VK Mattress Machinery offers innovative solutions for mattress manufacturers

VK Mattress Machinery company supplies outstanding competitive machines and solutions to manufacturers all over the world for over half a century.

VK Mattress Machinery has always been excited to develop innovative solutions for the mattress manufacturers. We asked the details of their success story to Recep Kütüklü, Sales Engineer of the company. Full text of the exclusive interview follows:

You have been manufacturing mattress and spring machinery. Could you inform us about your target markets? Our mission, since 1968, as a mattress machine manufacturer is to provide quality and long-lasting equipment to help small, medium size and big mattress & furniture producers, either to automate or to increase their daily production numbers. Our machines proved to be one of the highest quality machines on the market throughout the years. Our target market is local and international; we had the pleasure of providing manufacturers with our machines and solutions all over the globe along the years.

You have made the first mattress machinery of Turkey. Will you have new innovative products for the market?

At VK Mattress Machinery we thrive for innovation and developing innovative solutions. We have an excellent flexibility and attention to details while developing machinery according to the market demands. Our technical team is working nonstop on finding new technologies and implementing new ideas into the market that will help the mattress and furniture industry. Our focus is mainly on machinery for the production of bonnell and pocket springs for mattresses.

Now our automatic machine for the production of bonnell spring

units is known worldwide as the machine with the highest performance.

Do you have any new investment and branding projects to be implemented soon?

We are consistently making investments for our machine park to automate our production process for machinery. In the last few months we have invested in many machines for metal working to develop faster solutions and to increase our production numbers. As the company Veysel Kütüklü we have rebranded our name and design to promote the name VK in the new market, as in the future we are planning to bring our brand more forward.

The machinery industry is rather open to innovations. What is the situation of VK Mattress Machinery in terms of applying and adapting new technologies in the mattress machinery industry? Just like in every business, the machinery industry is moving fast, and getting more advanced by time as technology is catching up. At VK we are considering every idea on the table to improve and implement new solutions into our products, our goal is always to improve and develop, so whichever idea

gets brought up in our meetings, we pursue it and see where it can take us and what can it bring to our products. We are currently in the process of implementing some new design changes that will help our customers, we are very excited to launch that in the near future.

You are supplying products to domestic and international markets. What is the market percentage at this regard? Which countries are you mainly shipping to? We have many amazing relationships with companies around the world, from Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia. Our machines are working in more than 60 countries. As well as in Turkey, we have machines all over the country and mainly in Kayseri, where the mattress and furniture industry is based. We have no focus in a certain market, we are very excited to help companies all over the world. Now we have working machines from Puerto Rico to Kenya, Kazakhstan to USA, Paraguay to Ireland, South Africa to Ukraine and in every part of the world. As the demands have risen up, a lot of companies started reaching out to us for more machines to grow their production capacity.

In line with the influences of Covid-10 pandemic there have been changes in economic activities in addition to the social life. What changes have you going through? How were your export markets and rates affected? The COVID-19 pandemic shaped every business in the world, so of course it affected us as well, beside taking all the measures required by our government in how we work, we also tried to let some of the staff that can work remotely do so, and reduced some of our production staff count to have more manageable workspace and respect social distancing. We tried to take more steps into digitalizing our sales process, using tools that allowed us to communicate with clients, showcase our machine and more. Our approach overall was great, and we got amazing feedback. Generally, there is no replacement for exhibition where we can meet our clients face to face, because of that

we are really looking forward to the next event. Beside all these development and measures taken, we also discovered the importance of automation during this pandemic, and we hope that our clients have also realized the importance of that, so we encourage them to invest in more of our automated machines and solutions.

There are many tools that allowed us to get in touch with customers in the most professional and creative way possible, for example, our marketing

team created an interactive presentation where we showcase features and technical details of our machines, with more details and information than the classic catalogues. That is just one of the solutions we tried. We are also working on multiple projects currently that will help us even more.

