We had an interview with Bahadır Yakutlu and gave information about the services they offer
02.12.2019
Could you please briefly tell our readers about yourself, your educational status and your professional background?
Hello everyone. First of all, I would like to thank you and your readers for giving us the opportunity to share the excitement we feel because of the fact that 2019 is the 50th anniversary of our establishment. I was born in 1966 in Istanbul. After completing my primary, secondary and high school education in Istanbul, I graduated from Izmir 9 Eylül University, Department of Business Administration in 1988. I completed my military service in 1990 and since then, I carry on my duties as both Partner and General Manager at Yakut Makina ve Zincir San. Ltd. Ltd. Şti.
Can you tell us about the establishment process of Yakut Makina and the stages it has undergone until today? What is the current structure of Yakut Makina?
Yakut Makina was established in 1969, when the industry and production was very weak in our country, by my father Erdoğan Yakutlu, in a 100 m² scaled small workshop at Güngören district of Istanbul. After Mr.Erdoğan Yakutlu passed away in 1978, our company, which initially was manufacturing various machineries used in different sectors, by its team consisting of several people, continued its activities without interruption after a brief period of confusion. At that time, most of the small-scale manufacturing enterprises were unable to survive after the owner’s passing and had to shut down. The ongoing corporate structure and partnership distribution of Yakut Makina started in 1994 and since then, our company has given priority to specialization in the production of conveyor systems used in the painting sector which has started to develop in our country in those years and gradually terminated all other productions. Our factory, in which we have been working since 2004, is established in a single-storey 4,000 m² closed area in a land of 11,000 m² at Velimeşe OSB in Ergene district of Tekirdağ, where we have a machinery park consisting of 60 machines which are used for different purposes in production. As of today, we provide employment for 40 people.
To what sectors and what kind of products does Yakut Makina mainly provide? Could you please give us some information about the products, brands and services offered by Yakut Makina especially for the painting and surface processing sectors?
In addition to the production of overhead and ground type conveyors which carry the goods to be painted mainly in dyeing facilities, our company also performs the production of conveyor systems that are used by many different sectors for assembling purposes in mass production or for transporting goods from one point to another within the factory. We produce 11 different type of conveyors on a project basis, depending on the purpose and the environment of use and the properties of the product to be carried. We mainly serve to different manufacturing industries and their sub industries operating in sectors such as automotive, defense, household appliances, bicycles, motorcycles, office furniture, small appliances, rims, machinery, kitchenware, glassware, textiles, leather, aluminum, elevator, electronic devices, steel doors and furniture industry. Our conveyor systems are frequently used in the mass production of many industries where pre-treatment and coating is required as well as in dyeing and powder coating of various materials such as metal, plastic, wood and glass, in cataphoresis and enamel coating plants and in textile industry for bleaching and wrinkling processes.
Could you please talk about your domestic and international sales activities? To which regions and what kind of products do you mainly sell in Turkey and worldwide?
Our company is a pioneer in many areas in its field of activity in our country. The budget allocated to R&D activities constitutes a significant part of our total expenses. We have a separate department working exclusively on R&D and innovation. Our engineers in this department are completely focused only on new designs and product development, completely isolated from the ongoing standard production work. Also many of our employees contribute to develop a better, more competitive, more efficient and simpler production. Similarly, our management team also pays attention to the opinions and ideas of our employees on these issues.
Could you please tell us about Yakut Makina’s environmental policy and sustainability approach? What can you tell us about your studies on labour health and safety?
Our company has a sensitive approach to labour health and safety issues. Like many other companies, we are also receiving external consultancy services on these subjects. Our difference emerges in giving them the necessary importance and the meticulousness in their practices. Safety trainings, health checks of our employees and safety of the factory environment are continuously monitored and the necessary measures are immediately implemented. We are trying to be as sensitive as we can on environmental issues. We are aware that for the sustainability of the Earth, we must leave the next generations a legacy of better environmental conditions. There is no process in our factory that produces waste hazardous to the environment. Our environmental controls are carried out meticulously and on time. We are also planning to establish a wastewater treatment plant in order to minimize our domestic waste and we are about to start a dripping system to irrigate the plants in our factory garden.
What criteria are given priority when creating Yakut Makina’s investment plans? Does Yakut Makina have investment plans for the coming periods? What are they?
When investing, our priority is to develop an innovative product, to increase the productivity in our ongoing production and contribute to the improvement of quality. We always think about how to produce a better product in a more efficient and competitive way, or how to develop a new product. In addition to the purchase of 2 new machines for using in the production in the near future, we are also planning to renew some of the machines we have in hand and make them more compatible to today’s technology. We are aiming to start these investments towards the end of 2019 and to complete them within 2020.
