An Enjoyable Conversation with Santürk General Manager Mr. Can Serik Altınkanat

We conducted an engaging interview with Santürk General Manager Can Serik Altınkanat about his professional background, the product range the company offers to the sector, its customer satisfaction activities and R&D investments.

Can Serik Altınkanat, could you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your educational background and your professional experience in the sector? I was born in the People's Republic of China in 1981. I completed my undergraduate education in 2005 from Shanghai Jiaotong University in the People's Republic of China, graduating from the Business Administration Department. After graduation, I received technical service training at Santint and worked for a period in China to develop myself. In 2009, I came to Turkey as Santint's Representative and served as Regional Sales and Service Manager for Turkey. The technical and administrative experience I gained in China, combined with my initiatives and work in Turkey, proved successful. I can also say that I gained good experience in the paints sector by participating in numerous domestic and international trade fairs. Could you tell us about your company's development process since its establishment? Which sectors do you serve? We opened Santürk Makine in 2013 as the Santint Turkey Office. Our company primarily serves the paints sector. We operate in the supply of Santint machinery, after-sales and warranty services. Additionally, since 2014, we have begun providing services as the Turkey Office for Siehe, which is a sister company of Santint and is one of the leading companies in the sector producing manufacturing equipment usable in the paints, chemicals, food, pharmaceutical and similar sectors, in terms of machinery sales and supply.  

Could you briefly discuss your product groups serving the paints sector and your product characteristics?

Starting with the Santint brand; we sell manual and automatic colorant (dispenser, tinting) machines used in the paints sector as well as shaker, gyroscopic, v-tip and shelf-type (auto paint group) mixers. We offer our colorant machines in many varieties according to need. We have machines capable of sequential or simultaneous pigment-paste dispensing suitable for various production intensities in dealer – master dealer – factory and similar intervals. Our shaker mixer enables mixing of low and medium viscosity products by shaking, our gyroscopic mixer allows mixing of medium and high viscosity products gyroscopically. The V-Tip mixer is demanded according to special needs in the sector. Our shelf-type mixers, generally used in the auto paint group, are also among the most commonly used equipment in the sector. As I mentioned, our Siehe brand produces not only paints but various manufacturing equipment used in many other sectors. We can give examples such as liquid/powder mixers of various types and capacities starting from laboratory models, dispersers, mills, filling machines, etc.  

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

As a company, we provide supply-sales, installation, training, after-sales repair-maintenance and warranty services for Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran and other Turkic Republics. Domestically, we primarily serve our customers in Istanbul, Ankara, Bursa, Kocaeli, Tekirdağ, Izmir, Denizli, Antalya, Adana and Cyprus. Additionally, our customers have dealers throughout Turkey, and we provide services to those locations when needed.

What can you say about Santürk Makine's position in the sector?

As the Santint brand, we rank in the top three globally in sales units. The most important feature that distinguishes us from our competitors is the importance we place on R&D work to provide solutions that address the sector's needs, that don't add workload but rather reduce it. For this reason, we have 35 personnel in our R&D department alone.

Do you provide after-sales support to your customers?

Customer satisfaction is very important to us, and in this context we place particular emphasis on after-sales support. When our customers encounter any problems, they can reach us 24/7. We provide support by phone first, and if a problem cannot be solved over the phone, we can also provide on-site support. We maintain spare parts stock, so customers do not need to wait a long time for spare parts when needed.

How is 2016 progressing regarding your company's targets? What would you like to say about your goals and expectations?

In 2016, we achieved a 60% increase in our sales both globally and in the Turkish market compared to the previous year. The importance we place on R&D, which I mentioned, played a major role in this. As is known in the sector, one of the most common problems experienced in colorant machines is clogging and drying at the nozzle caused by pigment-paste leakage, and the daily necessary cleaning required for this created extra workload. Additionally, when cleaning was not performed, various malfunctions occurred and repairs were costly. Our R&D department began work in 2013 to solve the problems experienced in this machine. As a result of this work, a new dispensing head named "100% Recirculation" was developed and our existing colorant machines were updated with this system. The nozzle was removed from the pump head and replaced with a "100% Recirculation" dispensing head that allows pigment-paste to recirculate and dispense directly. Since the machine performs automatic recirculation during the day and there is no nozzle that could cause paste drying, the need for daily cleaning, maintenance, and drying-clogging problems have been eliminated. This new system was very well received in the sector and we began receiving heavy orders. For this reason, I can say our 2016 sales are going very well.

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

I especially believe that Turkey's market share in the global paints sector will experience faster growth in the coming years. I wish all investors and manufacturers success in their work.     Save