What foresights do you have for the future of the bedding industry? What suggestions do you have for a rising trend? The global mattress size is

expected to reach 43.2 billion USD by 2025, the demands from the hospitality and real-estate sectors is growing, especially in developing and emerging countries such as India, China and Brazil, this will create a robust demand for mattresses and furniture in general, which implies on machinery demands as well. The mattress industry market will get more digitalized by time, and companies will move into digital platforms to showcase their products and solutions instead of the traditional marketing. On the customer side, people became more conscious about the health and benefits of a good mattress, and that will only increase the demands of high quality mat-

tresses. So, we expect a good increase in production numbers as well as machinery demands.

What are you targeting for short, medium and long runs? For the past 52 years, we always thrived for consistency and quality. Everything we produce at our company is at the highest level in every detail, from the design, software and the materials we use. Our goal was always and will remain to provide amazing machinery and solutions for the market, and reach more places around the world, as well as focusing on making more efficient and robust wire forming and mattress production machines for the mattress industry.

20 percent employment target in the pandemic from Erdemoğlu Holding

Erdemoğlu Holding, which set a growth target between 20 percent and 30 percent in 2020, stated that the pandemic process that swept the whole world did not make a change in their growth plans, and that they aimed at a growth of 20 percent in employment.

In the new period, Erdemoğlu Holding’s POY facility of 1000 tons / day has been commissioned in this process, which has accelerated its works in order to make its existing facilities more modern, especially POY and Texturizing. F or the PTA investment, the raw material of polyester, which is its main plan, it started. While continuing the negotiations with many world-famous companies on this subject, it has also decided on the technology to be used. Erdemoğlu Holding announced that it will utilize the 2020 pandemic process as an opportunity and accelerate its new investments by completing its existing investments.

“We have a 20 to 30 percent growth plan” Stating that they did not make any revisions regarding their growth plans in this period

when the pandemic process wreaked havoc on the whole world, Sasa Board Member Mehmet Erdemoğlu said: “We have a growth plan of 20% - 30% until the end of the year. The pandemic process has seriously affected human health and the economies of the country. In this process, we have set priority on a healthy and safe production plan. Our first priority was the health of our workers, we tried not to make any institution we produce a product victim to, and we were successful in this. We implemented work plans such as working from home and working part time. We rearranged our workers’ working environments. Thus, thank God we did not encounter any negative incidents regarding the health of our workers during this period”.

“We experienced increases in both our exports and our domestic sales.” Stating that during the pandemic process, they continued production by increasing the capacity of their facilities working in the hygiene group primarily to meet domestic needs, Erdemoğlu said that they did not victimize any domestic customers. He stated that in the rest of their production, they export to their customers abroad by producing the healthy and quality goods they want, and that they have experienced increases in both exports and domestic sales in this process.

“We focused on the hygiene group” Erdemoğlu, who determined its production to put human health first in this difficult period of our country and the world,

stated that they focused on the hygiene group. The company, which increased the production of raw materials to companies in the wet wipes, diapers, disposable materials, packaging industry and agriculture sector, contributed to the production both in our country and in the world. He added that especially since the products produced by their companies in the field of health are pharmaceutical industry, hygiene and health group products, they are making a work program to meet the

needs of every customer without compromising on this issue.

“2021 will be a new beginning year for the world” Making important statements regarding the pandemic process and the year 2021, Erdemoğlu continued his words as follows: “2020 will be a really difficult year for the world and our country. Production was cut, factories closed, unemployment increased. There has been uncertainty about the future around the world. However, we think that this situation will disappear at the end of 2020 and that 2021 will be a new starting year for the world. We believe that investments that are more environmentally friendly, more humane and that prioritize human health will pave the way, and our country will achieve a growth of around 5% in 2021. We expect that the last quarter of 2020 will be a serious recovery period, and the impact of the virus on the world will decrease in the next three to five months. We think that if new treatments and vaccines are found, the world will grow very rapidly in economic terms. We anticipate that our country

will be more successful from this process and will differentiate positively among developing countries. As Erdemoğlu Holding, we believe that we will contribute significantly to this growth both in terms of turnover and employment.”

