Pro-Ser Expands its Product Range with Medical Textiles
Pro-Ser, which has been producing test devices and auxiliary testing equipment in BS EN, ISO, and AATCC standards for more than twenty years since its establishment, has performed studies in the field of medical textile during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak period.
Pro-Ser, specializing mainly in textile, apparel and flexible material tests for the sectors such as leather, paper, packaging, toys, etc. has developed devices for nonwoven based protective materials such as masks, protective coveralls and surgical drapes, which are highly demanded during the troublesome Covid-19 pandemic outbreak period. The company has added devices such as bacterial filtration efficiency (BFV), pressure difference (drop), microbial permeability, and blood penetration into its product range for the testing of medical masks, personal protective masks, surgical covers/gowns, protective overalls, and gloves. Thus, all tests of nonwovens, woven, and knitted fabric based protective products for bio-security purposes have been made possible with the devices of Pro-Ser.
We conducted an exclusive interview with Seven Yılmaztürk, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pro-Ser about what the company was busy with during this period and its future goals. Yılmaztürk expresses his opinions on the subject as follows, ‘‘Our vision from now on is to reset the foreign dependency on high-performance material tests on technical textiles and to meet all the requirements utilizing the domestic opportunities through the R&D activities that we pursue.’’
As the executive of Pro-Ser, how do you evaluate 2020 in general? What kind of activities and breakthroughs did you perform in the first half of this year?
Undoubtedly, 2020 will go down in history as the year when the biggest pandemic outbreak disaster in the history of humanity started. First of all, we wish that the endeavors of our country and the nations of the world in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic to succeed as soon as possible. At the beginning of this period, we saw a slight slowdown in the number of orders. However, as the world pulled through after the first shock, the number of demands has increased and we are trying to meet the deadlines of the orders again. Of course, directing our company’s capabilities to respond to changing customer expectations and needs in the new period was primarily effective in this success.
Have you had any new studies in your laboratory and test equipment for the nonwovens industry, which gained even more popularity in the troublesome Covid-19 pandemic outbreak period?
Our company has been producing testing hardware and auxiliary test equipment in BS EN, ISO, and AATCC standards for more than twenty years since its establishment. Our products are specialized mainly in textile, apparel, and flexible material tests for the sectors such as leather, paper, packaging, and toys. With the troublesome Covid-19 pandemic outbreak period, the concept of bio-security has become a part of everyday life and has emerged as the most important issue for the entire world. As a natural consequence of this, there was an extraordinary demand growth for nonwoven-based protective materials such as masks, protective overalls, and surgical dressings. Difficulties in accessing these materials caused international crises. Devices for general, physical, and chemical tests for these protective textile products, which have gained strategic importance now, were already available in our product range. However, we had to make decisions for new test devices that would determine the level of bioprotection of the manufactured product. In order to meet the needs of our country and the world in this field, we rapidly took this decision and immediately started implementing it. Of course, this situation required a very intensive interdisciplinary research and development process with our experts at the university. As a result of our ongoing R&D efforts, we have completed the design and started the manufacturing of many critical test devices. In this context, we added devices such as bacterial filtration efficiency (BFV), pressure difference (drop), microbial permeability, blood penetration to our product range in order to test medical masks, personal protective masks, surgical covers/gowns, protective overalls and gloves. Thus, all tests of nonwovens, woven and knitted fabric based protective products for bio-security purposes have been made possible with our devices.
Can you please provide information about the dominance of Pro-Ser in the Turkish and world markets? Which countries do you mainly export to?
Pro-Ser, with its brand Prowhite, is one of the most important laboratory machine manufacturers in the world in terms of product variety today. Our company, which has a wide range of products in different categories, exports its test and analysis devices to many countries in the world. We can mention countries like France, England, Canada, Uzbekistan, Kazakistan, Turkmenistan, Algeria, Egypt, Portugal, and Lithuania among these countries.
We contribute to the reduction of imports and the decrease of device costs in this field by manufacturing many devices that were imported at high prices in the previous years. Our constantly rising export graphic demonstrates that the quality and reliability of the machines and devices that we have developed are verified at an international level. Today, the world’s largest and most successful textile yarn and fabric manufacturers are testing their products using the brand name Prowhite. At the end of our efforts, which are ongoing for a quarter of a century, we are happy to achieve this success and this becomes a source of motivation for bigger dreams.
Can you please tell us about your future R&D projects and investment targets?
The machines and devices in our product range are information-based products, and we have always worked in cooperation with our universities and our expert professors during their development processes. Within this framework, we have completed several TÜBİTAK projects and contributed our universities by participating in TÜBİTAK and different funded projects. We continue our R&D activities without interruption in our firm and in our company located in the Teknokent of Istanbul University. We prioritize the needs of our country when choosing our study subjects and goals. In order to meet the vital needs that arise during the troublesome pandemic period that we have experienced, we rapidly took actions and started working without wasting any time.
We aim to meet all the needs of the sectors that are in our field of interest, related to the tests and analyzes of the materials produced and used. In this context, we wanted not only to produce the necessary devices and equipment but also to provide testing and analysis services. The company named Gamatest Laboratuvar Hizmetleri A.Ş., which was established with the faculty members who are experts in their related fields, has been serving the industry for two years. In addition to routine physical and chemical tests and fastness tests, we are also starting the biosafety tests for medical masks, protective coveralls, and surgical drapes/gowns along with the pandemic process in our laboratory, which has a comprehensive infrastructure for fire flammability tests. Our customers will be able to have all the tests required by the relevant standard in our laboratory without the need for another institution. The TURKAK accreditation process required for these tests is about to be completed and our international accreditation studies are continuing for the tests that TÜRKAK cannot accredit.
Consequently, we have created a service chain that covers the whole process, from the design and manufacture of test and analysis devices to the provision of laboratory services with these devices, with the knowledge and experience we have acquired over a quarter of a century. Our future vision is to reset the foreign dependency of our country on high performance material tests such as technical textiles through our R&D activities and to meet all of the requirements with domestic opportunities.
Interview: Kübra Karaca / Tekstil Teknoloji Magazine
