‘Temsan’ Became the Sole Authorised Dealer for the Production and Sales of Säntis’ Recycling Machine
Interview: Dilek Hayırlı
Temsan, which has been operating in the field of air conditioning for many years, received an offer from the Swiss company Säntis 1.5 years ago to Let’s work together in the recycling project. Säntis requested Temsan to build the recycling machine, the patent of which belongs to them, and Temsan to be the sole authorised dealer for its sales in Turkey and in the world. The machine, which will be completed in the 1st quarter of 2024, will be sold worldwide.
We interviewed with Cem Erdoğrul, General Manager of Temsan, which has been serving the textile industry for many years with Temsan Air Engineering and Temsan Textile Machinery brands.
Temsan Became the 3rd Country Exporting the Most Textile Machinery in 2022
Speaking about the company’s activities in the field of textile machinery, new projects and evaluations for 2023, Erdoğrul explained the cooperation offer they received from the Swiss company Säntis. Erdoğrul also announced to our magazine for the first time that Temsan will be the 3rd country to export the most textile machinery in 2022. Here are the highlights of the interview…
“Our Slasher Machines are Working in Egypt and Uzbekistan”
As Temsan, you are primarily a company operating in the field of air conditioning. However, in recent years, you have also made recycling, slasher dyeing machine and stenter machine. How did you take this decision?
As a matter of fact, we are a company that has been operating in the field of air conditioning for 35 years. Our knowledge and network led us to make textile machines 4 years ago. The first machine we made was the slasher machine. The reason we started with this machine was the following: As a company, we are both a spinner and a denim manufacturer, so we know the process of the machine very well. We are also strong in manufacturing. Therefore, when our machine and process knowledge came together, we decided to make slasher. We built the first slasher machine for ourselves. Then we started to share this information with the market, but we are not in a hurry. The important thing is not to make the machine, but to develop the ability to increase the equipment in the machine. Today we are building our 4th slasher machine. Our slasher machines are working in Egypt and Uzbekistan.
1.5 years ago, we started to make a stenter machine. There are many stenter companies in the market. We set out with the idea of doing the best. The meaning of the best is actually this: There are two types of machines in the market: European origin machines and Turkish origin machines. We set out with the idea of making Turkish origin machines of European quality. We were not price orientated. We already supply 90% of the materials we use in domestic machines from outside. Then we said let’s buy the best. Why? Because if the cost of a machine produced in Turkey is 1 lira, the cost of a machine produced in Germany or another European country is 1.5 liras. There are not such big differences. However, Europeans sell their machines for 5 liras thanks to their network and know-how, while we can sell them for a maximum of 2.5 liras. We went beyond this line and aspired to sell our machine for 4.5 liras.
Now we have built our 5th stenter machine. But we are only in the Turkish market. Because the job does not end with saying that you have built a machine. You have to create a spare parts catalogue, maintenance catalogue and get the certificates. You will train your technologists and service engineers related to machinery. If one of these is missing, you cannot be considered to have built a machine. We take them to those who say ‘bring your machine’, install and operate them. If they have problems, we fix them. Our main business is ventilation, we carry out our textile machinery business with the financial support we get from here.
What are the features that distinguish your machines from your competitors?
There are two basic elements expected from all machines: One is low energy, the second is ease of use and efficiency. In fact, stenter is a process in which hot air is blown on the wet fabric as it passes through. During this process, the fabric switches to the position of protecting its properties. While the fan is blowing, resistances are formed in front of you, and electricity consumption is caused by these resistances. The lower the resistance value, the lower your electricity consumption. In this sense, our design and blowing technology are different from others. Also, the main problem in stenters is this: Edge-middle-edge differences occur. Since there is less flow rate blowing at the extreme edge, colour difference occurs there. We have developed designs to overcome these problems. There is no technology that can say that these machines are 15, 20 per cent better. The differences in all machines are 1%, maximum 5%. Therefore, correct design is very important and material life.
