We had an interview with Mr. Abdullah Bayrak, Chairman of Elsisan. Mr. Bayrak gave information about the development process of Elsisan and its current structure.
Could you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your educational background and your professional resume?
I was born in Afyon, Sincan. My father worked as a foreman on highways. I'm the youngest of the three brothers. Before I went to military service, I worked as a research assistant at the Nuclear Research Center, Electronic Laboratory. In 1979, I founded Yı-Ba Engineering with my classmate Necat Yılmaz and thus started my professional career.
Could you give us some information about Elsisan's establishment process and its stages until today? What is the current structure of Elsisan?
In 1986, Yı-Ba Engineering moved to the Duaçınarı district of Bursa. In those years, a mini washing machine was found in every house. We partnered with Kurtaran Isı and started to produce from these machines. However, we received feedback due to the scratching of the machines. I was introduced to powder coating technology while researching the solutions to this problem. As a result of an article in a German magazine, I called Germany and got information about powder coating technology. This conversation changed my life. Elsisan Machinery was founded by importing the first powder coating machine. We produced bakery and cabin with vicious information of that period. It made a lot of noise in a very short time. We started painting and plant work. After Duaçınarı, we moved Elsisan to Bursa Barakfakih Industrial Zone. After staying here for 16 years, we moved to our factory which is 10 thousand m2 in Bursa Organized Industrial Zone, where we continue to serve.
What kind of products does Elsisan mainly supply to which sectors? Could you give us information about the products, brands and services offered by Elsisan especially for Paint and Surface Treatment sectors?
Powder and Wet Paint Booths and Applications, Powder Enamel Booths, Paint Drying and Baking Ovens, Automatic Paint Machines - OBM, Surface Cleaning Lines, Industrial Washing Machines, Robotic Controlled Cataphoresis Lines, Aluminum Thermating Furnaces and Roll Test Cabins. Among the sectors; glass, defense industry, automotive, metal, furniture etc. areas. In line with the importance we attach to Industry 4.0, we have recently been designing facilities that include sensors in our products and where more parameters can be controlled automatically. We develop these systems and integrate them with other machines in order to work with other machines in the plants. We also build facilities that can be remotely managed and controlled.
Can you talk about your domestic and international sales activities? What kind of product sales do you mainly sell to which regions in Turkey and abroad?
We export to many countries including Europe, North Africa, South America, Asia, Russia, Middle East and Turkic Republics. We have fully automated paint plants operating in 47 different countries. In Turkey, we continue our projects mainly with large companies. We encourage our customers to use high-tech guns to reduce consumption in all the facilities we produce and direct them from manual systems to fully automated plants. Our fully automatic machines are equipped with automatic loading and unloading features, while also painting more product capacity, faster through time. Another user-friendly feature of these machines is that they minimize maintenance costs.
What kind of activities do you do in the fields of innovation and R & D as Elsisan? Do you have any projects that you have developed within the scope of university-industry cooperation?
As a requirement of R & D and innovation policy, by closely following the technological developments of the age; ISO 9001 quality and CE certified, in accordance with TS EN280 standards, our company offers competitive product designs to the international market, sustainable growth strategies and investments that create added value in production, we aim to continuously improve. So far, we have implemented seven different TÜBİTAK R & D projects. Our cooperation with Bursa Technical University and University-Industry continues. In line with this, we meet with the students as a speaker every year within the scope of “CEO Meetings ile with BTU and try to raise awareness about production, industry and qualified workforce. In addition to our work at the university, carried out on behalf of cultivating qualified employees in Vocational Technical High School "Training for Strong Turkey" taking part in a project going in our support in this area.
Could you tell us about Elsisan's environmental policy and sustainability approach? What can you say about your work on worker health and safety?
As Elsisan, we pay attention to produce environmentally friendly products within an environmental management system based on continuous development, in compliance with national and international legal regulations and regulations. We are trying to raise awareness about environmental awareness by participating in the ’Environmentally Friendly Production Clean Future’ contests organized in Bursa Organized Industrial Zone every year. In addition, in line with our annual training calendar, we also carry out personal and professional development trainings that will contribute to the development of our employees.
What criteria are prioritized when developing Elsisan's investment plans? Does Elsisan have any investment plans for the coming periods?
The most critical part of our business is the project design. Therefore, we attach great importance to project design. We are focusing on our investments in order to make progress in our production line and products due to the addition of a new technology every year. We will continue to develop high value-added products as a strict follower of global innovations.