Commercial electronic message management system records has been extended

The mandatory implementation of the “Commercial Electronic Message Management System”, which was started by the Ministry of Commerce and whose infrastructure was completed, was extended until December 1. Lawyer Burcu Kırçıl made a statement on the subject and stated that those who want to send commercial messages within the scope of the regulation must register in the system.

In order to provide management and control of commercial electronic messages; The Commercial Electronic Message Management System (MMS), which allows for commercial electronic message approval, the exercise of the right of rejection, and management of complaint processes, has been extended from September 1 to December 1, 2020.

Lawyer Burcu Kırçıl, Founder and Manager of Kırçıl Law Firm, stated that the Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce was created in order to regulate the responsibilities of commercial communication, service providers, and intermediary service providers, the obligations to inform contracts made with electronic communication tools and electronic commerce and the sanctions to be applied, He noted that some changes were made in the current legislation. Lawyer Burcu Kırçıl stated that the regulation prepared according to the authorization given by Article 13 of the Law has

been in force for a long time and the legislation in force with the Regulation on the Amendment of the Regulation on Commercial Communication and Commercial Electronic Messages published in the Official Gazette dated 04.01.2020 and numbered 30998. He explained that the changes were made. Lawyer Burcu Kırçıl explained that by making some changes in the legislation in force, a reorganization was made in the temporary article 2 of the Regulation regarding the time allowed for the transfer of the approved recipient lists of the service providers to the system until 01.09.2020. According to the regulation published in the Official Gazette dated 28.08.2020; The period of transfer of the approvals received within the scope of the regulation to the İYS by the service providers has been extended until 1.12.2020.

Referring to commercial electronic messaging and the concepts brought to us by the Law, Lawyer Burcu Kırçıl said that the Law’s commercial electronic message concept is’ telephone,

call centers, fax, automatic call machines, smart voice recorder systems, electronic mail, short message service. He emphasized that he defines it as’ messages with data, audio and video content, which are carried out electronically and sent for commercial purposes, and that the legislator does not limit this concept to exact expressions, but leaves it open with the sampling method following the rapidly developing technology. Lawyer Burcu Kırçıl, “Law; Except for domain names and e-mail address, all kinds of communication-related to electronic commerce for gaining profit within the scope of professional or commercial activities are considered as commercial communication, and natural or legal persons engaged in electronic commerce activities are also called service providers. “ said.

Lawyer Burcu Kırçıl continued her statements as follows:

What is the scope of the regulations?

According to the law, a service provider will only be able to send commercial electronic messages provided that the recipient has received the prior consent of the recipient either electronically or physically with a wet signature. The situations that do not require approval in sending commercial electronic messages to the recipients in Article 6 of the Regulation are as follows:

• If the buyer provides his / her contact information in order to communicate with him/her, sent for the change, use, and maintenance of the goods or services provided, • Messages containing notifications regarding ongoing subscription, membership or partnership status, collection, debt reminder, information update, purchase, and delivery or similar situations and sent to the service provider regarding the obligation to provide information under the relevant legislation, • Sent to electronic contact addresses of buyers who are merchants or tradesmen,

