“We believe that innovation could not be limited to products and processes, but should rather include services as well” -Goksal Gungor, General Manager, Assan Alüminyum

Assan Alüminyum, a subsidiary of Kibar Holding, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers in the flat-rolled aluminium industry. The company produces coil & sheet, foil and pre-painted aluminium products for a variety of sectors such as packaging, distribution, construction, consumer durables, automotive and HVAC with 1500 dedicated employees. With 300 thousand tonnes of production capacity, Assan Alüminyum is the leading flat-rolled aluminium producer in Turkey. Goksal Gungor, General Manager of Assan Alüminyum, has shared his views on the company’s new R&D strategy and investment plans for 2020 with AlCircle in a brief interview.

AlCircle: The use of aluminium FRPs in packaging and automotive saw a rise in 2019 with the shift from alternative packaging materials to aluminium-based packaging and increased production of electric vehicles. Do you think these two sectors will continue fuelling the aluminium FRPs demand even in 2020?

Goksal Gungor: Aluminium use is dependent on a developed industry base and could therefore be referred to as the metal of the developed world. With the rising concerns for the environment and the dire need for sustainability, aluminium gains even more importance. Aluminium is “green” by nature, as it is infinitely recyclable, it is light so it helps reduce carbon emissions by making transport vehicles lighter, it preserves energy in HVAC applications thanks to its high conductivity, it helps reduce food waste by enabling packaging products to be more resource-efficient and so on. In short, aluminium will become even more prominent for many different industries in the near future. We foresee that the consumption of aluminium will rise significantly, especially in sectors such as transport and packaging. These are clearly areas, where aluminium use will lead to new innovations, as automobiles need to become lighter and more fuel efficient year by year.

AlCircle: What new R&D strategy do you have for the year 2020?

Goksal Gungor: We aim to reinforce our position as one of the global pioneers in the continuous casting technology, both in terms of production capacity and technical know-how. Our officially certified R&D Center is dedicated to continuous progress through process innovations. Our highly competent R&D Team publishes and presents many papers and proceedings at specialized global conferences throughout the world, benefiting the aluminium industry as a whole. We also follow the global advancements in technology and work hard, in order to develop new production technologies in our area of expertise. Our focus on R&D is also a significant contributing factor to high customer satisfaction and continuing trend of growth.

AlCircle: Your “Cast’n Roll - Supply Chain Transformation Project” has won the first place in the “The most Innovative” category in "2019Turkey's Most Influential Supply Chain Professionals" and "Project Contest". Does that inspire you to come up with more innovative solutions in the years to come?

Goksal Gungor: At Assan Alüminyum, we believe that innovation could not be limited to products and processes, but should rather include services as well. We conduct customer satisfaction surveys every year. The result of these surveys shows a consistently high satisfaction rate. This is mainly due to our commitment towards our brand values of reliability, flexibility, innovation and sustainability, through which we aim to differentiate ourselves. We are constantly seeking new and innovative ways to serve our business partners better and the award we have won with our Cast’n Roll Supply Chain Transformation Project most certainly inspires us in this respect. This project is an outcome of our customer-oriented approach and our ambition for continuous advancement.

AlCircle: Could you please brief us on your investment plans for 2020?

Goksal Gungor: We are the fastest growing flat-rolled aluminium producer in Europe and we aim to continue investing in aluminium, as we believe that our industry has a bright future. We make complementary investments every year, including investments on new technologies. Through these investments, we aim to improve our process efficiencies, which in turn will increase our stakeholders’ satisfactions and provide us with strategic areas for further development. With our global culture, we work closely with our business partners, providing them with creative, tailor-made solutions, to become their localized solution partner. As our motto, creating the Future Together, also suggests, we see our business partners as an essential part of our team.

We are ambitious to re-think our ways of doing business and to become more sustainable in all of our processes. Sustainability is currently one of our top priorities. We produce clean electrical energy in our own renewable energy power plant, at an amount that is equivalent to our annual consumption. Our sustainability principle of “producing the future, without wasting it” suggests that we constantly strive to produce less waste, less emissions, to use fewer resources and to consume less energy by developing new energy-savings projects every year. Our integrated recycling facility also makes positive contributions to our sustainability strategy. Through all of these activities, we aim to reduce our overall carbon footprint and to provide a better future for our children.

AlCircle: Assan is currently one of the 3 largest aluminium foil manufacturers in Europe. Do you plan to expand in export markets as well? How much are your investment plans affected by global trade wars?

Goksal Gungor: While we continue to expand our flat-rolled aluminium production each year, a significant portion of this expansion goes to export markets. We currently export 80% of our production. Our main export market is West Europe, where Germany, UK and France have historically been the top third countries for us. We have fairly recently established our wholly owned subsidiary, Kibar Americas in Chicago. With Kibar Americas, we are steadily increasing our presence in the North American markets and seeking potential opportunities to grow further in this market.

We naturally following global markets and commercial policy measure quite closely and have a solid risk management structure. As we always base our plans on our 5 – 10 year, long-term strategies, we do not deter from our plans based on small hurdles. Our agility allows us to take quick action when needed and we adapt very quickly to changing conditions for international trade.