Dear BEYSAD Readers;
In this issue, we have a lot of interviews with our members and as you read, you will see that they are all valuable companies with esteemed managers with great perspectives and vast experiences. We believe that you will also be happy as we are when you realize that you read something new from each of them, as you keep on reading. This time we will introduce a woman executive to you: Edes Etiket General Manager Çiğdem Sertkaya Temizkan who started working, while she was still studying. We would like to thank Mrs. Temizkan for making us time.

Could you please introduce yourself?

I am Çiğdem Sertkaya Temizkan. I graduated from Industrial Engineering of Bahçeşehir University in 2006. I started to gain my first working experience at Deridesen Etiket family company. I began to explore the working life, when I worked at Deridesen Etiket in summer in my middle school years and Mercedes Benz Bus Factory, International ERBA Agency and Network-Altınyıldız Textile Factory where I worked for my university internship. During my internship, I learnt about the business management and the discipline in a German company and customer relations in the agency. I gained experience on how to keep up with the rapidly changing fashion trends, while I worked for the textile factory. I have been in the business life since 2006. After I was assigned to establish the Quality and Environment Management Systems of Edes Etiket in 2006, I formed the Quality Management System of Deridesen Etiket, when I started working there in 2007. Later, I was assigned to develop raw materials and new techniques to apply on raw materials and to prepare the collections where the developed innovations were used in the Product Development Directorate. I worked in this post until 2011, and then I was hired as the General Manager for Edes Etiket.

Could you tell us about Edes Etiket and its activities?

Edes Etiket was founded in 2005 to produce labels / logos for industrial manufacturers. In its first years, it introduced itself in the market by producing polyurethane drop logos. It, then, started making metal logos by updating itself as per the changing market conditions and trends and finally, with the investment made in 2012, it became the first company in Turkey to found the thincut metal logo production. It started to add export brands in its existing customer portfolio thanks to thincut. Its current reference list today includes the top globally-renowned white appliances manufacturers. We gain more recognition every day. Our references include Vestel, Arçelik, Beko, Haceb, Gorenje, Arctic, Alarko, ECA, Baymak, and Vailant. By attending IFA 2015, the company will introduce its logos to the international market. We aim to attain our goals for 2015 through rapid growth.

When did your path cross with Edes Etiket’s?

I was one of the creators of Edes Etiket. It was our sister company which we established together with our family company. I am one of the contributors from establishment to the preparation of the quality system and who have increased the number of staff from 9 to 20 people and then, from 20 to 50 people. Therefore, I have always been involved in Edes Etiket.

Could you tell us about the organizational structure of Edes Etiket?

It is family business whose partners are 3 sisters and our father Yaşar Sertkaya. We have a technical and support team of our flagship Deridesen Etiket and a strong and competent sales team at Edes Etiket where I am the General Manager. With the work of our sales team, we can closely follow the innovations and changes in the market and take immediate actions. We naturally have a talented, fast and solution-oriented production department that supports the sales and never leaves any question marks in minds. Because of the brands we work for, we have to operate with zero error. Therefore, quality is the area which we think should be observed in all our processes and we try to apply the total quality management in the best way possible. We document this structure with the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management and ISO 14001:2008 Environment Management Systems. 

Which sectors do you give service to?

Because of the products made by Edes Etiket, it has a vast customer portfolio. During its initial years, the company was focused on the promotion sector, but over the years, it has gained a very wide audience including the automotive, white appliances, furniture, retail sales, and online sales websites. However, by distribution 80% of its production is for the white appliances companies. We mostly work with the cooler factories, electronics factories and washing machine factories of white appliances companies. We are also working to get a place in the telephone sector which is among the new growth objectives of Turkey. We are investing on the HIGHCUT logo production moving the thincut logo production one step forward. When these works of ours have been completed, we will add telephone manufacturers to our customers.

Could you tell us about your export rates and which countries do you mostly export to?

We have achieved a tremendous boom in the last quarter of 2014 in the exports and we expect that our total sales will constitute 30% of our total sales in our export sales objectives for 2015. We mostly export to Colombia, Romania, Russia, Bulgaria and Arabic countries.

What differentiates you from your competitors?

As we have experienced at Deridesen Etiket for 30 years, the most important thing is trust. We believe that with the trust we give to our customers, we are always behind our products and we can analyze the needs of our customers very well through our customer-focused approach under any circumstances. Understanding the need of the customer and developing custom solutions accordingly also improve communication. Moreover, following the innovations in the world with our customers, we want to be where they are and we follow them. Thereby, we can keep up to date about what is going on in our area. In summary, trust, understanding needs and innovation are among the characteristics that make us different.

What are your expectations of BEYSAD? What can we do for you?

You have a very powerful and massive audience. I think that with the interactions of the members and common projects they can achieve together, you can create both economic and aesthetic designs for the current white appliances brands, solution offers and ecologically friendly projects. I believe that collaborations with universities supported by you can be the basis for such projects. Also, I think that the world giants overseas can work with many sub-industry companies in Turkey and you can be very influential in the promotion of this. In this regard, you can sponsor fairs to promote and support Turkish industrialists and organize factory visits in order for foreign brands to visit Turkey. Considering the qualified and trained personnel in the sector, you can also organize trainings in certain fields.