• Following the legislation on the capital market, there is no requirement to obtain approval for commercial electronic messages sent by companies engaged in intermediation activities for informative purposes. Stating that in Article 5 of the Regulation, service providers who will send commercial electronic messages are obliged to register with the MMS system and transfer the approvals they

have already received from the buyers to the MMS and that sending commercial electronic messages to the recipients who do not have an approval record on the MMS is prevented, Lawyer Burcu Kırçıl said, “ Although commercial electronic messages sent to and tradesmen are not subject to approval, the contact addresses of these recipients should be recorded in the MMS system and it should be checked whether the merchants and tradesmen exercise their right of rejection before sending the message. “ she spoke. Message recipients also have obligations The MMS will be available to the recipients of commercial electronic messages in the coming days. In this way, buyers will be able to log into the MMS system and view the service providers they have given commercial electronic message approval, approve a new service provider or have the opportunity to use their right to decline. The temporary article 2 of the Regulation, which entered into force after being published in the Official Gazette dated 28 August 2020 and numbered 31227, brought an extremely important obligation for the buyers. Within the scope of the latest regulations; A message will be sent by the MMS to the recipients, informing that the approvals have been uploaded to the MMS and that these approvals will be deemed valid and the possibility of rejection can be used through the MMS if they are not checked until 16.1.2021. With the new regulation, buyers are obliged to check the approvals registered in the MMS until 16.1.2021. Commercial electronic messages sent after the end of this period will be deemed approved. In addition, the Ministry will be able to postpone these dates for six months, considering the quality of service providers and the size of commercial electronic message approvals. With the new regulations introduced, the Commercial Electronic Message Management System envisages a transparent environment that allows the recipients to carry out approval and rejection transactions, keep their records, and make complaints, and the lawyer Burcu Kırçıl, with the regulations, may be subject to sanctions in case of violation of the legislation, the service providers and the electronic commerce environment He emphasized the importance of obtaining information about the rights and obligations of the intermediary service providers that install them within the scope of current changes.

A new project alert by Bed Covers

Duygu Günaydın, Deputy General Manager of Bed Covers, gave the good news of an existing project that they will soon launch as “deg-GÜNAYDIN” on pillow, quilt, mattress and bedding sets.

In our interview with Bed Covers, we talked about new products, catalogs and company projects. Saying that the export rate of their companies is nearly on 70 percent, Günaydın states that they mainly export products to Europe and England.

Can you give information about your new collections? Our new collections are shaped by design and technology in line with the needs of our customers. We prepare covers enriched with materials and accessories.

Is it possible to make innovations in the mattress cover business? What are your studies on this subject? As development and technology can be achieved in every field, it is also making progress in mattress cover. The user’s health and comfort should be considered at all times. We work together with our partners to provide better quality sleep on how comfortable the end consumer will be, and what we can add more or what we can offer.

Do you have any new investment and branding projects? If yes, can you inform us about them? We have a new formation, but this formation is more in

the category we call white products. We have a project that you can see soon as ‘deg-GÜNAYDIN’ on pillows, duvets, mattresses and duvet cover sets.

Mattress ticking fabric is the showcase fabric in the mattress industry. You are also a company that makes its collections. You shape the bedding fabric. Can you tell us about the manufacturing stages? I think it’s a situation that everyone simplifies. Of course, it hurts us manufacturers a lot. It goes through so many processes to produce something, even if it is a very simple cover or a pillow/

quilt. Shaping the fabric, enriching it and transforming it into a final product ... Today it is as important and meticulous as the production of evening dresses. The processing of the fabric, cutting and putting it into production, sewing side materials in production, accessories and sending it to the customer after the final quality control is a very demanding situation. My greatest desire is that no production should be considered as simple by saying this one is little that one is much.

The pandemic process has blocked the fairs for a while. Have you missed the fairs? Which fairs are you planning to attend? We missed them very much. We missed to meet our customers, run from a fair to another but we will be patient. It is very difficult to plan which fairs we will attend yet. I will make a clear evaluation after this process.

Duygu Günaydın Deputy General Manager of Bed Covers

What is the most preferred cover segment currently? For example, with or without a zipper? Now I guess all consumption preferences in the world favor natural products. It is the same for our customers. Natural and organic products are preferred. In addition, being washable and antiallergic ones are among the important details. As the names behind the Bed Covers brand, where do you position the future of your company? We work by aiming to do our jobs in the right way today and in the future. In this direction, our goal is always to be among the few companies that do their job properly.

