Ketmak, which has put its sign under 1300 projects at home and abroad in the field of mining and industrial treatment systems, especially in the marble sector since its foundation, develops environment friendly systems in its 7500 square meters factory in order to leave a livable world to the future generations.We interviewed with Ms. Nilgün Solak, the General Manager of the company about the treatment of mineral and marble, the protection of the environment during the production of mineral and marble, as well as the more efficient use of water resources.
– Ms. Nilgün, Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your background and your business…
I graduated from the Department of Environmental Engineering of the Middle East Technical University. Then I completed my Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Gebze Technical University. I have been working in Ketmak Machinery Company for 10 years. This is the first and only company, which I started working after school.
-KETMAK Machinery and Plant Manufacturing Industry and Trade Company was founded in 1997. Will you tell us the development / progress of the company since those days?
KETMAK Machinery and Plant Manufacturing Industry and Trade, is a company making production of the machinery and equipment used in the mineral enrichment and the refining of wastewater generated during gold, copper, silver, chromium, magnesite, marble, granite, ceramic, aggregate, sand, coal, feldspar production and other mining facilities. KETMAK Machinery and Plant Manufacturing Industry and Trade, a company making production of the machinery and equipment used for mineral enrichment and the refining of wastewater generated during gold, copper, silver, chromium, magnesite, marble, granite, ceramic, aggregate, sand, coal, feldspar production and other mining facilities, was founded by A. Levent KETENCİ in 1997. Since its foundation, KETMAK has always aimed to develop itself continuously with its strong vision and has become a pioneer company in mining and marble sectors. KETMAK has put its sign under more than 1300 projects at home and abroad in the field of mineral enrichment and industrial treatment recycling systems, especially in the marble sector in its past 21 years. Today, we see the plants established by KETMAK in 21 different countries of the world such as Turkey, Greece, Iran, Syria, Palestine, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Azerbaijan, the Netherlands, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, England, and Nigeria. KETPOL Treatment Chemicals Marketing Industry Trade Inc. was established under KETMAK Group Companies in order to provide logistic support to the facilities established by KETMAK, in 2011. Ketpol provides services on treatment chemicals and fitler cloths that have vital importance in treatment systems.
-What are the events and the milestones in the history of Ketmak?
Ketmak was founded by Levent Ketenci in 1997. At first, it was serving only in the marble sector. At that time, there was no marble treatment systems at all. The companies were using, old and primitive systems. Mr. Levent, decided to apply the systems he had seen abroad, in Turkey and entered to this
sector. We can say that treatment and recovery in marble sector starts with Ketmak. The history of mining and accordingly the history of modern mineral treatment do not have a longstanding background in Turkey. Modern mining in this country is being made only for the last 15-20 years. We are in this sector for the last 10 years. Since the foundation of our company, we have been continuing our efforts to provide the best service in all processes, from designing the project to manufacturing and after sales support, by expanding both our machine park and team.
-Will you tell us about the machines and equipments that you produce?
The main product groups we manufacture are: Filtration, Pan filters, Thickening tanks, Thickening Redactors, Sedimentation tanks, Pneumatic knife valve groups, Centrifugal pumps facilities, Rotary Disk biological treatment plants, Mine Spray Booths, Turbo sludge pumps, Hydraulic sludge pumps,
Submersible pumps (drainage pumps), Dosing pumps, Polyelectrolyte preparation units, Compact treatment plants, Solid waste feed plants
-Will you tell us about the reclaiming and recycling wastewater processes?
In an environment, there are two things to do after the wastewater is generated; recycling and discharge under appropriate standards. When industry is considered, of course, recovery is the most logical operation. All the processes from projecting to manufacturing and after-sales services are followed in our own company and the wastewater that is generated during operation facilities is being treated with appropriate processes and restored to operation.
– I believe that treatment and recycling has positive contribution to economy as much as the of the environment. Can you explain this a little?
As I mentioned before, in the plants where water is used extensively, such as natural stone and mineral sectors, the treatment plants eliminate the need for a new water source and provides more effective treatment than the primitive treatment methods. Thus, the continuous clean water in the system increases the production quality and enables effective treatment. Another advantage is the minimization of the costs to be done for wastewater disposal.
– Ketmak is also working on recovery and biological treatment projects. Would you also give us information on this?
Biological treatment is a branch we do not prefer to be in. We are trying to stay away from this area because we do not have the same vision with competitors in this sector. However, we can take place in international projects occasionally when we have special customers. So far, we have 1 city refinement in Russia; 1 hospital treatment in Nigeria, and a few rotating disc package treatment projects in Turkey.
-Would you tell us about the process of starting / progressing / concluding the work after you have agreed with a customer?
In fact, we are going through a serious process, before our deal with the customer. After we contact the customer, we start with the discovery of the field. Onsite detection is important for the project. We take the wastewater sample and come to our laboratory and we do sedimentation tests. Sedimentation tests are important for our tank design. We then run tests on our pilot filter presses. The data we get from here also makes us choose filters and pumps. After making the necessary calculations and making machine / equipment selections, we prepare our offer. If the proposal turns into sales, the project layout plans are drawn and the production starts.
-When a client wants a special project that is suitable for his or her own business, what would your stance be in this situation?
We, as a group consist of four different companies. Ketmak Treatment serves in projects, while Ketmak Machinery serves as a production company. Of course, we have had products standardized over time. Apart from that, besides being able to respond to all kinds of special project demands in our own field, we can also do a wide variety of steel manufacturing works.
-Do you also work with foreign mining enterprises or other organizations abroad? Can you tell us about this?
So far we have exported to 21 countries abroad. We have distributors in seven countries including Bulgaria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia and Russia. We have more intensive business relations with the natural stone companies in Balkan countries and the Middle East. Our mining works in Africa and Russia continues. In addition, we have implemented biological treatment projects in Chechnya and Nigeria. We are trying to participate in the relevant trade fairs abroad.
– Ketpol was established 7 years ago to provide logistic support to the plants of which Ketmak has installed treatment systems. Can you give us some information about Ketpol?
Ketpol provides services on treatment chemicals and filter cloths that have vital importance in treatment systems. It is a company established with the aim of solving the problems customers experience due to unhealthy chemicals and filter cloths in the factories. Wrong cloth or chemical can cause breakdowns in the plants or results in unwanted production failures. One typical example of these is mixing salt into the chemical. We are working with the leading companies of the world in order to prevent these problems. We import chemicals directly to our customers as we import / in their packages and we import the fitler cloths in roll form and we deliver them to customers after we cut and sew them in custom sizes. Our organization always keeps customer satisfaction in the foreground with pre-sales and after-sales technical support. In line with this goal, we enable precise operation of the systems by choosing appropriate type and quantity of polyelectrolyte and filter cloth for each plant through pre-sales jar test and pilot filter press applications. The sectors addressed by Ketpol are much larger than those of Ketmak. We provide service to all sectors that have treatment plants or to those, which use dewatering and conditioning equipment in any part of the process with our chemicals and filter cloths.
What are your short and long-term goals of Ketmak?
The way Ketmak has gone through from past up to today and the current situation of the company promises us hope for the future. This make us believe that we proceed with the right strategy and will move forward with our current principles. It is obvious that political and economic fluctuations affect themarkets in a negative way in the current situation and it is hard to predict how long this will continue.
However, despite all these negativities, existing Works and investments continue although with a lower level of acceleration. In this sense, we are aiming to make progress in the short term without being affected by adverse conditions. We are aiming to take our company forward more every day by accelerating the investments made in the domestic market in the long term and by accelerating our works abroad.
+90 532 585 51 95
+90 532 585 51 95