Board Member of Espa Sogutma, Fusun Baysal:
Board Member of Espa Sogutma, Fusun Baysal:
"Being a reliable solution partner is at the core of our competitiveness."
With thirty years of experience and the same enthusiasm as the first day, we at Espa Sogutma provide professional services in the field of industrial cooling to Turkish manufacturers. We have offices and warehouses in two strategically important cities, such as Ankara and Istanbul. Our warehouse in Ankara covers an area of 1,500 square meters, while our warehouse in Istanbul spans 4,500 square meters of enclosed space. This allows us to provide fast sales support and logistical convenience to all of Turkey.
Our Sales Team consists of expert engineers with strong expertise in industrial cooling. This enables us to offer technical support in our customers' projects and manufacturing processes, assisting in the selection of the right products with the correct capacities, thus helping to prevent technical issues after production. Being a reliable solution partner is at the core of our competitiveness. In summary, our distinctive approach is not only about selling products but also about creating added value for our customers through the engineering support we provide alongside our products. We also become a trusted source of solutions when our customers encounter problems with other companies or brands they may have experienced before. The sustainability of trust we have built with care and effort is the top priority for Espa Sogutma. In this regard, we are one of the first companies to have signed the Business Ethics Principles of ISKAV.
Maintaining Long-Term Business Relationships Based on Trust
We are the sole sales representative in Turkey for most of the products in our portfolio. Since our inception, we have continued to work with our partners based on our reputation and the trust we enjoy in foreign companies. This reputation also enhances our ability to operate internationally. Ultimately, many brands that reference leading global market companies want to collaborate with us.
We only include products in our portfolio that have successfully passed laboratory and field tests
In the process of importing samples of new products, we first test them in our own laboratory. If the results are successful, we also conduct on-site product testing. If the product has demonstrated its success, we begin its import. Thus, we have no issues with the quality of products after import, which also contributes to the improvement of production quality in Turkey. We can confidently say that we have contributed to the quality of Turkish manufacturers' production.
Brands We Represent Belong to the Premier League of Global Markets
Espa represents leading global brands such as:
Hanbell, Temprite, Wilspec, Zec, Boyard, Felder, Vibratig, Sauermann, Industrie Technik, Mut Meccanica, Faster, Olab, Contronics, Fieldpiece, Prodigy, Cewal - these are well-known brands in their respective fields worldwide. For example, Hanbell is the only company in the world exclusively specializing in the production of screw compressors. All their investments are solely focused on the development of screw compressors, and therefore, they undoubtedly produce the best screw compressors in the world. The defect rate in Hanbell compressors is 0.001%, and our customers are well aware of this.
Another example is Temprite oil separators, confirming their high quality worldwide. I want to emphasize that these products, unlike many others, are not imported from China and are genuinely manufactured in the USA. Emerson is widely known both globally and in Turkey, and Temprite is an Emerson-recommended brand with evidence of its effectiveness and reports.
We also collaborate with companies like Johnson Controls, Inficon, Wika, and Deka. We recently signed a sales partnership agreement with Johnson Controls for Penn products. We are also the exclusive partner in Turkey for Inficon and Fieldpiece gas detectors. Our own brands, Lett and GFM, have been registered as Turkish brands since 2008 and are used by manufacturers in many countries, including Turkey, Europe, the Middle East, and Russia.
We are Growing at an Average Annual Growth Rate of 20%
In the industrial cooling sector, we hold a prominent position among the most well-known firms in Turkey. Every year, including the pandemic period, we increase our market share, expanding sales volumes in both domestic and international markets by an average of 20%. We actively monitor current events, organizing seminars, participating in exhibitions and events to stay in the spotlight. Thanks to close monitoring of market needs, we promptly add products to our range capable of satisfying these demands.
Market Challenges Are Possible, but Our Companies Have a Strong Reaction Capability
At the beginning of the pandemic, some difficulties arose due to the temporary closure of businesses, but after manufacturers obtained permits to operate, our operations resumed as usual. Interestingly, some challenges emerged right after the start of the pandemic. For example, orders for export goods from local manufacturers temporarily ceased. Sharp increases in raw material and logistics prices may have played a role in this. There was a period of turbulence, but Turkey is a country with excellent crisis preparedness and has a practice of rapid recovery.
Recently, especially currency fluctuations, have been affecting sales volatility. We would like to conduct sales in our country in Turkish Lira. However, unfortunately, the widening gap between the Central Bank rates and the free market rates has led the entire sector to buy and sell at the free market rate. Efforts are being made to close this exchange rate gap, and it is said that the growth of foreign currency rates will slow down. This is the hope and expectation of all of us.
As a rule, it is impossible to work with customers for whom price is the first and only priority
In our market, there are two types of customers: those for whom price is the priority, and those for whom quality or price-quality optimization is the priority. In fact, it probably depends on the project. It is impossible to work with a customer who only cares about price because we cannot compromise on quality while trying to offer competitive prices. Espa Sogutma has adhered to this motto since its inception. We have always been able to stand behind our product, but we have always been confident in the following: we offered a product with quality that we could vouch for at the most affordable price. If a buyer is comparing products of comparable quality, that's when we can be more price-competitive.
We are facing a dilemma: being open to development and resistant to change
The Turkish market is open to development in our industry and in other industries as well. However, we have a contradiction: on the one hand, we are open to development, but on the other hand, we are not always ready for change. When we resist change, we sometimes fall behind. The use of ammonia and carbon dioxide in cooling can be cited as an example. In the United States and especially in Europe, companies and investors are actively transitioning to sustainable cooling systems with low Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP). In our country, this began relatively recently. The use of renewable resources in cooling systems is another example. Of course, the presence of successful initiatives in this field, such as Friterm, will accelerate our development process. Additionally, each day, the younger generation is joining the workforce, which will be a catalyst for dynamic vision.
The digitization process at Espa Sogutma is in full swing
Digitization is changing business processes in all areas of life. We, at Espa Sogutma, continue to invest in this process to keep up with it. Our barcode system, which we have been working on for a long time, is coming to life. We will be one of the few companies using this method. This will increase the speed of order response and customer satisfaction, as well as improve inventory control and management. The database and operating system of our website have been adapted for e-commerce. This work will also be put into operation in the shortest possible time.