“We Are Not Only Focusing On The Present, But Also On The Future.”
Consisting of 12 companies, TAHA Group operates in the fields of design, production and marketing in the textile and garment industry. Özen Mensucat, an affiliate of the group, is one of the leading knitted fabric finishing companies in the industry.
Offering finishing processes for knitted fabrics made of cotton, polyester, polyamide, viscose, linen, modal, silk and their own blended yarns, Özen Mensucat is also one of the most sought-after companies in the finishing sector.
The company bring in different finishing and appearance features for silicone finishing, raising, carbon brush, sanding and knitting fabrics. In addition, it offers antibacteriality, water repellency, hydrophilicity, wrinkle-free technical properties for fabrics with these finishing processes.
We talked about the company’s development and activities from the past to the present with Ahmet Temiroğlu, General Manager of Özen Mensucat, which has achieved great success with its sensitivity to human health and the environment. Enjoy reading.
Can you tell us about the development process of your company since the year it was founded? What is your most important philosophy?
Özen Mensucat Boya ve Terbiye İşlt. A.Ş operates in the field of knitted fabric finishing as a Taha Group company, which started production in 1994. 350 people are working at our company operating in Çerkezköy/Tekirdağ.
Our company shows great sensitivity to environmental and human health issues as well as product quality. Our company, which continues its activities in accordance with ISO 9001 Quality Management System, ISO 14001 Environmental Management System and OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety System, was awarded the “National Quality Achievement Award” by KalDer. Özen Mensucat represented our country, awarded the “2016 Turkey National Champion” in the European Business Awards, held every year to select the most successful organizations in corporate sustainability, achieving innovations in their fields to make a positive impact on social life and the environment in Europe.
All the products our company manufactures are certified according to Oeko-Tex Standard 100. Özen Mensucat also produces organic and recycled fabrics according to customer demands.
Our most important philosophy is to keep sensitivity to the environment, human health, mutual love and respect in the foreground.
What are the criteria you pay particular attention to in your production? Can you evaluate it in terms of R&D, quality, design and innovation?
In all stages of production, we work sensitively with the motto “Quality is produced, not controlled,” believing that the next control will be made by the customer.
We ensure the continuity for the improvement works carried out in our quality and business processes by ensuring the participation of all employees with the kaizen teams.
We develop new products at our R&D center and offer them to our customers.
Which machine brands do you rather prefer for your dyeing and finishing department? What things do you pay attention to in your machinery and technology investments?
We prefer the domestic machines in order to contribute to the growth and development of domestic brands, to the national economy and to increase employment. In the meantime, of course we do not compromise in our quality and expectations. In order to increase the quality, efficiency and reduce the consumption of natural resources (water, electricity, natural gas), our engineers carry out continuous improvement works in production processes. We are constantly exchanging ideas with the machinery manufacturers by identifying the areas that are open to development. This way, we are both developing the machines we use and contributing to the technological development of the machines to be produced.
In order to maintain your quality with your competitive power as one of the leading companies in the country and in the textile industry, what kind of activities do you have for your dominance in the world market and in Turkey?
Today’s technological developments, automation and modern devices have not diminished the importance of people in organizations. Technology is still used by people no matter how far it advances. Developing new products and technology is no longer the most important competitive advantage for companies thanks to the developments in communication and technology. Because these achievements can be imitated within a very short time. Under these conditions, one of the most important and valuable resources, which institutions can provide competitive advantage to each other is their human resources.
In our company, we mobilize all the necessary facilities to ensure the training and development of our employees. This enables us to have a highly qualified workforce that is committed to our company, to ensure continuity in quality and to take a step ahead of our competitors.
What is the production volume of your factory? What kind of activities do you have in terms of increasing production?
With the machinery investments we recently made, both the capacity increase and the technologies have been renewed. Our company, which started production with a capacity of approximately 10 tons per day, continues its activities with a capacity of 50 tons per day now. Since our establishment, we have carried out many efforts for efficiency and process improvement by adopting continuous improvement as a principle, and we continue to do so. Within this scope, we have cooperated with many companies and universities.
