One of the most important manufacturers in Kahramanmaraş and Turkey, Kipaş continues to increase its production capacity in 2012. As of today, the figure of 300 thousand ring spindles and 20 thousand open-end rotors has been reached in the sipinning mills of Kipaş. Performing production in many textile segments besides the yarn, Kipaş Holding produces 20 million meters of non-denim and 30 million meters of denim fabric annually with 335 weaving machines sand 1500 employees. Performing 10 percent of Turkey's annual yarn production, Kipaş fabric production facilities have a rich portfolio of production covering fabrics of all fiber groups, especially cotton.
Preferring the technologies of the significant brands in the field of yarn in the machine park, Kipaş added the 4 thousandth carding machine produced by Rieter to its lines. For this reason, at the ceremony held at Kipaş Yarn Plants, Ahmet Duygal, Kipaş Holding Yarn Plants Group Manager, made important statements in during our interview. Explaining that their production increased each term, he announced that they reached 75,000 tons of carded, synthetic, compact production, 40,000 tons of open-end yarn production annually. Duygal said: “10 percent of the yarn production in Turkey is provided by our group. 40 percent of the yarns we produce is in demand in the overseas market, while 60 percent of them is in demand in the domestic market. Our goal is not over yet; there are new investment projects. For the benefit of our country, we will continue to do our best. There was a certain decline in the European market in 2012. As a company, we closed the gap in the market of Latin America. We exported to the Latin America market 90 percent of the open-end, and 10 percent of the ring-spun yarn. Apart from this, we have been marketing yarns with technical properties to the European market.”
Ahmet Duygal said: “We use 35 percent of the yarn we produce in our own brands, Lee Cooper in particular.” He stated that they presented the remaining capacity to the market. Explaining that therefore, the businesses ran at full capacity all the time and they could not meet the demands; he continued as follows: “We plan to increase the number of Lee Cooper stores in Turkey. I think the two new businesses will be useful both in this context and in the production of high value-added technical textiles.
Rieter Technology in Spinning Machines
Ahmet Duygal stated that in order to compete in today’s economy, it was important to have technological equipment besides being open to innovations; and he added that technical yarns such as aramid and kevlar of various length and features as well as sensitive mixtures of wool and silk were produced in the new premises in which there were 9 lines independently of each other. Duygal said that they implemented the latest technologies in the new investments while they constantly revised the old facilities; and he continued as follows: “We conduct joint projects with Rieter. In our facilities, we together apply the technologies they develop and analyze the results. The purchase of this machine is a result of our policy of good quality and rapid production. We catch high quality rates in the productions performed by the technological machines. For this reason, as Kipaş Holding, we purchase the latest technology in both new investments and modernization of existing machines. Rieter lives up to our goal in this regard.”
Underlining that Kipaş generally preferred Rieter machines in spinning machines, Duygal explained that 85 percent of the machines in the spinning mills consisted of the brand Rieter. Duygal underlined that as long as the investments continued, they were to continue to work with Rieter. Duygal said: “Among our short-term plans, there are weaving and paint-finishing plants. We are planning to activate them as soon as possible. Otherwise, if a new spinning mill is needed, we are for Rieter to continue with.”
Investments Across the Country
Ahmet Duygal stated that Kipaş Holding made the textile investments for Kahramanmaraş; and he said that they invested throughout Turkey in other segments. Pointing out that they established the energy investments in the closest regions to raw materials; he gave the following information about the investments: “In Aydın-Germencik geothermal area, we put into use 2 power plants, and 1 more power plant is about to be put into use. In 2012, we aim to complete the ongoing investments. In the town of Kılılı in the district of Türkoğlu, Kahramanmaraş, our paper which started with an investment of EUR 350 million is to be completed 16 months. When the plant starts operating, we will perform an annual production of 500 thousand tons of paper in the factory which will be among Europe's top 10 paper mills. In the plant, waste paper will be used by 100 percent and the cutting of 3 million trees will be prevented. In 2013, we will continue to work to double the capacity of our cement investments. The work to put into use the EUR 72 million of plant is scheduled to begin in March 2013.”
