An Enjoyable Interview with Ömer Erdem, Founder and General Manager of Sartonet

Precise analytical balances and membrane filter technology – Sartonet, the sole authorized representative of Germany's Sartorius in Turkey, represents one of the world leaders in this field. We had an enjoyable conversation with Sartonet Founder and General Manager Ömer Erdem, who provided detailed information about Sartorius and Sartonet products and services.

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

I was born on 2 January 1951 in Ankara Çankaya. I completed primary school at Çankaya Primary School and secondary and high school at TED Ankara College. I graduated from the Ankara Academy of Economics and Commerce. I hold a commercial pilot license and a "D" license in sport parachuting. For the past thirty-two years, I have operated my company as the representative of Sartorius, a world leader in precision analytical balances and membrane filter technology. I am married with two children.

Could you provide information about Sartonet's founding process and the stages it has gone through to reach today? The story of your meeting with Dr. Sartorius and the laying of the company's foundations is quite interesting – could you tell us about this process?

Sartonet's founding has an interesting story. R. Vogt, who is now a member of the Sartorius Board of Management, frequently visited Turkey as Middle East representative during the 1980s, and I met him on one of these visits. He invited me to Germany for a business discussion, but as I was preparing for another position, I made various excuses not to go. Faced with his persistent evening calls and refusal to give up, I went to Sartorius in Germany, but after our meeting, I declined the offer he proposed and left with thanks. R. Vogt did not give up – he continued calling and insisted that he had obtained an appointment with Dr. Sartorius, who wanted to meet me. I went to Germany again. Dr. Sartorius knew our 8th President, the late Turgut Özal, from Davos. He asked me questions about myself; I told him that I did not know him closely, only from what I had seen in the press and heard. He then asked for my views on Turkey and finally stated that he wanted to work with me. Although I tried to be hesitant, R. Vogt and he put me under irresistible pressure, and I had no choice but to accept. Thus, the foundation of Sartonet was laid. With permission from the Treasury Foreign Trade Secretariat in 1983, we started as a "Liaison Office," and later Sartonet was established. From that day to the present, the company has satisfied its customers in the industry by always providing better service than its competitors.

Sartonet serves as the sole authorized representative of Sartorius A.G. in Turkey. Sartorius A.G. is an extremely well-established company with approximately 150 years of history. Could you provide brief information about the history of Sartorius, founded by Florenz Sartorius in 1870? Also, could you share information about the work of Nobel Prize-winning scientist Richard Zsigmondy and Sartorius in discovering and developing membrane filter technology?

Sartorius, which means tailor in Latin, is a family name in Göttingen, Germany. Founded by Florenz Sartorius in 1870, Sartorius became known as a manufacturer of precision analytical balances. With its close collaboration with the University of Göttingen, Sartorius gained fame in the early twentieth century through joint work with Prof. Zsigmondy from the University of Göttingen, which resulted in the invention of the membrane filter in 1927. Prof. Zsigmondy won the Nobel Prize for this discovery. The reputation of Sartorius, whose invention could not prevent his emigration to America because of World War II and the emergence of two competitors, actually protected it; the Allied forces during World War II refrained from specifically bombing it. Another reason for this non-bombing is believed to be that it was located in the same region as the University of Göttingen, where three Nobel Prize-winning faculty members worked. This journey that began with precision analytical balances has evolved today into an innovative organization serving the entire world with a product range of over five thousand, from the laboratory to process applications.

The Sartorius Model 4108 is a device that made it into the Guinness Book of Records. Could you provide information about this model?

Sartorius, which entered the record books with its Model 4108, the world's most precise analytical balance, can measure the ink left by a ballpoint pen at the point where you place it with this balance. Not only did it make the record books – NASA also used Sartorius balances in weighing rocks brought back from the moon.

What sectors does Sartonet mainly supply, and what types of products? Could you provide information about Sartonet's products, brands and services?

The sectors addressed by Sartorius through both its balances and filters are very broad. Today, with the pharmaceutical industry leading the way, nearly all chemical industry, food and beverage industry, metal industry, textile industry, paint industry and laboratory facilities are customers of Sartorius.

Sartorius acquired many companies related to membrane filtration and significantly strengthened its knowledge and experience base in this field. Could you provide information about these acquisitions and investment plans for the coming periods?

Sartorius, also a leader through its innovations in filtration, has been using the slogan "Total Solution Provider" for some time. Specifically, it has incorporated many companies large and small in the field. The most important of these companies are: B. Brown International, famous for its fermenters; Stedim, a producer of single-use sterile bags and single-use bioreactors; Cellca, the world's leading cell line development company; Tap Biosystems, which produces the world's first fully automated microbioreactors; and Bio-Outsource, Intelicyt and Virocyt, which have made Sartorius a leader in biotechnology today.