These words belong to the Chairman Tayfun Geylan, the President of the Izmir Chamber of Marble. Geylan said that they have struggled to cooperate in İzmir for years to become cooperative and to establish a marble industry park but they cannot get any results. “We have been trying to achieve this for 86 years. We try to do anything, but we cannot get any results.”
Tayfun Geylan, the President of the Izmir Chamber of Marble, is also one of the three certified consultants related to marbles of Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Geylan, who conducts his profession with a great love, gave information about marble workshops and the problems in the sectorof İzmir and Taş Dünyası Magazine. According to Geylan, Izmir has two important problems: the lack of marble industry parks and the poor quality and unlicensed marble workshops.
They sell birds in a marble workshop
Geylan said that they have struggled for these two problems for years and they consulted to the Mayor, the Governor, the Minister, the Prime Minister. Geylan stated that there are nearly 1,500 marble-mason in İzmir and that only 400 of them are registered to the Chamber and Association of Marble. Geylan added:” The number of licensed workshops does not exceed 100. If we close the unlicensed marble workshops, there will not be any marble workshop in İzmir. From time to time, when we go to the auditions we experience interesting situations. They call themselves marble workshop, but they do not even have a machine in it. They even have a marble license and sell birds at the workshop. In İzmir, there are many informal, unregistered working places. Having industrial parks, is the best way to maintain quality and to ensure the control.”
Industrial Park: for control and quality!
“Izmir needs an industrial park city,” said Geylan. “When we talk to the local authorities, they say that there is no suitable place in Izmir for this business. Can you believe this? In Izmir, where we have realized the world’s second largest fair, we do not have an industrial park. I must say these as someone who is the main responsible person for a non-governmental organization. Non-governmental organizations of a city create solutions for every problem. If you cooperate with non-governmental organizations, you will do the right job find the root of the problems. People ask us whether we have industrial parks or not. No! When I asked for marble-masons to register in the Chamber if they were planning to become an industrial park, 155 people registered in one day. There are so many requests for that. When we say this to our local management, they ask us whether the marbles factories are not enough for us. They are working without a license. The reason that we insist is to maintain the control and increase high-quality production in marble business.”
“Prices created poor-quality and dishonest people.”
Geylan says that there are only 1,500 marble workers in İzmir and the number of registered and qualified firms is very small. He explains the reason why the technicians cannot make technological breakthroughs in İzmir is as follows: “The number of firms that actually do their work properly within the registered 400 members does not exceed 50. 400 of them, 350 of them are under the counter. This is entirely a supply-demand issue. Demand is poor-quality and cheap business. Therefore, nobody is investing in technology. And when the company cannot get the money it wants, it starts to work with second and third-class labor. Because technology is required for error-free and first quality cutting. Cheap business demands mainly happen in businesses related to contractors. Contractor business, regardless of what profession, reduces the quality of professions.” Geylan pointed out that there is no new generation of marble-workshops that produce high-quality products in recent years. He stated that the most important problem of poor quality labor is the contractors and lack of education. He added: “Prices created poor-quality and dishonest people.”
“Education is a must”Geylan states that this problem can be overcome in İzmir, the city that hosted the world’s second-largest fair. He also added: “Actually, it is not only Izmir’s problem, it’s Turkey’s problem.” It is a serious problem of specialization. There should be no marble workers without mastery certificate. The first condition is education for this. Marble education should be taught in vocational high schools and education should be continued in university. Specialization must be done in marble industry. Everyone should do their own work. High quality work cannot be cheap.”
Those who do not know the Pi number are conducting marble business.
After our delighted conversation with Geylan, we visit Hasan Çelikağ, who has great experience in the sector and cooperated with Tayfun Geylan. He is also very disappointed that they could not find any solution for the problems that they tried to solve for years. Hasan Çelikağ, the authority of Çelikağ Marble, pointed out that the mastership certificate is requested while the private companies are licensed but the master certificate is not required when opening a limited company. He added: “In İzmir, people can take over marble workshop for 15,000 – 20,000 Turkish Lira. A person who could not even work for me with the minimum wage becomes the boss when he/she has 20,000 Turkish Lira. There are gaps in law. When a master certificate is required for a private company, why it is not required when establishing a limited company? Does a limited company worker have innate skills to be a marble-mason? What happens next? Those who do not know how to take the measure of the step, the counter of the kitchen counter and those who do not know the Pi number are trying to conduct marble business. This leads to poor-quality and cheap jobs. Education is a must, industrial park is crucial, and control mechanism is a must.”
+90 532 585 51 95
+90 532 585 51 95