Sarchem celebrate tenth anniversary

'As the Sarchem family, when we started the business, we were aware that the journey was going to be long and tough. However, we have believed, worked, moved ahead in our own way and succeeded to become a well known trade mark which makes the biggest developments in the sector', says Omer Sarialemdaroglu, the general manager of the Sarchem Chemicals Inc. Leather finishing chemicals producers, Sarchem Chemicals, started construction of their factory in 1995 in Tuzla, Istanbul, and began to manufacture their chemicals in the first quarter of 1997. They were the first and only manufacturer to produce water based polyurethanes in Türkiye. They started out that way in the first year and they are still the only producers in Türkiye operating in this field. In 2001, Sarchem Chemicals received the necessary approval for their Quality Management System and were accredited with the ISO 9001 Certificate. Sarchem Chemicals diversified in 2002 with production of cationic leather finishing chemicals. This product range was manufactured as a result of demand from the market and has resulted in a lucrative business with countries which require natural and soft looking leathers. In 2003, Sarchem Chemicals started to manufacture leather finishing chemicals for automobile and upholstery leathers. Especially high performance polyurethanes have been manufactured for the automobile sector. These products have 'satisfied not only the 'aftermarket' but also satisfied the 'OEM' market as well. The reasons for this achievement were that all the products were ecological and were also good enough to pass all the requested physical tests with high performances. In 2004, Sarchem invested e3 billion in re-structuring their production facility in Tuzla. Within this framework, the latest technology and laboratory equipment was provided to the research and development department. This was essential to meet quality control development requirements and cater for all production phases for the many types of products. Again, within the same direction, in order to manufacture the enhanced high volume production, the related machinery park has been renewed. A very similar investment has been made for the application department. The objective was to allow both the research and development and application laboratories to be able to work under equal conditions and to meet the new product demands by working together compatibly. Sarchem are serving the world leather sector with their 350 different products and all of the products are produced in the company's Tuzla plant. Sarchem reached the last phase of their ecological studies in 2004 and manufacture all of their products free of the prohibited substances stipulated by the European Council's decisions (VOC-Volatile Organic Chlorinated Solvent; 1999/13/EC) and California regulations (Entry 65). The company have continued serving their customers with their environmentally-friendly chemicals during successive years. In 2006, Sarchem Chemicals stepped into the concept of fashion in order to help tanners develop their fashion vision. Accordingly, they have begun to help the leather sector with their fashion information and the fashion trend is now being given preference at all the fairs. In particular, they have produced ten new types of water based top coat products (Sarugan range), which contain poly-matt basis top coats as well. The top coat products, as brilliant top coats (Sarugan W 919, Sarugan W 920, Sarugan W 921, Sarugan W 923, Sarugan W 925), dull top coats (LT-FM 9306, Sarugan W 928 M, Sarugan W 930 M, Sarugan W 931 M) and compact top coats (Sarugan W 940 MC, Sarugan W 944 MC) are addressed at the automobile and upholstery sectors as well as all types of bag and shoe-upper sectors. There are several water based stuccos in the Sarchem product range. Those products are being used in the automobile, upholstery and shoe-upper sectors according to the required performances. Of course, there are differences according to the usage of the products, namely there are manual and roller coat stuccos. Sarchem have named the group as 'Sarfill Stucco' and present eight types of stuccos in this range. Sarchem Chemicals believe they are very strong on both polyurethanes (Sarpur range) and acrylics (Saracryl range). Almost 40 types of polyurethanes are addressed to all kinds of performances. Again almost 40 types of acrylics satisfy the demand. While growing technologically, Sarchem Chemicals are enlarging their international market as well. Today, the company export around 70% of their products and sell the remaining 30% to the local market, making the company leaders in the Turkish market. They are exporting to 22 different countries and have opened a branch office in China enabling them to satisfy their customers in south and middle China through their regional agencies. Both the company's Turkish and the agencies' Chinese technicians are serving customers with the latest technology and high performance. Until the beginning of 2006, Sarchem Chemicals were studying the patterns of global trading and forming marketing strategies for the European and Asian markets. From that point on the company have moved towards increasing their activities in South America. The company continue working intensively in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia and also in Central America. They want to make progress with a special strategy in Brazil and, are currently still working on this project. Sarchem Chemicals have continuously participated in the Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Moscow and Bologna fairs and, from the beginning of 2006, the company have started to participate in the Anpic show, Leon, Mexico and Fimec, Novo Homburgo, Brazil. Sarchem Chemicals have made an acknowledged contribution to helping their customers comply with safety, health and environmental challenges. The company say they will continue to provide a high level of both customer and technical service to the industries that they serve.