Interview with Ergin Kahraman, Country Manager of Huntsman Pürsan Chemicals

We had a pleasant conversation with Ergin Kahraman, Country Manager for Sales and Administrative Affairs at Huntsman Pürsan Chemicals.

Mr. Kahraman, could you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your education and professional background?

I have been working at Huntsman Pürsan Chemicals as Sales Manager since its establishment. Before that, I worked for approximately 20 years at Huntsman Textile Effects in various positions. Most recently, I served as Country Manager responsible for sales and administrative affairs. I am a graduate of Istanbul University's Chemical Engineering programme, am married and have one son.

Could you tell our readers about your company's development process from its establishment to today?

Regarding our company's establishment, I can say the following. Pürsan Pigment A.Ş. and Huntsman Corporation Textile Effects division signed a joint venture agreement in May 2015 for the production, formulation and sale of textile chemicals and dyes in Turkey. The joint venture brings the existing long-term partnership between the two companies to a new level of strategic cooperation. This joint venture will operate under the name Huntsman Pürsan Chemicals.

Regarding the joint venture, our Textile Effects President and HPC Board Chairman Paul Hulme stated the following: "Huntsman is a recognized global market leader and innovator in textile dyes and chemicals. Pürsan's proven success impressed us and we looked forward with excitement to working with this team. This strategic alliance between our two companies will strengthen our position in the sector and enable us to improve our service offerings and solutions to customers."

Ajay Kanwar, South Asia, Middle East, Turkey and Africa Trade Manager and also HPC board member, added: "With this joint venture, we are expanding our local production capabilities and facilities, which allows us to serve our customers more quickly and flexibly.

This is an extremely exciting situation and also represents our companies' strong commitment to providing customers with a single source for the sale and service of the finest textile dyes and chemicals.

Hakkı Kağan Biter, President of Pürsan Pigment A.Ş. and CEO of our new company, added: "We are pleased with this partnership and to be associated with an established international brand like Huntsman.

Together, we will strengthen the competitive position of Turkey's textile sector, which is one of the sectors with the greatest contribution to exports and employment in Turkey.

The joint venture in question brings together a powerful combination by uniting Huntsman's proven innovations with the customer-focused approach and trust heritage built by Pürsan over the years."

As the leaders of our entire new company have indicated, we are pleased to bring to the Turkish textile market a venture with great expectations.

Could you briefly inform us about your products, target audience and the sectors you serve?

HPC is a leading global and local supplier of high-quality dyes and chemicals for the textile and related sectors. We use modern technology and modern dyes and chemicals that reduce energy and water consumption to create innovative products with smart features and develop solutions.

What can you tell us about your production capacity?

HPC will be Turkey's leading supplier of high-quality dyes and chemicals to the textile and related sectors. For this purpose, we have an office in Yeşilköy and a 10,000 square-meter factory in Çorlu with an investment of USD 25 million.

Our investments are led by Swiss and German technical teams, using years of accumulated knowledge and the latest technology.

In our Çorlu factory, we will have chemical and liquid dye production facilities, quality control and customer service laboratories, managed by an experienced team working to solve problems for our customers, improve processes and optimize production.

With our marketing and sales team, our primary goal is to supply high-quality and innovative products manufactured at production centres in Turkey and around the world in a solution-oriented manner.

Can you tell us about your domestic and international sales activities? Which regions do you primarily serve domestically and internationally?

We made our new investment to become more competitive domestically. At the same time, we established a strong sales, marketing and technical support team to better promote our products. Our parent companies from Huntsman Textile Effects provide every kind of support to strengthen our team by transferring global knowledge and experience accumulation.

Domestically, with our offices and local warehouses in Thrace (Istanbul, Çorlu, Çerkezköy...), Bursa, the Aegean Region (Denizli, Izmir, Uşak...), and our Southern Region (Adana, Kahramanmaraş, Kayseri, Malatya...), we serve customers in even the most remote parts of Turkey in close proximity.

To solve all kinds of problems in the textile industry and for our customers, we work with our laboratory and technical team ready at all times, supported by our international capabilities.

Additionally, as Huntsman Textile Effects, we are also a leading global supplier of high-quality dyes and chemicals for the textile and related sectors. Huntsman Textile Effects, which operates in more than 90 countries and has seven key production and R&D facilities in six countries (China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Thailand), has implemented a unique positioning in terms of providing fast and specialized technical services where our customers are located.

At the foundation of our work lies sustainability, innovation and collaboration. We use modern technology to create innovative products with smart features such as internal freshness, sun protection, and dyes that reduce water and energy consumption, and to develop solutions.

