Continuous Transformation in Production: Sözer Makina

Report by: Murat Soygür

Founded in 1946, Sözer Makina distinguishes itself through the production of multipurpose machinery and components, as well as design, engineering and consulting services. In the report we conducted, Factory Director Emrah Sözer shared detailed information with our readers about the products and services offered by the company.

Could you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your education and professional background?
I am 41 years old. I was born in Istanbul and am originally from Rize. I have two children and a wife who supports me in all respects. I am proud of my family.

After completing my education in industrial engineering, I began my career at Sözer Makina approximately 20 years ago. Before my engineering degree, because we are a family company, I worked in various roles at the factory during school holidays. During those periods, I can say I grew up working directly alongside blue-collar colleagues, particularly in the production department.

In subsequent periods, I took on roles in different departments. In addition to the production department, I worked in various positions within the Purchasing, Research and Development, Sales, and After-Sales Service divisions. I then took on administrative responsibilities. Now I continue my career at Sözer Makina as Factory Director.

Production is truly a place that nourishes me spiritually. Being there, hearing the sound of those machines, genuinely gives us great pleasure at all times. This is partly also a legacy left to us by my late grandfather. In his final days before his passing, he would call us and ask us to hold the telephone inside the workshop. He would be rehabilitated by hearing that sound. Production has a voice. Only those who experience and feel it can understand this. It is an ensemble of sounds created by the machines, equipment and working components. Personally, when I hear the smell of that place and this ensemble of sounds, I feel very happy.

When graduating from university, I prepared my thesis on Six Sigma. I had the opportunity to transfer the experience and research I gained from that period to Sözer. Subsequently, I also wrote several articles on quality and production planning. I truly love being intertwined with engineering. I feel great happiness in developing this and taking it to even higher levels.

I also have a great interest in history and literature. Especially as a member of a nation with such a rich past, I want to emphasize that we need "Lessons from Yesterday's Experience."

Could you provide information about Sözer Makina's founding process and the stages it has gone through to reach today?
Sözer Makina is a company founded in 1946. It was established by Ali Sözer in a small workshop in Karakoy. As the business volume grew, several more small workshops were opened. As business expanded further, facilities in closer locations were secured. The company made its first export in 1986. One of our flagship products, a version of the mixer machine that is close to the most technologically advanced version we have today, was first manufactured in 1971. Today our company is 79 years old and has been in continuous transformation from the day it was founded. We view this process as transformation rather than change, because there is a fine line between transformation and change. You take the right things, and correct the missing and wrong things. That is called transformation.

Today, third-generation family members are involved in company management. With our arrival, professional people in the field joined Sözer, particularly over the last 20 years. Departments became established. Each of our departments is headed by someone who is an expert in their field. We have quite a few engineers; I would say approximately one-third of our total workforce has an engineering background.

What types of products and to which sectors does Sözer Makina supply?
Currently, the sector we serve the most is the chemical sector. After all, we are a company that produces mixers and derivative machinery. Our product range is very wide. We are the oldest and largest company in Turkey in this field. We demonstrate this through our sales volume, our pre- and after-sales services, and our exports worldwide, that is, through the data. We believe we hold a considerable position globally as well.

In addition to the chemical sector, we produce machinery for many sectors including cosmetics, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, food, agricultural and dental applications. Mixers are devices used in the production of any product obtained by mixing liquid with liquid or liquid with powder. Therefore, our sector range is very broad. We can produce different types and capacities of machinery that address almost every sector.

Could you provide information about Sözer Makina's overseas activities?
We export to more than seventy countries, so our geographic scope is quite extensive. Our machinery exists in almost every region of the world. We are currently shipping produced machinery to the Americas in considerable numbers. In addition, we are already sending to many European countries, Russia, Turkic republics and African countries. We even have machinery operating actively in India.

We are an active participant in trade fairs in various parts of the world. I should emphasize that we try to participate in the vast majority of these fairs not just with catalogs or brochures, but with actual machinery.

Although this has serious financial costs, participating in fairs with machinery has very significant advantages. As a country, we have made serious strides in recent years. I want to state that as engineering and industry, we have broken our shell and, although we continue to develop, we are rapidly evolving into a notable position globally.

Additionally, at trade fair venues, we take care to present our machinery to visitors in working condition in a manner that complies with occupational safety standards. These elements bring us serious sales and marketing advantages. We produce high value-added products from an engineering perspective. We have a systematic structure that works independently of individuals and is of high quality. We strive to improve ourselves more with each passing day.

We believe that Sözer Makina's brand value and global recognition are in good standing. We can understand this from the continuous feedback we receive from our customers. We are aware that producing solid machinery alone is not sufficient; after-sales services are extremely important. In this regard, we conduct quite rigorous analysis work and take care to maintain ourselves in a continuously updated and strong position.

Could you tell us about the work you carry out in innovation and research and development?
We have a very serious quality research and development team. Our engineer colleagues, technicians and technical staff continuously gather information from the field to design our machinery. Our designers spend at least one and a half hours every day in the field. They consult with the masters and machine operators there. In this way, the manufacturability of a designed component is also observed and, if necessary, revisions are made quickly. Additionally, after shipping the machinery, our installation and assembly team conducts several production runs with the customer at their site and carefully listens to the customer's comments. When they return these comments to the factory, they transmit them to our Design and R&D team to benefit the development process. After all, as a company with 79 years of field experience, we know well that the best promotion comes from our customers who use the machinery we produce. This is the case whether they go to Brazil or elsewhere. We ship the machinery from here, it reaches there, then the loading process ends. Our team definitely goes to the installation and conducts trial production with the customer's raw materials.

Several months, or perhaps even several years pass. We are in continuous dialogue with the customer. We receive feedback about the performance of our machinery. Then we share this data with our R&D and innovation team. This is very important because although the machinery works as it should when first manufactured, over time, a gear, belt, sprocket or transmission component in the machinery may deform. The development of our R&D has been made possible by the regular feedback we receive from our customers over the years.

Of course, the company has 79 years of experience behind it. We combine these 79 years with the knowledge of today's visionary engineer colleagues and work with all our might to continuously improve.

What advice would you give to entrepreneurs entering the sector?
Work, work, work. Success does not come from the comfort zone. My advice to young colleagues is to always be in the field. Simply earning a diploma and getting high grades on exams is not enough; without being in the field and engaging in dialogue with the masters, it is impossible for them to develop themselves. It is difficult to gain complete mastery of the work done this way and, therefore, achieve serious success. In short, I believe that taking the principles "No rose without a thorn" or "Pearls are the product of pain" will greatly support their development. I want to emphasize how important it is for them to continuously research to improve themselves, not to be disconnected from the world, and to constantly investigate developments in that sector.