“We Established the Only Axial Fan Test Unit in Turkey”
Reducing consumption costs is a priority for all textile factories. How do Temsan machines help their customers in this sense?
First of all, we are a manufacturer on the one hand and a user on the other. For this reason, we have the opportunity to test the machines we have made in our own organisation and see the results. In this context, we can compare our products with other manufacturers. I will answer this question in terms of our air conditioning business. We established an R&D center about 4.5 years ago and we have done very serious work in the field of air conditioning. Axial fans account for 80% of the installed power of an air conditioning unit. For this reason, we installed our axial fan test unit in AMCA (International Air Movement and Control Association) standards in our R&D center. This unit is the only one in Turkey and there are only 2 or 3 in the world. We tested nearly 3,500 different pressures and flow rates, in the meantime, we developed different wing designs. Our goal was to increase fan efficiency and reduce the kilowatts we use. We tested the company claims of 15%-20% less electricity consumption and found that no fan consumed more than 5% less electricity. Our air conditioners consume 4% less electricity. The annual profit that this provides to a company is around 20 thousand dollars. With this profit, the company can renew all machine engines in its plant within 5 years.
“We are the Market Leader in Uzbekistan with 95% in Air Conditioner Sales”
What is Temsan’s position in the market? Do you aim to reach different markets?
We are one number in certain regions. For example, we are the market leader in Uzbekistan with 95% of the market. In this country, Temsan air conditioners operate in 160 out of nearly 170 spinning mills. This is a great success. There are 75 projects in Pakistan in the last 4 years. 60 of them were done by Temsan. Bangladesh was a very important market for us. Our first large-scale project there is about to be completed. We are also making filtration systems for hemp in the USA. We also have business in Egypt and the African market. We are involved in consortium projects with major manufacturers in the yarn, weaving and knitting sectors in the world. We say hello to these big companies at the CEO level, and we have even gone beyond that. We attend their weddings and funerals. We can gain friends.
You said that you made consortiums with the big manufacturers in the market. Have you recently realized any collaborations?
Säntis, a Swiss company, contacted us through Kipaş 1.5 years ago. They said they wanted to do the Recycle project with us. They wanted us to build the machine they were considering for this project, and also to undertake its sales in Turkey and around the world. So we sat down and made a comprehensive cooperation with the company. We both manufacture and are authorized to sell the patented machine called RCO 100 owned by the company. We introduced the machine at the ITMA 2023. The CEOs of the biggest companies in America and India and the executives of major manufacturers came to our booth and received information about the product. We look forward to sharing the feedback about the machine with the public in a very short time.
Recycling in particular is one of the most emphasized topics today. Why is recycling important for our industry?
Recycling is a very important issue. And why is it important? There are two types of recycled materials for our machines: One is oakum and the other is post consumer waste. These are taken, cut and shredded, given to the machine, and turned into fiber again. After being turned into bales, it becomes yarn. How was this process before the recycling processes? First we planted the seed, put fertilizer on it, the seed took minerals from the soil. After collecting the fiber, we sent it to the ginnery. The fiber went through a process, it was broken, cleaned (as much as it could be cleaned) and then turned into yarn. Not to mention the electricity, water and labor spent for this. By producing yarn from recycled material, we saved seeds, water, electricity, minerals, diesel and much more. In addition to saving waste material, we also reduced our costs. These were our achievements on the oakum side. Let’s come to the dyed fabric side…We take the fabric and put it through a dyeing process. For 1 kg of fabric, we spend an average of 100 liters of water. When you use water, chemicals are also involved. Then the waste water is treated. All of these are a process and cost. With recycling, we make a huge profit from all these.
What are the biggest problems in recycling processes? What distinguishes Temsan’s recycling machines from its competitors?
