Interview with S Ziya Gumuser

Teknomelt started nonwoven production in 2010; it is one of the youngest companies in the domestic market; and it operates out of the southeast side of Turkey in the city of Kahramanmaras. The founder and shareholders of the company have had a strong background in traditional textiles for decades. With a successful growth plan and followed up investments, Teknomelt is today among the fastest-growing companies in Turkey and a well-known nonwoven supplier around the globe. Teknomelt started with meltblown, and a year later PP spunbond investments were made. Till 2014, we made some upgrades to improve our capacity and added some converting lines to increase our product range. In 2014, we invested in spunmelt (SMS) line to become a nonwoven supplier for the hygiene and medical market.

From fibre handling to yarn production and then readymade garments, I have had the opportunity to work at various levels of textile production. For me, it was necessary to try new ideas and think outside the boundaries. After some research, wanting to still be in textiles but in a totally different field and with environmental and personal care approach made us start with meltblown. While we were able to supply nonwovens for facial masks, absorbents for hazardous spill prevention become our main market. 

With new developments in the automotive industry towards decreasing carbon dioxide emission rates, automotive manufacturers started to focus on lighter materials to decrease cars' weight. With good sound absorption attributes, we started to supply for sound insulation materials for automobiles as well. 

Disposable hygiene products, especially baby diapers, have the largest share in nonwovens. Our investments in spunbond and spunmelt decisions were made accordingly. It is still a growing market, with different types of products not only for new-born babies but for adults and elders too. There are changing trends in different parts of the world; some regions have higher birth rates than others and focus on baby products more, while other places have lower birth rates but also have a higher aging population rate. No matter what age group you focus on, there is always the need for hygiene products, and yet there is a lot of room for improvements to increase product comfort and functionality. 

Increasing production capacity, value-added products with new investments. We are planning to increase our share in disposable hygiene products in both domestic and international markets. With soft and very thin nonwoven materials, we are aiming to cover more surface areas; which means with same amount in weight, diaper manufacturers are able to produce more final products with less raw material consumption and higher product output.