Henkel operates worldwide in the fields of adhesive technologies, cosmetics, laundry, and home care products. In 1963, Henkel's first facility in Turkey was established in Gebze. The company expanded by adopting the name Turkish Henkel and continued to manufacture in Ayrova. The company continues its operations at its facilities, which have an indoor area of 20.000 m2 and were built on a 35-hectare site in GEBKM. EEC has installed the fire detection and alarm, access control, CCTV, voice announcement, and public address systems as part of the Henkel Anatolia project.
We first met with EEC in 2014, when we integrated the system installed in our ayrova factory into the central system. What I remember most about such a process is how adaptable EEC was and how quickly it provided service. The team that came had great knowledge of the issues, and they completed the job in a short time without any problems. Thus, our first dialogue with the EEC was established.
We had some hesitations before we started working with EEC at our newly established factory. Actually, this was not a hesitation specific to the EEC. In general, there was a hesitation, in particular for non-institutional domestic companies. I am a person who believes that the strong companies and those who do their job well in Turkey, especially those that do engineering activities, are very, very good, and my belief still continues in this direction.
In addition, unlike in the past, we were not adding to an existing system. For a project from scratch, we were looking for a business partner who could offer us both fire detection and emergency announcement systems, plus access control and CCTV systems, as a package that we could work with for many years. Doubts inevitably arose as a result of this.
We considered our past experience obtained in 2014 and the services provided by EEC to very large companies so far. Negotiations were held, and the fact that EEC kept pace with many corporate companies completely eliminated these hesitations. EEC was one of the three companies we preferred when entering the tender process. Therefore, you can guess that we do not have any hesitation in this regard.
There have been some incidents that have shown us that our fire detection and alarm system is always active and operational. These were non-fire events, such as detecting steam or smoke arising from the nature of small-scale production operations. One of the important points for us is that the system does not give false alarms. We are pleased that the system informs us correctly when an actual event occurs. EEC's systems installed in our factory are the systems that we always rely on in the event of an emergency.
Thanks to our CCTV system, our factory manager can constantly monitor every part of the factory. It provides great benefits in terms of being able to closely follow the work done in the field when it is very busy. With our 180-camera system, we monitor every part of the facility on a 24/7 basis and follow up on ongoing events. We perform controls such as determining whether the systems are working correctly, how we can improve the systems, and how we can prevent accidents.
Security issues are very well managed with the access levels defined in our card-pass system. Visitors are allowed to enter certain areas only with their cards, and employees are allowed to enter the IT department only under the supervision of a security guard. We have rules that protect us like this. We do not think that anyone who comes here is malicious, but we think that being cautious is necessary to always stay on the safe side.
We continue to work with EEC regarding additional software modifications that are introduced over time.
If you ask what a fire detection system means for us, many things can be said, but we can say that it is like the insurance of our business. When I consider it from the perspective of an end user, I can count the psychological benefits rather than the technical benefits. We know that our detectors protect all of the points designated in the site correctly and have been fully tested by EEC because we have not experienced any actual events.
We consider the way we work with EEC as a partnership.
We believe that the maintenance service is rendered professionally. We consider the way we work with EEC a partnership. Since it is not possible to employ a technician for each of the fields, such as fire detection, emergency announcement, or access control, all of which require expertise, we would like to work with a company whose technical capabilities and know-how we can totally trust.
Since the original system was installed by EEC, we accepted that the company that knows this best is EEC. For this reason, we have signed a framework contract with EEC, which is renewed every year pursuant to a protocol.
The main critical point about the products is that they can be used and activated when needed.
I can say that I do not have any negative comments about the products selected here, but I may state that there are aspects that are open to improvement. I have not had any complaints about the quality of the products so far. It meets our expectations about quality. As I said, the most important point is that they are capable of being used and active when needed. Ultimately, these are electronic equipment and could fail over time or due to external physical causes. Here, it is important that EEC solve these failures by providing services quickly. The main critical point is to replace any components with spares held by EEC in stock at its warehouse, make a visit to the site, and put them back into use quickly.
We have easy access to EEC for both technical service and periodic maintenance. However, I may say that the service fees are very expensive. It would be beneficial to make the prices compatible with the realities in Turkey. I am especially of the opinion that the service fees applicable for companies that hold a maintenance contract should be different. Also, in order to be faster and more flexible, I prefer the same people who know this site very well to come to Henkel every time.
100% of the employees employed in our factory are vaccinated, and the health of our employees is also officially monitored by our doctor. We are sensitive to this issue, and we expect this from other people who come to our facility to secure themselves. We did not have any issues with EEC in this sense.
Henkel is a global company and applies certain standards. The most important point here is to conduct correct risk analyses on a location and machine basis. After all, we are a factory that uses energy, and we are a chemical factory. As you know, very different types of chemicals are used in a chemical factory, and we use natural gas, hot oil, and steam. We use natural gas as fuel, so there is a fire potential wherever there is natural gas, fuel, pressure, an engine, and electricity. Early detection is one of the most important points to prevent damage to property and life here, so we are trying to keep these systems that will provide early detection alive.
