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Turkish company Elba has been producing heating radiators for nearly 40 years. Today its modern panel radiators are supplied around the world.

Elba Basincli Dokum Sanayi was founded in 1969 in Istanbul to manufacture spare parts for the automotive sector, using the high pressure die casting production process. The company moved to Izmir in 1971 to continue producing the same products. In 1973, it started manufacturing aluminium radiators with steel pipes inside them. In 1974, it moved to Manisa, a city in the Aegean region of Anatolia, and began to manufacture panel radiators in 1991. Today the company supplies contemporary panel radiators for both new builds, including public housing, and for the replacement of old-style cast radiators.

Elba is a member of the Elginkan Group, which was founded and is still owned by the Elginkan family, one of the oldest-established and best-known trading families in Manisa.

Elba’s first radiator production line had a capacity of 150,000 metres per year. In 1993, a second 150,000 metres per year was launched, increasing the total production capacity to 300,000 metres per year. Between 2000 and 2005, the company decided to renew its technology and invested $50 million in its production facilities. The 300,000 metre/year production line was removed and replaced with three separate lines with a total production capacity of 2.2 million metre/year.

Today Elba is one of the leading manufacturers of panel radiators in Turkey and, indeed, in Europe. Its products meet all domestic and international quality standards and are certified to ISO 9001:2000, DIN GEPRUFT (Germany), BS (UK), NF (France) and GOST-R (Russia).

International sales

Sales of Elba radiators are handled in the Turkish market by EMAS Inc and internationally by ELEKS Inc; both EMAS and ELEKS are members of the Elginkan Group. In fact, ELEKS is in charge of the international sales of all the group companies and is the exclusive exporter of their products. These include not only Elba panel radiators but also taps and mixers, ceramic sanitary ware, cast iron baths, shower trays, combi boilers, towel radiators, valves, natural gas meters, brass rods and ingots as well as raw materials for the ceramic industry. ELEKS has grown to become one of Turkey’s leading international trading companies, exporting goods to around 100 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. In order to provide even more responsive service to more than 700 customers worldwide, the company has established many distributorships in its principal export markets. In particular, its subsidiary ECA Germany provides local service throughout Central Europe.

Responsible production

Situated in the Manisa Organised Industrial Region, Elba’s production plant is spread over 82,000m2 of land with a total closed area of 45,000m2. The company is aware of its responsibilities regarding the environment and fulfils all its obligations in accordance with the international standards. Its chemical waste is controlled and its flue gas is analysed in accordance with the international rules. Regarding environmental issues, Elba boasts all kinds of documents, including internationally recognised ISO 14001 certificate. In addition, it has acquired all the other pan-European certificates such as OHSAS (Occupational Health and Safety Management System) and ISO 9000 Quality System.

Elba manufactures steel panel radiators ranging from 300 to 900mm in height and from 400 to 3000mm in length. As for width, there are three different types: single, double and triple.

Bringing new products to the market is important for Elba. Recent new launches have included hygienic radiators for places such as hospitals, schools and chemists. They are easy to clean and manufactured as bespoke products when required by clients. The current range includes ECA standard panel radiators and Eco panel radiators, which offer an even more economical performance.

“At the moment, our production plant is the only one of its kind in Turkey that is completely equipped with new technology,” says Ömer Özgen, general manager of Elba “ Since 2001, we have been installing German and Italian made manufacturing machines. Other companies have also added new machines to the old ones but Elba’s machines are completely new. The advantage this gives us is that our products come off the production line completely identical with each other, therby maximising quality control.” Global reach

Elba buys the steel it uses from all over the world but the most of it is provided in Turkey. It uses approximately 6500 tons of steel every month. The company complies with the international norms throughout its production process including all the quality checks of the raw materials it uses. It offers its clients a 10 year warranty against all manufacturing faults. Elba’s principal foreign markets include UK, Romania, Belgium, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Malta, France, Greece, Chilli, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Syria, Jordan, China, Russia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Croatia, Hungary and many more. “We are continually in search of new markets and at the same time trying to increase our share in the existing markets. We have already restructured our marketing operations in Russia and the Turkic republics,” says Mr Ozgen. n