Recently, We started TPM works in our company in order to increase productivity. TPM is a management system that instills the “concept of zero” for all employees by targeting “0 work accident,” “0 error” and “0 downtime” in production processes. TPM includes applications that help people describe losses and show them where losses are. With the TPM applications, it is possible to increase the capacity of machinery and equipment just by measuring and improving equipment efficiency without new investments.
What does Industry 4.0 mean to you? What kind of activities do you have in this field?
The Industrial Revolution is an integration of relations where machines, automation and information systems, even individual factories “talk” to each other and produce common solutions. In other words, this revolution aims to be connected and communicated with the help of cyber systems in all stages of an economic activity, i.e. in order to increase efficiency, reduce costs and increase competitive advantages.
We have become an exemplary company with our software programs and machine technologies that we have used to date. From now on, we will continue to carry out the necessary works to become a leader and set an example in this sense. Together with our R&D center and other departments, we identified our projects related to Industry 4.0 and started our works to implement them.
The dye-house department is one of the units due to waste released to the environment and use of high volumes of energy. As Özen Mensucat, what kind of precautions do you take to protect the environment?
Our responsibility towards the environment led us to serious efforts in this direction. Even in the years when we started production, our wastes were sent to a licensed company for disposal even though there was no legal obligation at that time and it was the only licensed company capable of accepting waste.
At the moment, all our wastes are separated from their source for disposal and recycling and sent to licensed waste companies with licensed vehicles.
In 2018, 83,330 kgs of paper was sent to recycling facilities, 1,416 mature trees, 374,985 kwh of energy, 9750 tons of greenhouse gas and 1917 m³ of water were saved. In 2018, 54,256 kgs of plastic waste was sent to recycling, 868 barrels of oil, 3,123,390 kwh of energy, 91,194 tons of greenhouse gas and 1248 m³ of storage space were saved. In 2018, 20.660 kgs of metal waste was sent from our facility to recycling and 92,970 kwh of energy, 2,417 tons of greenhouse gas and 475 m³ of water were saved. In 2018, 450 kgs of glass waste was sent to recycling and converted into 450 kgs of raw material. In 2018, 390,340 kgs of textile waste was sent to recycling and converted into textile raw materials.
The waste water from our company located in Çerkezköy Industrial Zone is sent to the treatment facility with the “Waste Water Channel Connection Permission.”
In our company, coal is used as a cost-friendly solution as in many textile enterprises. However, in order not to prevent its effect on the air quality, emission measurements are made every two years at an accredited laboratory determined by the ministry, and the results are shared with the ministry. In addition, although our boiler capacity is below the limits specified in the regulation and we do not have legal obligations, we continuously monitor and control the gas emissions from our chimneys with our continuous measurement system.
While making our investments, we pay attention to be energy efficient machines in terms of both cost and natural resource consumption. With the investments and projects we have carried out in recent years, we have achieved a 35% reduction in water consumption, 15% in chemical material consumption, 25% in steam consumption, 22% in electricity consumption, and 15% in process times. We have reduced our waste papers by 50%, metal waste by 65% and oil waste by 66% by raising awareness for our employees and using recyclable materials.
We are also supporting the “Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals” project, which has gained a worldwide impact. We share our wastewater analysis results with the global public.
We are not only focusing on the present, but also on the future. We do not pollute the colorful world of our children while doing our job the best way possible.
You have received numerous awards so far. Which characteristics of your company do you attribute your success to in the industry?
Özen Mensucat is an institutionalized enterprise. The initiative is not in the hands of individuals, but the system. In this sense, the general manager, director, officer or worker is no more or less important than each other. It is important that the tasks assigned on them by the system are performed with high performance. The secret for Özen Mensucat’s success is in the ability of employees to participate in continuous improvement activities with the same target from the workers in production to the top manager and to keep up with the ever-changing conditions.
Can you briefly tell us about your goals, plans, innovations and projects of Özen Mensucat for 2020?
Our 2020 targets include making new products and creating demand with our newly established R&D center, increasing our export volume by finding new marketing channels, carrying our TPM efforts to the next level and bringing all our machines to the third phase by the end of 2020. In addition, in terms of sustainability, we aim to achieve the zero targets for the discharge of hazardous wastes (ZDHC) by 2020.
Interview: Kübra Karaca