You work for domestic and international markets, what is the rate in this? To which countries do you mainly ship your products in foreign markets? Our export rate in mattress covers is around 70%. We mainly export products to Europe and

England.

Where do you see the future of the mattress industry and what should the industry do for a rising momentum? The mattress sector is a sector that will not get old. But it should never stop its development. I believe that as an industry, we should all work together and add value to each other.

CEO of Koelnmesse: “We are looking forward to our trade fairs in Cologne!”

The global coronavirus crisis is having tremendous consequences on the international trade fair business and leading to repeated cancellations and postponements of events at all locations, with impacts for numerous sectors. The most sweeping effect was announced on 21 September 2020 by Messe Frankfurt, indicating that it would not be organising physical trade fairs of its own at the location in Frankfurt up through and including March of 2021. Against this overall backdrop, the management of Koelnmesse takes the following position: Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse:

“The timing of the Frankfurt decision is surprising, especially with the trade fair market now coming back to life in Germany, too. But every trade fair location has to face the effects of the pandemic in its own way and take decisions of its own based on the particulars of its own portfolio. Naturally, we here in Cologne will continue to pursue our plans to begin organising fairs on our trade fair grounds in the near future. These plans have been discussed and coordinated extensively with our exhibitors

and visitors. The sectors want to start taking part in trade fairs again – always subject to the premise of safety and, of course, approvals by the authorities.”

Oliver Frese, Executive Board Member and Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse:

“Here in North Rhine-Westphalia, as our colleagues in Düsseldorf in particular have shown in the case of Caravan Salon, trade fair operations can now resume, subject to certain conditions. This is how we will proceed for each individual event, guided by the needs of each of the sectors involved. We do not expect a return to the international dimensions of previous events right at the beginning of the new year. Participation will become much more focussed: the art fairs in November will revolve more around the German market; the emphasis at imm cologne in January, for instance, will be heavily directed towards Europe. But the trade fairs are going to take place.

We will meticulously prepare them in close consultation with our exhibitors and partners. We know what our customers need in the key fields of expertise of our trade fairs, and we will benefit from the experience of gamescom and DMEXCO @home – which were held in purely digital form for the first time – to enrich the other trade fairs in our portfolio with additional digital reach at a global level. We remain confident and look forward to our trade fairs in Cologne!”

Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse

Form Sünger – serves at high standards, tops the list

Rendering services for different sectors from automotive to textile, furniture to insulation and especially for mattress manufacturers, Form Sünger (Form Foam Company) expands their markets and reaches to different success day by day.

Stating that they firstly aim to provide continuous service in order to support their customers and keep good relations, İdris Göktur Babacan, Export Manager of Form Sünger talks about Turkey’s Top 500 Industrial Enterprises List that the company was included and describes their short, medium and long terms plans. You were ranked on the list of “Turkey’s Top 500 Industrial Enterprises” that Istanbul Chamber of Commerce announced according to the 2019 survey. What are your main building stones that bring your company to this position and what are your principles? Erciyes Anadolu Holding’s leading brand in the chemical industry, Form Sünger, started its activities in February 2002. When the date showed year 2015, we commissioned our second factory. Thus, we doubled our production capacity. Today, we have the highest production capacity in our region, and we have been providing service to our customers at high standards. As Form Sünger, we make production for a wide client portfolio. We serve to our group companies, domestic business partners and worldwide export customers.

We have a wide product range with our high technology machines for cutting styles, densities and foams types. That makes us an ideal solution partner.

How do you evaluate the position in your sector? Do you have bigger goals? What are your goals and plans in the short, medium and long terms? As a leading company, we improve our services and also products with innovation. Following market needs and join the trends, we are increasing our innovative products range day by day. We focus on increasing comfort, support healthy sleep and sustainability at our products.