Making yarn from 100% recycled fiber is not very easy. The reason is that yarn can be prepared in different processes. One of them is ring spinning and the other is open-end spinning. There are standard fiber lengths that are important for both of these processes. If we cannot reach these lengths, there will be no yarn due to strength. I can explain this with an example: you need fibers with a minimum length of 25-26 mm, to make 30/1 yarn on an open-end machine. You need 28-32 mm long fibers, if you want to do this on a ring machine. When you open the oakum in conventional machines, you can get 21-20 or at most 18 mm long fibers. When you open it with our system; you can go up to 24 mm in length. The longer the fiber, the more you can make yarn. For example, when we compare with the machines in the market, our opening ability is 10-15% more successful. In addition, we also make filtration systems, so we have a serious process contribution.
“The Contribution of Our Employees to Temsan’s Success is Great”
One of the biggest problems the sector faces is finding qualified employees. As Temsan, do you carry out any work towards this?
It is very difficult to find training and qualified personnel.For this reason, as Temsan, just as corporate companies have business development projects, we created a personnel training project that lasted about 3.5 years. We found young people who speak English, who have engineering degrees, who have the ability to represent our company, and who are involved in the business, which we still have difficulty in finding. We sent these young people to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where they both reinforced their English and learned the business. For this reason, as Temsan, just as corporate companies have business development projects, we created a human training project that lasted about 3.5 years. We found young people who speak English, who have an engineering degree, who have the ability to represent our company, who are interested in their work rather than avoiding it. We sent these young people to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where they both reinforced their English and learned the business. If Temsan has reached the position it is in today, the contribution of those young people to this success is pretty much.
What do Temsan offer to its customers in terms of after-sales services and what kind of feedback do you receive from your customers at this point?
After-sales service is one of the most important issues that Temsan pays the utmost attention to. The person development project I mentioned in the previous question was necessary to ensure that after-sales service is carried out in the best way possible. Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Africa, America, Azerbaijan… No matter which country it is, if people do not trust you, they will not buy a machine from you. If you convince them that your after-sales service is good, they will buy machines from you. When we start selling machines to a country, we stay until we reach at least 10 machines, then we add local employees to our team and train them. Then we establish dealerships in those countries. The dealers we work with are usually the dealers of big European companies. We are very selective in this regard.
If we talk about after-sales services, all of our projects are customized for the customer. We design according to their demands. We try to minimize the problems caused by breakdowns. We don’t have many customers who call us and say “this part of the machine is broken”. We have established our maintenance systems. We visit our companies periodically, we ask “do you have a problem?” If there is a problem that we cannot solve remotely, we leave on the same day, no matter where the customer is in the world. As Temsan, we stand behind our promise.
“Our Orders Fulled for 2024, We have Orders Remaining for 2026″
The Turkish and global textile industry is in a state of fluctuation due to exchange rate fluctuations and inflation. How do economic difficulties affect your company? What kind of measures do you take to combat them?
Temsan is an accredited company that exports about 85% of its production. Therefore, it does not experience a financial slack. Of course, problems such as inflation and cost increases also affect us. However, I can say that our company’s orders for 2024 are completely fulled. We even have orders for 2026. But since labor costs have increased, we adjust our budget accordingly. We are trying to go with minimum stock in these difficult times like every company. We keep our raw materials more limited and use electricity and water more limited. For example, we have machines such as laser and CNC machines, and we do business abroad with these machines. We provide internal trainings to our workers on the efficient use of resources. We increase our personnel quality and productivity.
How was 2023 for your company? Could you evaluate it in terms of your production volume, orders and export markets?
If we compare 2023 with 2022, it was not a very good year for Temsan. Our production capacity decreased compared to the previous year, our orders decreased. But if we compare it with 2016, we are not in a bad situation, on the contrary, Temsan produce 3 and now it can produce 5. In fact, we visited as many companies during the pandemic as we used to visit before the pandemic. We went to Pakistan and Bangladesh. We had the chance to express ourselves better to our customers and we used this to our advantage. While many companies went backwards during the pandemic, we went upwards at a right angle. We are ready to do big things in terms of production, financial and personnel resources.