Recep Tasyanar: “You will go back the moment you stop”
Sunday, December 1, 2019
Recep Tasyanar: “You will go back the moment you stop” December 1st, 2019 Sunday before the opening ceremony of Barem Packaging’s new factory building in Gaziantep, we asked our questions to Recep Tasyanar. Tasyanar shared his evaluations on new investment plans, production capacity and technologies, and export perspectives with us.
Barem Packaging operates in 3 locations. You are also producing with new and technological machines in Gaziantep. How do you evaluate the sector?
As you know, our industry is constantly growing. The packaging industry will continue its upward trend in the coming years. İn this trend, we have to protect the place we deserve. We are constantly investing and following technology. This is our responsibility. Currently in production, turnover and employement in our own sector, we are Turkey’s largest company.
How many employees do you serve with?
We currently have around 800 employees in 3 factories. We produce in three factories in a total open area of 90 thousand square meters and 45 thousand square meters of closed area. We consume around 70 thousand tons of cardboard and paper annually. We are currently at 80% of our capacity. The capacity for our Gaziantep factory is not 100% full yet. But our Karaman factory is at 100% full capacity. Our Izmir factory is also at 80%. Therefore, this 70 thousand tons of consumption will increase. We evaluate this figure as 85 thousand tons in the net year’s budget.
How much did your capacity increase when the new Koening&Bauer machine came to use?
We began manufacturing in our Gaziantep factory in 2008. Our capacity doubled with our new machinery investment.
Do you have new investment plans for the future?
We have a saying that we like to keep repeating, “Our road is a road with a slope of 35-40%. You will go back the moment you stop”. We are a vibrant company. Investments do not end with us. We continue to invest every year. We will have new investment moves or our Izmir factory in December. We are planning to buy a new, large size, 120x160 cm, possibly 6 color + double lacquer printing machine there. Apart from that, we will add one large size cutting machine to each of our 3 factories. We also consider a lamination line for Karaman. We no longer purchase machinery other than new ones. All of our machines must be new, befitting Barem Packaging. In the second quarter of next year, these investments will be completed and our machines will be installed. With these investments, there will be an increase of around 25% in our total capacity.
Will there be any changes in your factory building in Tire?
There will be additions in our building. We do not have a production area off less than 11 thousand square meters in our factories. Tire remained the smallest. Some improvments will be made there, too. We are in Organized Industrial Zones and limited to our lands there. Tire is our first starting point and we have 20 thousand square meters of lang there. We will be on the border with new additions.
How big is the land in Gaziantep factory?
We are very comfortable here. This is 53 thousand 500 square meters, and we have 44 thousand square meters of land in Karaman. This may mean taking the center out of Tire and bringing it to Karaman or Gaziantep locations.
Where are exports mostly made? Where will the increased capacity tend to go?
15% of our 2018 turnover came from exports. This year, this rate will reach 20%. Of course, this export rate does not satify us very much. Our goal is to export 35-40% of our production. We are strong enough to achieve this. Firstly, considering technological terms, apart from Turkey, we are ahead of many competitors in Europe. The companies that they call world’s giants work with machines that have completed their economic life for us. Therefore, we are ahead of them technologically. Second, our trained workforce is not inferior to them. Third, we are comfortable with raw material supply and we are better off than them. So we do not have any obstacle to increase our exports. We can easily reach 50% in exports.
We can export to 20-25 countries in the world. We export to neighboring countries from our Gaziantep factory such as Iraq and Syria which are the leading countries we export the most. We are in the right place as a location. For example, 40% of the production of our Gaziantep factory is made abroad.
Exports are very low in Karaman. It is an inland region, not an export-oriented location. We can export from Izmir to the West, to America. We have exports from the farthest points of Europe to the Middle East and North Africa countries. In Turkey, we have 3 of the best places where our factories can deploy. This is an advantage for us.
Are cardboard boxes or coated boxes heavy in your production?
Again, it depends on the location. For example, 70% laminated and 30% cardboard boxes are produced in our Izmir factory. Karaman produces 95% laminated, 5% cardboard and Gaziantep producing almost 50% cardboard and 50% laminated work.
You export from your Gaziantep factory to Iraq and Syria. However, these countries have serious security problems and war conditions. Is this a problem?
From time to time, problem may arise on the logistics side. Apart from that, there is no problem in neither customer profile nor payments. In some periods, the road may get longer due to the closing of the customs gates. For example, a truck going to Baghdad may have to go through Iran rather than our normal southern border route. This both increases the freight load and extends the time. But these periods do not last very long. They are short term problems.