All of this is aimed at meeting our customers' needs in supporting a more sustainable environmental approach.

As you know, "Textile Chemicals" is among Turkchem's file topics this month. Can we receive information about your products related to this sector?

We have textile chemicals for every process in the textile sector and we believe we are becoming an increasingly important organization. As Huntsman Pürsan Chemicals, we believe that innovation is the difference. We implement innovations through first-class production, R&D facilities and a highly experienced global supply chain. The textile sector is a vital channel for employment and economic growth in the world's developing countries. However, it also brings significant challenges. The sector consumes high quantities of water and energy resources in places where these resources are already scarce. It has the potential to cause pollution, particularly in places where legal environmental protection has not sufficiently matured. Additionally, it is highly sensitive to rising costs and fluctuations in global demand. This can quickly damage company profitability across the value chain.

Can you tell us about your R&D activities for textile chemicals? What are the recent projects you have realized based on your R&D work?

Our parent company Huntsman Textile Effects possesses some of the world's best research, development, technology facilities and laboratories. Because of these capabilities, we promote innovations through consulting services in the form of product improvements and productivity enhancement in the textile market.

Our company supports customers by providing cost-effective solutions that increase competitiveness with new products while minimizing environmental impacts, and focuses on meeting all types of technical requirements.

Within our company, over 1,100 active patents are registered annually, 30 innovative products are launched to market each year, 5% of our sales revenue is spent on innovation and research, and 25% of our products are less than 5 years old.

As an example, our Avitera dyes are our innovative dyes and chemicals that consistently deliver correct results on the first attempt and enable optimization and shortening of the production process. As a result, our customers can save on costs, increase productivity, reduce waste and conserve water and energy

For this example work, our company received recognition in the 2014 ICIS Innovation Awards, winning first place in the event and the Award for Innovation Providing the Greatest Benefit to Environment or Sustainability, and the 2013 Environmental Leader Technology Reviews award with 5 stars for Excellence in Technology and Innovation.

 

In digital inks with products approved by machine manufacturers, we are market leaders and through our ink brands NOVACRON®, LANASET®, TERASIL®, LYOSPERSE® and ERIOFAST® we ensure that innovations reach both machine manufacturers and our customers.

With our characteristics that conventional printing cannot achieve - vivid colours, high visibility, high light fastness, perfect stability, usability and repeatability - we enable a wide variety of end uses in clothing and fashion, swimwear, home textiles, laminates and automotive sectors.

Can you provide information about the employee profile in R&D? Do you provide technical training to your employees?

Each individual's contribution is important to us. We also provide opportunities for personal growth and development. We reward performance both individually and collectively through the benefits and compensation we offer. We adhere strictly to these principles and strive to improve their implementation every working day.

What do you emphasize to ensure the long-term presence of your products in the market?

As HPC, we lead change and through our modern innovations and collaboration with stakeholders throughout the textile value chain, we contribute to leading a sustainable textile sector.

We believe that our three core principles - sustainability, innovation and collaboration - ensure our lasting presence in markets with our products in the long term.

What can you say about your quality policy and vision?

Our mission and values; we do our best to provide our customers with the highest quality products and services available. Our customers are valued partners who allow us to continue our business, and meeting their needs is a privilege for us.

Our mission; we will operate safe, clean and efficient facilities with environmental and social consciousness. We will provide a working environment that promotes teamwork, innovation, responsibility and open communication.

We will ensure that the principle of helping those in difficult situations, being a source of hope for those who need inspiration, and providing educational opportunities for those who wish but lack the means, takes root in society.

We have an aggressive growth philosophy that reflects the spirit of free enterprise by maximizing long-term benefits - which are the best rationales for creating mutual benefits for customers, employees, suppliers and the communities in which we operate.

Our values; we believe that ethics and moral standards form the foundation of healthy business practices and we adopt an approach of operating with integrity. Each employee is a business partner of our enterprise and an important member of our family, which is why we strive to implement employee participation and participatory management understanding at all levels.

What types of services do you provide to ensure customer satisfaction and meet their expectations? Do you provide after-sales support services to your customers?

Our company is modern, innovative and contributes to advancing and leading change in the textile sector by establishing strategic partnerships with leading sector stakeholders in textiles.

We are the world's only company sharing with our customers our commitment to innovative, integrated textile solutions that add value to consumers and drive sustainability in the textile supply chain, and we are aware that our goal is to achieve Zero Hazardous Chemicals discharge rates.

For this purpose, we came together with our sector partners, major global brands and retailers to create a list of dyes and chemicals compatible with the ZHDC joint road map to support mills in supplying textile products.

