Kaleseramik General Manager Altuğ Akbaş:
“We will introduce to the World once again the final point ceramics has reached”
Kaleseramik, Türkiye’s leading company in the international ceramics market, is preparing for Coverings 2023, one of the largest ceramics exhibitions in the United States, which will be held for the 33rd time this year in Orlando from April 18 to 21, 2023.
Targeting to be the center of attraction in the exhibition with the newest collections of its prestigious brands, which are Çanakkale Seramik, Kalebodur, Edilcuoghi, Edilgres, and T-ONE, and especially Kalesinterflex, which actually is a revolution in the ceramics industry; Kaleseramik will highlight new usage areas for Kalesinterflex, expanding the conventional use of ceramics and opening the doors of limitless creativity to users. Kaleseramik will focus on the theme of sustainability and give the message #iyiBakdunyana [take good care of your World] on its exhibition stand, offering the participants a special and inspiring experience with a highly interactive and inspiring concept.
Coverings 2023 is a very important exhibition that brings together global players in the ceramic industry, said Kaleseramik General Manager Altuğ Akbaş, “In the exhibition we are preparing for, we will promote the newest products of our prestigious brands and also give our messages on sustainability to all participants in line with the 'Take Care of Your World' movement that we have started. As Kaleseramik, we believe that we will make a difference with our products that shed light on the architecture of the future, our special-design stand, and our theme of protecting the planet.”
Coverings, the largest ceramics exhibition in the United States and one of the few exceptional exhibitions all over the world, is expected to be the most important meeting place for the global ceramics industry also this year, as every year. And Kaleseramik participates in this important organization with its sustainable products and designs that add value to life.
Continuing its leadership in the sector with a market share which is almost twice bigger than that of its closest competitor in ceramic tiles in Türkiye, Kaleseramik is the largest ceramic tile manufacturer in Türkiye, and the 5th biggest ceramic tile manufacturer in Europe and the 18th biggest in the world, and it is the sector's top exporter by far.
“We are taking the architecture of the future to the United States”
Kaleseramik General Manager Altuğ Akbaş drew attention to the importance of R&D in the building materials sector, where technology is constantly developing and innovation and sustainability are becoming more prominent each passing day, and said: “We are all proud of not only Kaleseramik’s, but all Kale Group’s success in R&D. Because we always see the R&D as an important bridge that will carry us to the future. Today; we carry out many projects such as waste prevention, and material and process improvements from raw materials to end products in line with the principles of sustainability as well as the design and development of innovative products that will guide the sector in our Kaleseramik R&D Center.
We are the first company in the world to invest in Kalesinterflex (porcelain ceramic slab) technology and start production with this technology. Thanks to the developments we have made by focusing on people, technology, and design; we have introduced many innovative products to the industry by using the superior features of Kalesinterflex, Türkiye's thinnest, largest and flexible ceramic tile, available in alternative sizes of 100 x 300 cm and 120 x 360 cm and 3, 5, and 6 mm thickness.
We have made Kalesinterflex the innovative face of living spaces, especially with T-ONE products, our new product group that we recently developed. Kalesinterflex is used in many different applications with a wide range of products such as kitchen countertops, bathroom furniture, tables in living spaces, and TV set stands. With the increased areas of use, Kalesinterflex both paves the way for our industry and further strengthens our role as one of the most important players in the international arena.”
“We want to make a difference with our products, stand, and theme at Coverings”
“We see international specialized trade exhibitions as an important tool. These exhibitions bring together the buyers and sellers of the sector, and fulfil a very important task for us both to promote our new products and to reach international consumers and professionals. By utilizing this feature of the exhibitions, we try to reach more people abroad and deliver our products to farther markets. Coverings is a very important exhibition where global players in the ceramics industry come together. That's why we are prepared extraordinarily for Coverings 2023. Along with introducing the newest products of our prestigious brands at the exhibition, we will also give a message of sustainability to all participants in line with the 'Take Care of Your World' movement that we have started. As Kaleseramik, we believe that we will make a difference in this exhibition with our products that shed light on the architecture of the future, our special design stand, and our theme of protecting the planet.”
“Our target is to expand in the global market”
Exporting to all over the world and focusing on the global market as part of its growth target, Kaleseramik's leading export markets are Canada and the United States which make up 30 percent of company’s exports. These countries are followed by Israel with 11 percent, United Kingdom with 9 percent, Germany with 5 percent, Pakistan with 5 percent, Iraq with 4 percent, and Italy with 2 percent.
Underlining that the ceramics sector is one of the sectors where Turkiye has a say in the world, both in terms of production and export, Altuğ Akbaş said, “Kaleseramik has a great and pioneering role in Türkiye’s being one of the most important players in the world ceramics league today.
As Kaleseramik, we are the leader and strongest brand of our country, exporting to all over the world, and also focusing on the global market in line with our growth target. Despite all the negativities, we export over 100 million dollars of products to 86 countries. Also, we aim to further increase our exports to the countries with strategic importance, and we continue to walk towards our goals with the same determination by the important steps we are taking. To expand in international markets; factors such as product range, high quality standards, and meeting the needs of international consumers play an important role. Being aware of this, we continue our efforts to establish regional offices that will carry out marketing and sales in America and Europe.”
New 34 million euro foundation for production power
“Underlying the success we have achieved as Kaleseramik today is the sector experience of more than half a century and very important investments made by foreseeing the future. As a strong player of our country in the global ceramics industry, we are one of the largest ceramic companies in the world which is manufacturing in a single sector with 50 million square meters of production in a total of 50 factories.
We continue our production in our 50 factories established on a total area of 1.25 million square meters, including a covered area of 650,000 square meters, in the Çan district of Türkiye’s western Çanakkale province. Concerning the production potential; we have a production capacity of 22 million square meters/year of wall tiles, 15.1 million square meters of floor tiles, 11.2 million square meters of granite ceramics and 1.6 million square meters/year of Kalesinterflex.
Our factory, which is located in Türkiye’s central province of Yozgat, has an open area of 562,000 square meters and a covered area of 24,000 square meters, and its annual production capacity is 6.2 million square meters of floor tiles.
Concerning ceramic sanitary ware (CSW), Türkiye is the biggest ceramic sanitary ware manufacturer in Europe with a production of approximately 22 million units, and it also ranks at the top as the country which makes the largest sanitary ware export in Europe with 8 million units.
With our Kale Bathroom brand, we manufacture in our four factories established on a total area of 115,000 square meters. The sanitary ware capacity of this production is 1.14 million pieces and the bathroom furniture capacity is 84,000 modules.
Also, we laid the foundation of our Granite Slab Factory with an investment of 34 million Euros in Çan district on the 27th of July, the Ceramics Day. In this factory, which we believe will make an important contribution to our production power; we will manufacture Matt/Gloss porcelain slabs with alternative thickness of 6 millimeters, 10 millimeters, 12 millimeters, and 20 millimeters, and sizes of 160x320 cm, 80x320 cm, 80x280 cm, 80x160 cm and 80x80 cm. When the granite slab line is put into operation, we anticipate that it will contribute 1.5 million square meters to the total capacity and 42 million Usd to the annual turnover.
As Kaleseramik, we offer 1,900 types of floor tiles in 50 different sizes and 2,200 types of wall tiles in 60 different sizes, and approximately 200 types of new products to consumers every year.