Miller Magazine Issue: 115 July 2019

69 TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM MILLER / JULY 2019 When innovation, high-tech, and sustainability are mentioned in the milling sector, Selis Machinery is one of the prominent companies that come to mind. The com- pany established milling facilities in Turkey and in many countries for more than a half-century and exported technological machinery and equipment and the com- pany has a prominent place in the sector with innovative solutions that it has developed thanks to its investment in the research and development. Selis contributed to the technological development of the sector by having many patents, and that’s why Selis has many awards. Recently, the company is granted the Grapas Innovation Award in ‘Technology Development Branch’ with DAPS system on June 12th, 2019 at Cologne, Germany. İsmail Kunduracı, Chairman of Board of Selis Machin- ery and doyen name of the milling sector, talked to Miller Magazine about the principles that make the company so successful and the future of grain processing indus- try. He emphasized that there has been serious compe- tition at home and abroad in the sector and underlined two points in the production: Quality and products with high added value. In order to realize these, Mr. Kundura- cı points out two subjects: carrying out R&D and moving to high technology. “It is absolutely impossible for any firm producing poor quality goods to continue its busi- ness and be sustainable. You can be competitive in the world by producing quality, high technology, and R&D oriented new generation products. As Selis, we bring this into the forefront,” Mr. Kunduracı said. Here are the evaluations by İsmail Kunduracı, Chair- man of Board of Selis Machinery, to Miller Magazine: Mr. Kunduracı, Selis Makina is a well-established and strong company in the milling machinery sec- tor. Can you tell us about how Selis managed to be among the prominent companies in this sector and Selis’ place in the sector? Selis Machinery is a family company. There are two companies: Yükseliş and Selis. Our companies were founded 55 years ago. We reached this position within 55 years experiencing different stages in the sector. We have a serious infrastructure in grain processing tech- nologies. We have a respectable, strong, and reliable position in the sector in which many well-established companies struggle in Turkey and abroad. We are the most dynamic and innovative company in the sector. As Selis, we act with the belief that the milling is a bou- tique sector in terms of production. We use the highest quality equipment, materials, and labor force; we always try to keep efficiency and customer satisfaction at the forefront. Our most important goal is export. Despite the change over the years, we export 80 percent of our products on average. Selis is a company that manufactures and develops the technology. Could you tell us about your research and development activities at this point? As you know, this sector is not for the final consum- er. We manufacture investment goods. However, tech- nology has been developing all over the world. Like- wise, there are some developments in our country. As a country and company, we do not stay behind these developments. We strive to do better. We need to make technology and R&D oriented productions. We have al- ways been a company targeting R&D and technology. On research and development, we have been working for many years. We have been constantly working on industrial and intellectual property subjects. We own several patents. We have always been working on this issue. We believe that only in this way can our sector develop. However, we realize that there has been unfair competition in our sector just like other sectors. Unfor- tunately, unfair competition occurs in Turkey and abroad from time to time. You export a bigger part of your products. Can you tell us about which region does Selis focus on and is Selis strong? We installed facilities in many countries. Nevertheless, we export heavily to some countries and regions. The Middle East and Africa are early in the list. Similarly, we place importance to South Africa, the Balkan counties, Europe, Russia, and the Turkic countries. We have busi- ness with Latin American countries as well. Every mar- ket has its cons and pros. We believe that we should focus on a few countries rather than working in many different countries. When we examine different international economic projection, we perceive that population and income will increase in African and South Asian countries. Also, the food consumption habit will change in these countries. Do you have any work for these regions? Of course, there has been. We have been working on these regions. As a sector, we have an advantage in our production: We manufacture machinery used in food production. Food is the most basic requirement for people all over the world, and the world population con- tinues to grow. According to UN estimates, the world’s population will reach 10 billion by 2050. It will require a record-breaking amount of food production to feed all these people. Therefore, the need for cereal processing technologies will continue. This seems to be an advan- tage to us. However, we need to keep in mind that there