Leotex aims Turkish market in 2016

 

A supplier of yarn, Leotex enters the new year with enthusiasm. Chairman of the company, Ugur Aslan Aydin, informed us about the developments in the mattress industry and emphasized on the trend towards recycled products and the quality in all stages of value chain.

 

How was the year 2015, and targets for 2016 at Leotex?

Our motto is “less labor, more automation”. Our sales in 2015 was poor, even we thought not to sell in April and May. In Turkey, demand is high by no payment. We lost money in the first quarter. In the last quarter the market began to move. In 2015 we decided to focus on American market where we have a good business. Now, we want to do some business in Turkey as well.

 

You do not produce in Turkey. Where do the products come from?

We have a small operation in Turkey to support our logistic activities. We call this customer service support. We do it for better services and for higher customer satisfaction, not for profit.

Since the costs are high, we do not have any production plant in Turkey. We have production operations in an integrated textile factory in China. We employ about 400 people. Technology enabled us to oversee the production processes through online tables from afar. We can keep our eyes open for every detail of operations in integrated automated system. We produce about one thousand tons of sawing and stitching yarns of which 30% is for embroidery and 70% is for stitching. Our yarns are not only used in mattress production but also in the footwear industry. Only half of our sales go to the mattress industry.

 

What do you have to say about the general outlook in the mattress industry in the world including Turkey?

Actually, the mattress industry in the world is rather large. 70 billion dollars of business volume is running in this industry. Breakdown of the market to the countries is as follows: Asia Pasific 39%, North America 31%, Europe 18%, East Europe and Russia 6%, South America 5 %, and Middle East and Turkey 1%.

Asia Pacific market is now stabilized. In America volume of production raised 4 % while in terms of product value, the market expanded by 6 percent. Trend is towards high value products.

Recently, recycled products are seen as another trend. There is a growing promotional effort in this regard especially in North America where so much collection points were established for recycling of metals and textiles. Pet bottles are collected and turned into filaments and fiber for yarn. They are then used in carpet, textiles and other industries.

In Turkey mattress companies try to buy back the old mattresses for the new ones. It is made for marketing purposes, I suppose. There are similar systems in France and in the US.

 

What about the issues of health in the industry?

5 companies, not factories only, accounts for 67 % of mattress production in the world. These five companies cover most of the market under the same or different names by their factories in the world. There are a few number of major companies in this field.

Labels are important for chemical products especially in the US. Customers in America demand that every ingredient used in the production has to be shown on the labels. They are sensitive especially to toxic materials. Mattress is a medical product. Consciousness of the buyers is higher in America and England. In Turkey the subject is gaining momentum. We have to keep close eye on trends in the world.

 

Small companies in the country do it wrong. So many smaller companies emerged recently to produce mattresses, in Turkey, in the Balkans and in Middle East. This is not a problem per se. But they do it wrong in their investments. They are able to establish factories by having a small amount of money. But they are not thinking about the costs of running a business, about managing materials and cash flows. They have to procure foams, yarns, fabrics, springs, accessories etc. They are not sensitive on productivity. The quality of mattress machinery produced in Turkey is better than the ones in China. Mattress producers are still tend to by imported machineries.

Producers have to be keener on their investments on machinery. They have to prefer the ones that may cause fewer problems. It is not a matter of prestige having imported machinery. There are good companies that produce quality machinery in Turkey. Machinery manufacturers also have to try to reduce their prices to compete with others. Actually, every companies in the mattress industry either suppliers, sellers, workers and producers have to emphasize on competition, because, buyers are becoming more selective in their choices.

 

On Sleepwell Expo

It was good for us to participate in Sleepwell Expo in the last quarter of the year. We began to get business following the fair. Sleepwell has contributed much to our business and to the industry in general. In the next editions of the event I hope that several measures will be taken to engage the producers more. Info leaflets and reports about the situation and outlook of the industry may be available to all visitors. As Leotex, we are hopeful for the year 2016, because, it seems that it will be better than the year 2015.