focus more on the Vietnam market in the Far East Market first. Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia – we give great importance to these three. Then next year we are targeting South America, that is, Latin American countries.