Tekspart Targets to Expand in Tricot Market

Serving its customers with an approach focused on inventory-supply, fast service and solution, Tekspart has recently made progress in the knitwear machinery, especially with the full jacquard collar and rib machines. In addition, the success it has achieved with the Taiwan-based Tienyang company in the sales of electronic jacquard and rib machinery has further strengthened its position. The company near-future plans include seizing a place in the plain knitting market in Turkey.

We had an interview with Alpaslan Demir, General Manager of Tekspart, about their products, their evaluations on 2018, expectations from 2019 and their projects.

What do you pay attention to when you invest in machinery and technology in order to maintain your competitiveness and quality? What are your criteria?

As Tekspart, we believe that in the light of experiences we have gained, we need to catch up with and analyze the constantly developing technology. With this approach, we don’t act alone and we regularly visit all of our customers to make decisions on what we should invest in by exchanging ideas on sectoral developments.

We know that you are sensitive about after-sales services and support. Can you tell us about customer satisfaction and your company policy in this regard?

As you know, after-sales service is one of the most important matters for us. We respond quickly to the problems together with our technical team, and we focus on preventing the manufacturer’s loss of work and time. We continue cooperating with the brands we represent for maintenance and repair on technical issues.

You are one of the major suppliers in Turkey in knitting machinery needles and sinkers. How would you evaluate the Turkish market for machinery needles and sinkers? What kind of demands do you receive from companies for your products?

We estimate that there are around 15-18 thousand circular kniting machines in Turkey. There are also about 35 thousand socks and plain knitting machines. We are one of the countries with the largest machine park in Europe and in the surrounding countries. However, in the last 5-6 years, we have fallen behind in the rankings due to the increasing number of countries entering the textile production in other parts of the world. Our sales charts in Turkey is having a steady increase every year since the company’s establishment in 2009.

Why do South Korean manufacturers prefer TOKYO knitting machinery needles and sinkers?

South Korea has been manufacturing needle-sinkers for textile machinery for more than 60 years. They are one of the best countries in the world in this business. For this reason, the product and quality achieved by their technology and know-how is receiving trust.

You have started selling and marketing for the Taiwan-based company Tai Fung very recently. Can you tell us about the details of this initiative?

Tienyang knitting-machine company has been offering Taifung products for many years for its customers as original equipment. As a result of our research, we have concluded that customers are very satisfied with the Taifung products, and that they are ahead of other competitors for their long life cycle. So, as a result of negotiations with the company, we have started representing them in Turkey and Uzbekistan. In addition, the company adopted the Industry 4.0 principles in the production process, and introduced the use of automation and robotics in many stages of production.

You are the distributor of the Promar knitting oils. Can you tell us about your monthly sales figures?

We have been marketing and selling the Promar products for over 18 years. We have been representing them as Tekspart for 9 years. Promar is a company, specialized in the production of textile machinery oil, and has both EMRA and TSE certificates. We have a monthly average sales of 20,000 liters of Promar oil and machine care products.

What would you say to evaluate the position of Promar oils in the textile industry, and their importance and contribution to the textile companies?

As a domestic manufacturer, Promar has been offering solutions for textile chemicals and textile machinery oils to Turkish consumers for nearly 20 years. They are closely following the technological developments in circular knitting, plain knitting, socks and warp knitting machines, and updating their products in line with these developments. With their after-sales support services, Promar helps our customers using the products correctly, and identify the cause of the problems.

We are preparing to leave 2018 behind. Can we get your assessments on 2018 for all your product groups?

We made a very good start in 2018, and even our expectations at ITM 2018 were even higher. However, the companies suspended their investments after the currency fluctuations in June and the excessive depreciation of the Turkish Lira. In spite of these difficulties, our machinery and spare parts sales were not affected heavily, and even our machinery sales increased compared to last year.

Can you tell us about your goals and investments for 2019? 

As Tekspart, we have achieved our goals for machinery distributorship within a short time after spare parts. In our country, we are aiming, not to protect but, expand our position by not disregarding the fact that the tricot industry is developing and growing. We are planning to make our investments in this direction.

Inteview: Dilek Hayırlı