Already one of the world’s top five wood-based panel manufacturers, Kastamonu Entegre is raising the bar to become one of the top three manufacturers in the global wood-based panel market.

Having launched a massive investment drive over the past two years, the company will boost the manufacturing capacity of its facilities in Turkey and abroad to expand its market share. Kastamonu Entegre was founded 53 years ago in Turkey and currently runs production facilities in Romania, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Russia and Italy.

The industry veteran Haluk Yildiz has been the chief executive officer of the company for three decades, and he highlights the following on the new investments:

“We focused on Turkey in our 2021 investments,” he said. “We concluded a €150m facility investment in Balikesir. The facility will commence operations by the end of 2022 and will increase our MDF manufacturing capacity by 550,000m3. Our total annual production will thus near seven million m3.

“We also concluded an additional €35m investment in melamine press and impregnation in all our facilities in Turkey,” continued Mr Yildiz. “By 2022, we will further accelerate our global investments. As the largest Turkish investor in Italy, we are augmenting our value-added product capacity with our €20m new melamine press investment.”

OPERATING MARKETS

In Romania, Kastamonu Entegre is the third largest manufacturer with a 30% market share in particleboard manufacturing and the third largest global manufacturer in door panel manufacturing.

In Bulgaria, the company is the second-largest manufacturer in the particleboard manufacturing market with a 40% market share, while in Bosnia-Herzegovina, it is the largest Kraft paper manufacturer in the region. In Russia, Kastamonu Entegre is the largest MDF manufacturer exporter with an industry-leading 30% market share in MDF and floorboard product groups.

And in Italy, the Pomposa facility, which manufactures particleboard from 100% recycled materials, has a 15% market share in that country.

With the €70m investment completed during the first quarter of 2021 in Samsun, Kastamonu Entegre inaugurated its new continuous particleboard manufacturing facility of 500,000m3 per year.

The investments collectively created wood-based panel production capacity of a total of 6.5 million m3 per year and the company became the fifth-largest manufacturer of wood-based panels in the world.

MANAGEMENT GOAL

Kastamonu Entegre announced its brand purpose, “Bridging Nature and Life,” during a launch event with the participation of employees from all over the world. Speaking at the event, Mr Yildiz underlined that a good company needs more than good figures.

“We have achieved our goals in figures and became the world’s fifth largest company in our industry,” he said. “But a company’s vision cannot be to become the largest in the world.

“Our purpose is to have one of the best management systems. Because sustainable success is only possible through people. At Kastamonu Entegre, we prioritise people and build our sustainability approach around people and environment.”

MINIMISING ENERGY AND WASTE

Being aware of all the environmental consequences of the manufacturing processes, Kastamonu Entegre maintains international standards and expands sustainability efforts within the scope of its “Bridging Nature and Life” vision.

The company aims to establish solar power plants in six manufacturing facilities by 2030, in addition to the currently operating one in Adana. The waste water treatment activities enable recycling wastewater worth the annual consumption of almost 5,000 people. The biomass power plant in Gebze transforms the waste not suitable for manufacturing or recycling processes into environmentally friendly electrical energy or heat.

Aspiring to invest in new biomass power plants in other facilities as well, Kastamonu Entegre is scheduled to complete 30% of this investment by the end of 2022 with a US$50m budget, and the rest within the following decade. Through these investments, Kastamonu Entegre will be able to generate electrical energy equal to the annual consumption of 1 million people, while also eliminating 400,000 tonnes/year of carbon emissions.

Kastamonu Entegre is the second-largest Shareholder of ENAT AS the first and only organisation in Turkey operating in industrial forestry and sustainable forest management, and the two companies are co-operating on afforestation activities.

Kastamonu Entegre has carried out afforestation activities on an area the size of almost 2,100 soccer fields since 2016 and will maintain its sustainable development-oriented growth through its “Bridging Nature and Life” vision.

AESTHETIC AND HYGIENIC LIVING SPACES

Kastamonu Entegre says it prioritises consumer expectations and needs in manufacturing, while continuing its R&D activities. In particular, it has been expanding its hygienic product ranges, the importance of which has been made emphatically obvious since the breakout of the pandemic.

The Hygiene Plus laminate flooring and panel collections by Kastamonu Entegre are designed to prevent the growth of harmful micro-organisms carried in by shoes, pets and so on, while the Safe Surface technology ensures safer living spaces. Safe Surface technology is designed to be 99.9% effective against viruses and bacteria and is activated within 24 hours. Melamine panels with Safe Surface coating address the increasing demand for hygienic environments.

Kastamonu Entegre was awarded the TSE-approved “Food-Grade” certificate for its GlossmaxPro, MattPlus, Medelam and Teknolam panel products.

NEW PRODUCTS

Early this year, the company introduced the Vision 2022 panel collection. The collection comes in 12 new decorations including shades of wood, fantasy designs and solid colours to add an innovative touch in colours of different styles and eras to walls to furniture.

Welcoming 2022 with new product lines, Kastamonu Entegre introduced the Prime collection in its laminate flooring range. The most recent member of the Floorpan laminate flooring line, Prime breathes a new life into flooring with its new impact surface and joints on all four sides. The easy-to-clean hygienic flooring is inspired by the world’s most spectacular bridges and the eight different decorations of Prime bring a fresh and spacious look to the indoors including homes, offices and stores.