The rise of a successful academician in the mattress industry

The founder of Vera Dar Dokuma, Prof. Dr. Faruk Balcı has become a role model for his colleagues with his works for the sector. Balcıhas also performed in the developments in the medical field. Prof. Balcı wants to develop an artificial heart vessel with an American company. He shared his R&D and innovation research, goals and thoughts in the sector with us.

How did you get through the COVID-19 period, which is the biggest problem in the world right now? Have you made any investments and what kind of obstacles did you encounter? Let’s start with the pandemic period first.

COVID-19, a deadly disease, first of all negatively affected people’s psychology. On the other hand, this disease almost stopped the economy. Factors such as factory closures, paid or unpaid leaves, curfews have reduced customers’ demand for mattresses. For this reason, our company was badly affected during this period. Our production came to a halt in April and May. When we came to June, we encountered an excessive demand. Deciding to grow before the pandemic, our company did not stop during the pandemic period and continued production. During the pandemic period, we moved our 650 square meter production facility to a 5000 square meter indoor facility. We increased our machine capacity by 50%. During the pandemic period, we provided masks to our customers and supported them in every way.

As a developing and growing company, how is your perspective on technological developments?

As long as human beings exist, their needs and demands for new products will continue. Technological developments; It is very important in terms of human health, comfort and aesthetic requirements. It also supports economical and environmentally friendly production methods. There will always be new searches and new technological developments depending on the population growth rate. Due to the needs of new generations, the mattress industry must constantly produce products with the best technology.

You have stated that as long as human beings exist, technological developments will also exist. What kind of R&D processes do you have in this sense and what kind of innovative products do you have?

As an academician who has devoted my life to science, research and development, my primary goal is to contribute to the mattress industry in every sense. Our company’s title has R&D and this title is our basic idea. Our R&D processes continue with the cooperation of textile engineers, consultants and universities working in our company. Any development that will benefit people is very important to us. We have developed robust and economical piping with a beautiful appearance. These products show that we are on the right way. We sell to the arms industry, automotive industry and many other fields. We are also trying to make various innovations in the medical field. In this sense, we are working with an American company to produce artificial heart vessels.

How do you provide your raw material supply?

Our company is located in Bursa, which has the most yarn factories, and we choose our biggest suppliers from here. As a company with Oeko-Tex certificate, we are open to cooperation with any company that can provide the raw material at this standard. We see our customers and suppliers as partners and friends.

Do you encounter any problems while obtaining your products?

The most important problem in the narrow weaving sector is finding qualified personnel. We support staff training to solve this issue. We determine critical control points by conducting various researches in order to develop new products and solve the quality problem of the products. At these points, we care about taking the necessary precautions.

You are a good company that cares about new products, new trade points and staff training. In this context, I would like to learn about your export purposes.

We were established 3 years ago and we have managed to be a good brand in our field. After the increase in our production capacity, we started to receive mattress strip requests from foreign companies with customer satisfaction and recommendations. We export knitted and woven mattress strip to the USA, Russia and various European countries. We sell 40% of our production to foreign markets, but we aim to send 80% of our production abroad in the future.

How would you evaluate your situation in the industry?

We are aware that we have gained a special place in the mattress sector, which is a very dynamic sector, especially by producing quality mattress strips. I can easily say that Vera Dar Dokuma produces 60 of the 100 mattress strips produced in 1 year in the world. Our goal; to produce and continuously improve all mattress accessories in an environmentally friendly, aesthetic and economical way.

What is the secret in the success of Vera Dar Dokuma?

Our biggest secret is to use our sincerity and scientific methods in our production.

Finally, I’d like to hear what you want to highlight.

Comfortable sleep is possible with quality and healthy mattresses. The mattress you choose expresses your comfort. Let’s never forget this. One of the ways to get quality cheaper is to reduce labor costs. Quality piping allows the workers to produce more mattresses in a short time and also gives a distinct aesthetic to the mattress. It also affects the sales rates. We, as a company, design piping according to your mattress.