Interview with Bahadır Yakutlu, General Manager of Yakut Makina

In the interview we conducted, Bahadır Yakutlu, Partner and General Manager of Yakut Makina, answered our questions. Yakutlu provided information about Yakut Makina's products and services.

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

Hello everyone. First of all, I would like to thank you and your readers for giving us the opportunity to share the excitement we feel with everyone interested, as 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of our company's founding. I was born in Istanbul in 1966. After completing my primary, secondary and high school education in Istanbul, I graduated from the Business Administration Department of Izmir 9 Eylül University in 1988. Since 1990, when I completed my military service, I have continued to serve as both a Partner and General Manager at Yakut Makina ve Zincir San. Ltd. Şti.

Could you provide information about Yakut Makina's founding process and the stages it has gone through until today? What is Yakut Makina's structure today?

Yakut Makina was founded in 1969 by my father Erdoğan Yakutlu in the Güngören district of Istanbul as a small workshop measuring 100 m², coinciding with a period when industry and manufacturing were very weak in our country. Initially, our company, operating with a small team of a few people, manufactured various machines used in different sectors. Following the death of Mr. Erdoğan Yakutlu in 1978, the company went through a brief period of difficulties but continued its operations uninterrupted. During that period, many small-scale manufacturing enterprises could not survive after the death of their owners and were forced to close. Yakut Makina's current institutional structure and partnership distribution began in 1994. From that date onwards, our company prioritized specialization in the production of conveyor systems used in the paints sector, which was just beginning to develop in our country at that time, and gradually discontinued all other manufacturing. Our factory, where we have been operating since 2004, is located in Velimeşe Organized Industrial Zone in the Ergene district of Tekirdağ and covers 4,000 m² of enclosed space on a single level within an 11,000 m² area. We have a machine park consisting of 60 machines used for different purposes in production. As of today, we provide employment to 40 people.

What sectors does Yakut Makina mainly supply, and what types of products? Could you provide information about Yakut Makina's products, brands and services specifically offered for the paints and coatings sectors?

Our company is primarily engaged in the production of overhead and floor-type conveyors that transport materials to be painted in paint shop facilities, as well as the production of conveyor systems used by many different sectors for assembly in serial production or for transporting materials from one point to another within the factory. We manufacture 11 different conveyor models on a project basis, with structure and dimensions varying according to the environment, the purpose for which they will be used, and the characteristics of the product they will transport. We primarily serve companies operating in different sectors of the manufacturing industry, such as automotive, defense, white goods, bicycles, motorcycles, office furniture, small household appliances, wheels, machinery, kitchenware, glassware, textiles, leather, aluminum, elevators, electronic goods, steel doors and furniture, and their suppliers. Our conveyor systems are frequently used in the serial production of many industries requiring surface preparation and coating to apply wet and powder paints to different materials such as metal, plastic, wood and glass, in cataphoresis and enamel coating facilities, and in textile sector operations such as fabric bleaching and wrinkling.

Could you tell us about your domestic and foreign sales activities? What types of products do you mainly sell to which regions domestically and abroad?

On average, we produce 150–200 conveyor systems per year, and their total length reaches 40 kilometers. While we do not have precise data, I estimate that in terms of production and sales capacity, we rank among the top 15 in the world and the top 7 in Europe. Our conveyors operate in every region of our country and in nearly every province, and besides, we send our products to approximately 60 countries around the world. Approximately 75% of our total sales come from our foreign sales, and this rate continues to increase year by year. For our foreign markets, we mainly serve Asian and European countries, but we also send many conveyor systems to South America, North America, Africa and Far East countries. We have reached very significant potential especially in distant markets in recent years. We have managed to become a recognized brand in many countries.

What kind of work do you carry out in innovation and R&D? Do you have projects developed under university-industry cooperation, and if so, what are they?

Our company is at the forefront in many areas within our field of activity in our country. The budget we allocate to R&D work constitutes a significant portion of our total expenses. We have a separate department working exclusively on R&D and innovation. The engineers in this department are completely isolated from ongoing standard production work and focus solely on new design and product development. Furthermore, many of our employees contribute to developing better, more competitive, more efficient and simpler production. Our management cadres also attach importance to the ideas and opinions of our employees on these matters.

Could you provide information about Yakut Makina's environmental policy and sustainability approach? What can you tell us about your work related to occupational health and safety?

Our company has a sensitive approach to occupational health and safety. Like many companies, we also receive external consulting services in these areas. Our difference lies in attaching the necessary importance to these matters and showing care in implementation. Our employees' occupational safety training, health checks and factory safety are continuously monitored, and measures are implemented immediately if necessary. We also try to be as careful as possible regarding environmental matters. We are aware that for the sustainability of our world, we must leave better environmental conditions to the next generation after us. There is no process in our factory that produces waste harmful to the environment. Required environmental inspections are carried out on time and carefully. We are planning to establish a wastewater treatment facility to minimize our domestic waste. We are also about to begin work on converting to a drip irrigation system for watering the plants in our factory yard.

What criteria are prioritized when developing investment plans for Yakut Makina? Does Yakut Makina have investment plans for the coming periods, and if so, what are they?

When making investments, our priority is on issues such as developing innovative products, increasing efficiency in our ongoing production, and contributing to improved quality. We think about how to produce a better product more efficiently and competitively, or how to develop a new product. In the near term, in addition to purchasing 2 new machines for production, we plan to renew some of our existing machines to make them more compatible with today's technology. We aim to begin these investments towards the end of 2019 and complete them during 2020.