The Lezita Factory, Turkey's largest and the most modern meat integrated facility, consists of 3 main buildings built on 110 acres of land. Some 2500 people work in 3 shifts in an indoor area of 65.000 sqm. In addition to electricity, steam and oil production; water treatment, cooling and disposal are also conducted within the factory, where live activities are also conducted.
I was following EEC from the security fairs. We viewed it as a professional and highly corporate company. We had certain hesitations about the project because we had to install a fire detection system. A fire brigade inspection had been conducted in the past, but their reports had been ignored by the authorized officers at the time. After a short period of time, we started this business when our facility would be almost closed. We had extremely limited time. We first started to cooperate with a different company, but we then decided to continue with EEC because the other company failed to fulfill our deadlines. Based on this awareness, EEC accepted the job and we commissioned the system without any problems.
We had some difficulties during the commissioning process. A fire broke out. Before installing the system, when we were just preparing to commission it, a fire broke out. We had to stop production operations for some 2 days. Due to the fire that broke out in our transformer room, our cooling engine room was completely burned. We brought 6000 KVA transformers within 2 days and made their connections. We could run the system that way. So, it was a very serious crisis, a serious fire. Despite these setbacks, we could activate the system even earlier than planned.
As the fire broke out even before the system was activated, we did not have any hesitation about EEC. As we had already checked the quality of the work and the perspective during our field works, the minor concerns that we had in the beginning were eliminated, because the partners at EEC were dealing with the topic with an extremely objective point of view and a knowledgeable and specialized opinion.
My success criteria in this facility is as follows: I have been working at this company for some 10 years. The system of EEC has been operating 100% for some 5 years. For the 5 years before EEC installed its system, and even for the 2 years after installing it, the people’s view of the fire alarm was like this: "There is a sound coming from here, the maintenance team should take care of this and turn the sound off". For the last 3 years, when the fire alarm is triggered, the people ask: "Is there a problem?", and they get up from the table. This is a success for me. We made sure that when the alarm is triggered, the people understand that there is actually a problem somewhere and take the alarms seriously. This is a very important result for me, it is very important because I also know about the situation in the past. I consider both our side and EEC side to be successful on this issue.
We cooperate with many different companies in the segments such as process machines, safety equipment, emergency equipment, etc. 70 to 75% of them are the companies that build and sell the systems and then stand behind their products as much as they should. However, some of these companies act with a mindset that ensures the proper service and operation of the products for many years. Honestly, I can place EEC in such a 30% tranche.
Apart from the reliability of the system, the most important property for me is its sustainability because we implement very rapid location changes. Today we work with this project, but it might change completely when EEC arrives. Despite all these changes, the system continues to operate well. This is achieved by the sustainability property of the system.
We have a special area like a loft. The conditions in this area are quite challenging. Despite this, we do not receive false alarms from there. This is one of the remarkable points for me. The system runs very efficiently in all conditions.
When we go and check the alarms that we receive from uncontrolled areas, we can identify that there is a problem. We sometimes receive false alarms. For example, an alarm is triggered by hot water steam. We know what to do while washing with the hot water steam, and we change our procedure accordingly. We fit a cover on it during the washing.
It also offers ease of use. The interested and trained coworkers can use the system easily. It does not make people tired. I personally do not like dealing with complicated systems. But our system is not like that. It is easy and quick to see what has happened where.
We recommend the services and products of EEC. As I said before, this is a very fast growing place. We absolutely use your quotations in all tenders. In fact, in some tenders, we proceed directly with your quotations, and we do not even receive alternative quotations. This demonstrates our satisfaction with you.
The quality of the products is extremely good. If the application was analyzed well and the right product was selected, such product meets the need. You just have to work well in advance. If you place a smoke detector under the floor where hot water steam comes out, you will receive alarms at all times. If you did not review the reason for this situation, you would automatically think that there is a problem with the equipment. However, the main problem is that a product was not selected as suitable for that process. We proceed quickly by replacing the product.
I am very satisfied with the quality performance, but your price policy is too high. If I could sell chicken in Euros or Dollars, maybe I would not find the prices high, but I sell chicken in Turkish Lira. This is a bit challenging for us. I think of a lot of areas in my mind that I want to invest in, but I can take risks in some areas because I am afraid of receiving quotations. I think it might be better if the price policy is re-considered according to the market conditions.
Our works consist of 3 phases; survey, pricing and delivery of the work. If I make a list here, the survey and pricing is realized at an extraordinary speed, and the delivery of the work takes place at normal speed. No problem with the delivery of the work.
Your sales personnel that deal with us are very interested, and even follow up the projects that are not a priority for us, but rather follow up the projects that we have mentioned to them, with more interest than us. They are very interested, keeping us continuously informed about the emerging technologies. We have no problems on this issue, and we are extremely satisfied.
We are also very satisfied with the technical services. The main control screen broke down last weekend, and our security officers called your technical staff and they found a solution. They ultimately called me and said: "We would like to let you know that the system did not operate for an hour, but EEC solved the problem". In other words, our security officers directly contacted EEC and solved the problem without even needing our technical personnel.
When we experience breakdowns, we have to call EEC beyond the schedule. They send a worker to us to make quick intervention. The worker that has been working with us since the installation phase has now become like our payroll worker. He is very knowledgeable and hardworking. He finds solutions to our problems quickly. If there are any points that he needs to get support from us, he mobilizes us quickly. The service quality exceeds my expectations. This is actually the biggest benefit for me. We are extremely satisfied with the service that we receive.
During the pandemic, people strayed from their plans. Due to the weekend lockdowns, our weekday production increased significantly. The schedules were surely changed between our employees and your employees. However, this had no consequences for the safety, sustainability or disruption of the facility. I did not feel it at all. I can say that we have continued to receive the same quality of services.
In the past, some meat production facilities had closed their integration due to fire, and they could not recover from the fire. Some of them recovered, but, for different reasons, they could not continue their business. Fire is a very important risk for a slaughterhouse due to the sandwich panels. We had to stand the fire for 30 hours, the cost of our 30-hour stop was 15-16 million TRY. Therefore, even the possibility of a fire is very, very important for us. For this reason, the detection system must be operating smoothly. We have too much humidity, steam and water, which the electronic systems do not like at all. The system needs to be resistant to these factors. That is why we need such a robust system. This is the importance of fire detection for us.
