Siegwerk, a global provider of printing inks for packaging applications and labels, has completed a significant investment project for the reconstruction of its site in Tuzla, Turkey, one of the company’s 16 Centers of Excellence worldwide. Herewith, Siegwerk Turkey improved both efficiency and safety at its regional headquarters and increased its production and storage capacities that will enable the company to further grow and strengthen its market position in the region. Next to producing solvent-based inks and varnishes the site in Tuzla also distributes the company’s Sheetfed and Narrow Web products to customers in Turkey, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia as well as Egypt and serves Siegwerk’s entities in Nigeria and South Africa.

The investment project especially focused on safety requirements and storage expansion involving several architectural, mechanical, electrical, and fire safety work streams. “After a series of detailed engineering studies, we have started with the reconstruction of our facility in 2017. Since mid of 2020 we are now officially allowed to fully operate in our modernized building,” explains Mustafa Güler, Vice President EMEA, Business Unit Sheetfed and Managing Director, Turkey and Middle East at Siegwerk.

The redesign activities at the site in Tuzla not only increased the per hour output by 20% to a total production capacity of 20,000 tons but also created 20 additional jobs bringing the total number of employees to 130.

“With the completion of the project, we have now upgraded the site in accordance with all recent legal requirements for fire and work safety and have increased our warehouse capacity in order to pave the way for future growth,” adds Güler. “We have even mastered the challenge to build a state-of-the-art facility that meets the highest safety standards without stopping operations for just one single day. This is a huge milestone for our team.”

The reconstruction project has not only included investments in the redesign of existing buildings like laboratory, production, or warehouse but also in new technologies to bring work safety to the next level. For example, the ventilation system in the production area has been renewed to better meet the needs of solvent emission, full automatic filling and weighing lines have been established, grinders and mixers have been renewed and areas have been better equipped against natural events like earthquakes or thunderstorms. The warehouse has been redesigned from a three-floored to a one-storey building with a nine-level rack system doubling the storage capacity of pallets. Besides, solvent tanks have not only been renewed for an increase of storage capacity by 150% but also have been better connected to the production area further increasing work efficiency and safety. These are just a few examples of the comprehensively implemented improvements at Siegwerk’s site in Tuzla.

Besides, the investments for reconstruction of own buildings, Siegwerk Turkey has also concluded a rental agreement for a new plant at the neighboring property that is currently under constructions adding another 4,000 square meters of building enabling the company to double the size of its site and further support its future growth. Going forward, Siegwerk Turkey plans to further invest in digitalization of the production and a simpler connection of production equipment and internal IT systems like SAP.