Additionally, as a founding member of SAC (Sustainable Apparel Coalition), we help develop the Higg Index to enable companies to assess the impacts of their products on the environment and society.

Among our other collaborative projects, inspired by the importance of water, through a partnership with DyeCoo, we developed supercritical CO₂ textile processing technology that removes water from the textile dyeing process by bringing together with our company the waterless dyeing of textile products.

Do you have corporate social responsibility projects related to environmental sensitivity? Can you provide us with information on this matter?

Leading Toward a Sustainable Future - As HPC, we commit to contributing to the creation of a sustainable textile value chain. This is our first priority for this sector, which is one of the world's largest consumers of water and energy globally.

We work closely with mills, brands and retailers to provide sustainable solutions that meet the economic and environmental needs of the sector and the world.

Our solutions include smart methods and smart processes that reduce water and energy use throughout the textile supply chain, from fibre production and processing to fabric care.

We work with regulators worldwide to promote the adoption of high standards and create positive change. We also actively contribute to sector collaborations such as the Zero Hazardous Chemical Discharge Group, Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Bluesign® initiative.

We are also committed to continuously reducing the environmental impact of our production processes. We set targets to reduce our energy consumption while ensuring full environmental compliance.

Beyond that, with this awareness, Huntsman-Pürsan Chemicals is the main sponsor of the Marmara Festival. Huntsman-Pürsan Chemicals is the main sponsor of the Marmara Underwater Exhibition Festival.

Company officials stated that the Sea of Marmara urgently needs to be placed under protection and continued their remarks as follows: "As Huntsman-Pürsan Chemicals, we are proud and pleased to be the Main Sponsor for the Marmara Festival, which fully aligns with our environmental vision and sustainability mission.

The Sea of Marmara, bearing the burden of millions of people, dense population and thousands of industrial facilities, is a natural wonder and the only sea surrounded by a single country in the world and urgently needs to be placed under protection.

More than 300 textile and dye improvement facilities generate an average of 250,000 m3 of wastewater daily and discharge this to the Sea of Marmara as treated and untreated waste.

As Huntsman Pürsan Chemicals, with our Avitera SE series products selected as the Best Product of the Year for Environment and Sustainability in 2014 within the scope of the International ICIS Awards, we have succeeded in reducing our water use by up to 50%.

We aim to cut in half the amount of wastewater discharged into the Sea of Marmara and are working towards this goal. The textile sector is one of Turkey's locomotive sectors and we aim to increase the competitiveness of this sector by reducing water, energy and chemical product usage and costs, while also reducing waste.

With this goal in mind, through intensive work with our facility that is a candidate for LEED Gold Certification, using products with no environmental risk, meeting our electrical energy needs from the solar energy systems at our facility, we are working to contribute to a sustainable future.

What can you say about Turkey's textile sector? What position does Turkey hold?

Due to its young machinery park, experienced and dynamic owners and managers, and highly productive workforce, the Turkish textile sector has considerable competitive strength in global textile markets.

Furthermore, because of our historical and geographical proximity to Europe, which is our main export partner, we view textiles in Turkey as a sector with an open future. We believe that the highest energy cost disadvantage will be overcome within a few years through ongoing energy investments.

We therefore believe that the textile sector will advance further, and that these positive developments will significantly boost the textile chemicals and dyes sector.

How was 2015 for your company? Can we receive information about your new targets and projects?

2015 was our company's founding year. Within 3-4 months, we brought our Çorlu factory on stream. With employees coming from two different work cultures, we created synergy and built a new culture. During this time, we sought to preserve the sales of both merging companies.

2015 was briefly our preparation year for 2016. Going forward, our goal is to claim our rightful place in the Turkish textile market with the competitive advantages we have, together with all our industry collaborators.

Finally, do you have a message you would like to convey to the sector?

Huntsman Pürsan Chemicals' work on product management is based on leading EHS standards in the sector. At every stage of the product lifecycle, we strive to ensure that our solutions are as safe as possible and environmentally sound.

From the beginning of the new product development process, we prioritize EHS leadership alongside product performance and regulatory compliance.

We source safe raw materials from environmentally conscious, regularly reviewed suppliers. We design our own production processes, packaging and distribution systems to increase worker safety and reduce resource consumption and waste rates.

Coming Together for a More Sustainable Future - The textile sector has taken major steps by coming together toward greener products and cleaner supply chains. However, we now need to do much more to improve our responsibility and transparency in commercially sensible ways.

As Huntsman Pürsan Chemicals, we believe we can only succeed if we act as one. We invite you to contact us and join our efforts to make the textile sector more sustainable.