Eczacıbaşı Group Makes New Investment in Its 80th Year

Eczacıbaşı Group Invests During Its 80th Year This year, Eczacıbaşı Group, which is marking its 80th anniversary and continues to contribute to Turkey's economy through export-oriented investments, opened a new facility in Bilecik Bozüyük. The facility belongs to Vitra Karo A.Ş., which operates in the building products sector—Eczacıbaşı Group's largest business area—and is Turkey's export champion in the tile sector. The opening ceremony marked the facility's entry into service. The ceremony at VitrA's production campus in Bozüyük was attended by Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez, Chairman of the Board of Eczacıbaşı Holding Bülent Eczacıbaşı, Vice Chairman of the Board of Eczacıbaşı Holding Faruk Eczacıbaşı, Chief Executive Officer of Eczacıbaşı Group Atalay Gümrah, Chief Executive Officer of Vitra Karo A.Ş. Hasan Pehlivan, Eczacıbaşı Group employees and guests. With its new facility, Vitra Karo will have an annual production capacity of 3.5 million square metres of large-format porcelain tiles and will also increase its contribution to sustainability by improving energy efficiency and reducing waste. With its new facility implementing comprehensive Industry 4.0 applications and data-driven production management with an export focus, Vitra Karo will also accelerate its growth in the European market. This year, Vitra Karo plans to complete a total of EUR 25.5 million investment in the new facility, productivity and modernization.

EUR 250 million investment in 2022

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Bülent Eczacıbaşı, Chairman of the Board of Eczacıbaşı Holding, emphasized that in the group's 80th year, they continue to invest with confidence and stability in all areas to increase global competitiveness: "For 80 years, Eczacıbaşı Group has carried the flag of modern, quality and healthy living in Turkey. Today, our group operates with 46 subsidiaries and 39 production facilities in more than 120 international markets. During this 80-year journey, we first became an important part of Turkey's industrialization story, and then, through the brands we created, transcending Turkey's borders, we transformed into an international player operating in 3 continents with 12,000 employees bringing the company to life today. We continue our investments in every area of our operations to strengthen our power in global competition. In 2022, we planned investments exceeding EUR 250 million. Among these investments, we are putting into operation today Vitra Karo's new facility. In the near future, we will also complete the investment in our fifth facility in Bozüyük for ceramic sanitary ware production." Stating that building products constitute Eczacıbaşı Group's largest business area, Bülent Eczacıbaşı said: "We account for more than 50% of our country's total ceramic sanitary ware exports; we rank first with our tile products in exports to EU countries. We have the competence to design all products used in bathrooms. We are extending this competence beyond bathrooms with our tile products. With our new facility at Vitra Karo, we are taking our capacity a step further."

Will provide capacity and employment increase

With the new facility investment, Vitra Karo's production capacity at its Bozüyük campus increased from 22 million to 25.5 million square metres, and its total capacity including investments abroad reached 30 million square metres. The new facility will provide 83 new jobs, bringing the total workforce at Vitra Karo's Bozüyük campus to 1,080. Vitra Karo, with its brands VitrA and Villeroy & Boch premium, holds a leading position in the premium and luxury segments in Turkey. The large-format tile production that has begun at Vitra Karo's new facility is part of the tile ceramics category that has shown significant growth in Europe in recent years. Vitra Karo implemented the new facility investment based on three main objectives: realizing inspiring modern designs in the growing market and growing category, increasing energy efficiency in sustainability, and reducing waste.

Waste prevented with artificial intelligence

Vitra Karo Chief Executive Officer Hasan Pehlivan: "With our new facility, we are increasing our large-format porcelain tile production competence and capacity. This category is a seriously growing category in our target European market. The aim is not just size. The products resulting from the investment will combine digital technology applications that give the surface feel of natural stone and marble materials and bring our designs to life more realistically. Our design ambitions will increase further. Alongside all of this, sustainability is very important for us. In our new facility, we are achieving record-level energy efficiency at the production stage. Energy consumption on this line is 15% lower than on normal lines. We are also preventing production waste. With the data flow we provide through digital sensors, we are using artificial intelligence algorithms to minimize products that exit with production errors. In 2017, average production waste of 8% was first reduced to 4.5%. Thanks to solutions developed in collaboration with Eczacıbaşı Group's unit that performs artificial intelligence and data analytics, we managed to reduce the scrap rate from 4.5% to 3.5%. We are working to reduce this rate even further. We plan to expand the Industry 4.0 and beyond applications we have achieved on this line to all our production lines."

"We will further increase our global share from mining"

In part of his speech, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez said: "As you know, Turkey has recently shifted to a production and export-oriented growth model. We do not view these investments merely as facility investments. Above all else, the technology used here, the R&D and innovation conducted—these are important factors that increase the added value of these investments. This facility is equipped with cutting-edge technology from raw material to end product, with artificial intelligence being utilized. And this advanced infrastructure also opens the door to the employment of qualified, skilled workforce that masters the latest technologies. It is an investment aligned with our recently unveiled strategy of high-value-added products in mining. Through such investments where we process our existing mines and present them to the market as high-value-added end products, we will, God willing, further increase our global share from mining. The facility will meet 7% of its total energy needs from green sources. This figure, I believe, will gradually increase in the coming years."

"We renewed the SEGE study at district level"

Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank explained that they renewed the SEGE study at district level, which forms the basis for investment incentives. Varank said: "In the study we published as SEGE-2022, using 56 variables across 8 dimensions, we obtained development scores for 973 districts and classified districts into 6 development levels. The study was prepared with a scientific and objective perspective like previous studies. As a result, we also updated the list of districts that can benefit from sub-region support in investment incentives. Within this scope, 74 new districts of ours will be able to benefit from sub-region support. The total number of districts that can benefit from sub-region support thus reached 337. In our province of Bilecik, the number of districts that will benefit from sub-region incentives has also increased. İnhisar, Gölpazarı and Yenipazar already benefited from this incentive. With the new study, Pazaryeri district of ours has also been added to these. Best wishes." he said. The opening was also attended by Bilecik Governor Dr. Kemal Kızılkaya, Members of Parliament Selim Yağcı and Yaşar Tüzün, Bozüyük Mayor Mehmet Talat Bakkalcıoğlu and provincial officials.