New Facility Investment in Ergene from Mersan Makine
Çağatay Sümer, Mersan Makine Managing Director
Mersan Makine was established in 1983 with an aim to manufacture Textile Finishing Machines. The company, which utilizes its knowledge and experience to determine and supply solutions that are suitable for the needs of its customers, believes in its focus on continuous development and quality. Mersan Makine, which produces machinery for customers all over the world together with its many representative offices around the world, designs products that will add value to the environment and society.
Mersan Makine established a new factory in Çorlu Ergene due to the increase in machine demands, while continuing its production in its production facility in Istanbul Esenyurt. The company, which focused on R&D studies during the pandemic period, commissioned 3 felt sanforizing machines that they patented and started the production of new orders.
We conducted an interview with Mersan Makine Managing Director Çağatay Sümer for our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine. Sümer told the story of the establishment of the new production facility in Ergene, the newly developed products, and their expectations for the textile sector in the post-pandemic period.
Can you please tell us about your product portfolio and utilization areas? Which of your products is in the most demand? What is your annual production capacity?
Mersan Makine believes in the quality-controlled manufacturing process in terms of R&D, optimizing human and industrial resources. Employing state-of-the-art technology, our company carries out original production in its own R&D department with its expert staff and offers professional solutions to its customers.
I can confidently indicate that we stand out with the chain, felt sanforizing machine and rubber blanket sanforizing unit for open-width knitted fabrics, and the gauze machine for open-knit woven fabrics. Our open-width sanforizing machine, which we have developed to provide the desired smooth surface in knitted fabrics and to guarantee the desired shrink-proof texture in the fabric together with the fixation in the dimensions and grant an excellent finish, provides high production speed and optimum fabric quality.
Especially due to the design of our newly developed rubber blanket sanforizing machine, we have made it distinctive among other fabrics by giving it extra shine, extra touch, and extra appearance. This is an outer surface treatment for knitted and woven fabrics that beautifies the gauze appearance and improves the later process properties. The same process applies to the inner surface of the fabric. Thanks to the air-gas mixture coming out of two parallel water-cooled burners, we offer cleaning by burning the excess fibers on the fabric, with the help of an uninterrupted continuous flame band. At the same time, the Gauze machine provides the desired process in the healthiest way for rotary printing and partial printing. It helps to get rid of the fibers on the fabric. This increases the print quality and reduces waste volume. It saves energy, water, time, and chemical usage.
‘‘We tripled our production capacity in our new production facility’’
As Mersan Makine, can you please provide information regarding the technological innovations that you have developed especially for the finishing sector in recent years and the advantages they provide to the sector?
We have expanded our product range with some investments that we have made in the recent past. While providing this development, we are working with a global level of competition and perspective. With the production facility we have just established in Çorlu Ergene, we approach production with a more institutional and professional perspective than ever before. In our company, we supply our customers with machine models such as sanforizing, gaze, and fixation. In our new production facility, we have tripled our production capacity. We sell our machines to more than 30 countries around the world such as Turkey, Peru, Colombia, Russia, Iran, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, and India.
Could you please explain the reasons why you moved to the new production facility in Ergene?
Our Esenyurt factory continues its production actively. Here we proceed to produce spare parts, machining, and some of the machines in our portfolio. In addition to our Esenyurt production facility, the reason for this investment that we made in Çorlu Ergene was the rapid increase in machine demands in a short time. We have established our new production facility in order to respond quickly to both the recurring orders of our customers and the new orders from other companies in the sector with knowledge. While we were continuing manufacturing in our Istanbul factory, one of our feet was always in the Çorlu region. I guess it wouldn’t be wrong if I say that the heart of textile beats here. We added extra speed to our already fast service for our customers in this region. We potently feel the positive feedback of this, which makes us happy.
What kind of innovations and developments do you expect, especially in the textile finishing industry, in the coming years?
Following the large investments made years ago, the Turkish textile industry gained a large share in the world market and had a say. As it started to get a share from European countries in terms of fashion and design, its exports increased with the quality that it created. Textile continues to be the leading power of Turkey in exports. It contributes to the development of the domestic machinery production industry with the growth of the textile industry and quality standards.
‘‘We Commissioned 3 Felt Sanforizing Machines, Patented by Us’’
The coronavirus pandemic, which affected the whole world, also affected the textile industry. How did you get through the pandemic period as a company? Has the pandemic reduced your sales and production? What are your plans for the post-pandemic period?
Since we were able to remotely connect to our machines and provide technical service, we did not encounter any major problems in this devastating period. At Mersan Machinery, we are already integrating our production process with technology. In this way, we have the ability to produce solutions rapidly to possible problems.
Despite the cancellation of many exhibitions due to the pandemic period, we had no difficulty in reaching our customers by taking advantage of the technology. We had the opportunity to introduce ourselves more. The current global health crisis initiated by the Covid-19 pandemic has required individuals and companies to take unprecedented security measures. As a result, there have been many sudden changes in people’s lives, the way companies do business and the dynamics of industries. The reasons for the employees to work from home or not being able to work at all due to the isolation measures, closing of the workplaces, discontinuing the production in the factories caused many companies to rapidly lose their income. The effect of the pandemic on each sector was different from the other. Two common important steps can be foreseen for companies. The first is to reshape the export strategy. Appreciating the exports not only as a short-term investment but as a medium and long-term investment. The second is to be closer to the customer. In today’s world, sales are everywhere. For this reason, companies should be able to establish relationships with customers in online and digital channels apart from traditional channels.
As Mersan Makine, I see it as our roadmap to turn the current crisis into an opportunity by considering long-term and determining a customer-oriented strategy, as well as short-term actions. Our goal, of course, is to gain new customers and ensure that the information necessary for the promotion and use of the new technologies we bring to the sector and our country reach the experts.
How is 2021 going for your company? Do you have any new investment and new product projects for 2022?
We continue on our way by taking the necessary precautions with the principle that ‘production is a problem-solving skill’. During the pandemic period, we focused on our R&D studies. We commissioned 3 felt sanforizing machines, which we patented, and started the production of our new orders. Every year, we move forward in line with our goals by accumulating on top of our achievements.
Interview: Dilek HAYIRLI
