Interview with Tolga Zent, Founder and General Manager of Alfatech Makina

We conducted an engaging interview with Tolga Zent, founder and General Manager of Alfatech Makina. Zent provided detailed information about Alfatech Makina's R&D activities and the products they have developed.

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

I am a graduate of the Economics Department at Uludağ University. I entered this sector in 2006. At that time, I was responsible for sales, marketing and procurement. In 2012, due to differences in vision, we felt the need for a new venture and founded Alfatech. In 2014, we divided the company internally and launched Alfatechnic, which operates as the manufacturing and project division. Alfatechnic continues as a company that builds blasting and painting facilities and produces industrial solutions. Alfatech Makina operates in the supply and sale of blasting and painting equipment.

Could you provide information about the founding process of Alfatech Makina and the stages it has gone through to reach its current state? What is the current structure of Alfatech Makina?

Since its founding in 2012, Alfatech Makina, operating in the field of blasting and painting equipment and facilities, has grown to the present day by adhering to the principle that "honesty and quality are the guarantee of commercial success," and has built up continuously increasing experience and correspondingly more qualified personnel. In 2014, Alfatechnic was established as a spinoff from within the company. Currently, the Alfatech group, through its headquarters and authorized dealers, serves throughout Turkey and abroad. The portfolio has been carefully selected with regard to both technological and high-quality products, and high-quality products have been added to the portfolio. In Turkey, Alfatech is the distributor of Wagner, a German brand, for high-pressure industrial airless paint pumps. Beyond this, the company works with world brands such as Contracor in blasting equipment, Kennametal in blasting nozzles, RPB Safety in safety equipment, and Eaton Seal in blasting and painting hoses. Alfatech Makina also manufactures paint pumps under its own brand. Both Alfatech and Alfatechnic, companies that are always remembered for their after-sales service in the work they do, have well-equipped technical service teams.

What are the main sectors Alfatech Makina supplies to and what types of products does it provide? Could you provide information about Alfatech Makina's products, brands and services?

As Alfatech Makina, we supply blasting, painting and coating machinery and equipment that we manufacture and procure. As Alfatechnic Makina, which is the production and project division of Alfatech Makina, we design blasting and painting systems with project designs tailored to your needs. We would like to point out that we are also specialists in the procurement and mobilization of blasting and painting operations at job sites in overseas operations of major contractor companies. In other words, in every field requiring surface treatment, both Alfatech and Alfatechnic are always at your service with our facilities, machinery and equipment. These systems and machinery we produce are extensively used in sectors such as steel construction, shipyards, steel bridge construction, vehicle-mounted equipment, refineries, automotive, metal industry, food processing, and petrochemicals. Let me explain in more detail so that our products and systems can be better understood. As Alfatech and Alfatechnic, the main products we manufacture and sell are blasting facilities, painting facilities, humidity control systems, grit recycling systems (vacuum machines), filtration systems (dust collection machines), industrial heaters, blasting tanks and paint pumps. Additionally, we procure blasting connection parts and equipment, paint pump connection parts and equipment, and provide service with our after-sales support team.

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

Domestically, our company has executed the blasting and painting facility at the Osmangazi Bridge Viaduct construction site, humidity removal systems for the 3rd Bridge deck construction, and dust collection and spraying machinery for the 2nd and 1st Bridge renovation projects. We have references for approximately 100 blasting and painting facilities in Turkey. Internationally, we have supplied blasting facilities in America, blasting and painting facilities at the world's 3rd largest port shipyard in Turkmenistan, and machinery and equipment sales to more than 20 countries, particularly our neighboring countries (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria, Greece, etc.), throughout Europe, the Middle East and America (England, Scotland, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Dubai, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Turkmenistan). We are currently completing the installation and assembly of a blasting and painting facility that we specifically designed for the needs of a steel construction company in Serbia.

What kind of work do you undertake at Alfatech Makina in the areas of innovation and R&D? Do you have projects developed within the scope of university-industry cooperation, and if so, what are they?

Let me explain our product called Alfa Dual, which we have designed using new technologies and is entirely our own production with no equivalent in Turkey. Our Alfa Dual product has almost the same dimensions as our 300-liter tank but is more advantageous in function than a blasting tank. In its internal mechanism with a system of two tanks stacked on top of each other, during operation when the sand runs out in the lower tank, you no longer need to wait for the tank to fill with sand. Thanks to the system mechanism we designed, when the lower tank empties, the abrasive from the upper tank flows into the lower tank without stopping the operation, thus eliminating the need for waiting time. This provides savings in time and cost. We currently have an R&D project at KOSGEB called Silent Machinery, which is related to the development of our blasting machinery. Our project has not yet been completed.

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

At Alfatech and Alfatechnic Makina, we attach importance to occupational safety and worker health both during our machinery manufacturing phase and project installation phase. Additionally, we ensure that the machinery we produce is released into the atmosphere in compliance with emission rates prescribed by the Ministry of Environment. The emissions of dust from the machinery we produce comply with the Ministry of Environment Waste Regulations. Furthermore, we make our filters that prevent solvent from being released into nature compliant with the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) report. Therefore, all necessary precautions are always taken everywhere. In applications involving harsh conditions such as blasting and painting, Alfatechnic includes operator health-protecting systems in its portfolio. It both manufactures environmentally sensitive machinery and manufactures in compliance with occupational safety standards.

What criteria are prioritized when Alfatech Makina draws up investment plans? Does Alfatech Makina have investment plans for upcoming periods, and if so, what are they?

Our investments in machinery, personnel and factory continue in line with our objectives of more economical, more functional, faster production and reaching more customers. Investments are being made in new technologies. All developments in the sector worldwide are being monitored.