Although we supply different sectors from automotive to textile, furniture to insulation, our main customer group is mattress manufacturers. While maintaining sectoral diversity, we will continue to strengthen our position in the market with the awareness of the importance of the mattress industry. Until now, our export sales reached to over 60 countries from Far East to America. We want to increase our export sales in this manner.

2020 was a year of extraordinary developments in the global economy. What strategy did you follow in this negative time? How were you affected by this period and how did you manage the crisis? The pandemic that started in China in December 2019 took a few months to spread to other countries and finally spread all around the world, and we started to feel the real impact of the epidemic by March. By the month March 2019, the epidemic effect began to be

İdris Göktur Babacan Export Manager of Form Sünger

felt more and more in Europe then America. In this process, we started to receive returns such as decrease in orders, postponement of existing orders and cancellation of orders. This period continued until June then we witnessed recoveries in the market. Companies resumed working and consequently the demands started to increase. All companies are trying to adapt working under these difficult conditions. As Form Sünger with the belief that our employees are our most valuable capital, we continue our activities by prioritizing employee safety and health. All the measures we take for our production process

and working conditions are complying with TSE Covid-19 safe production standards.

How do you evaluate the position of your brand in the global market? What do you owe your success in export? In this period firstly we aim to provide continuous service in order to support our customers and keep our good relations. Thanks to our high standards of production and flexible solutions at export we expand our market day by day. Since international fairs and travels are not available, we should contact directly more through online channels.

interzum cologne in the road to the “new normal”

Good registration figures for interzum signal success of forthcoming edition of the best meeting point of the industry, 4-7 May 2021

“We are starting out on the road to the new normal,” says Maik Fischer, Director of interzum, describing the preparations for the world’s largest trade fair for suppliers and interior design – interzum. “We want to work with the industry to redesign the future. That is our goal and our challenge,” continues the Director. With the next edition of interzum, Koelnmesse is organising the first event of worldwide relevance for the industry since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, giving it a suitable platform on which to showcase innovative and inspirational products, discuss current issues and revive business – and all this in compliance with the applicable hygiene and safety regulations. Given the repeated emergence of new hotspots in Europe and the persistent occurrence of infections around the world, there is still a strong sense of uncertainty in the industry. “We can’t wait for a return of the old days. Instead, we have to be optimistic and bold, and set out into the future together,” says the Director, commenting on current developments.: “After all, as far as the global furniture industry and interiors professionals are concerned, interzum 2021 is essential for generating fresh ideas and discovering innovative products, thus helping them to reinvigorate and grow their own businesses.”

To ensure the safety of exhibitors and visitors, Koelnmesse has worked in cooperation with the public authorities to develop #B-SAFE4business, a concept that makes provision for all

measures relating to hygiene, medical care and organisation. Exhibitors can therefore expect a trade fair with a high standard of safety for all participants. The event’s importance to the industry and the well-thoughtout safety and hygiene concept are also being acknowledged by the exhibiting companies. When the first early-booking discount period came to an end in mid-June, the number of registrations was almost on a par with figures on the equivalent date for the record-breaking interzum 2019. “Receiving such an encouraging number of registrations in these difficult times supports our belief that the exhibitors are looking to interzum 2021 as the trigger to restart their global business,” says Maik Fischer, giving his assessment of the figures. So, with layout planning now beginning, more than two thirds of interzum’s planned exhibition

area has already been booked. In addition to many well-known exhibitors, ranging from market leaders to small creative powerhouses, Maik Fischer’s team is also looking forward to welcoming some notable returnees to Cologne next year – among them the Kastamonu Group and the companies Yildez Entegre as well Financiera Maderera (Finsa). Together with a startup area, the focus on digital printing and floor coverings is generating additional appeal and is a guarantee of further exhibitor potential in the remaining months. Companies that have not yet registered for interzum 2021 still have until 30 September 2020 to reserve their stand area at a special rate.

Key target groups are within reach With a justified shot of confidence, the interzum team is starting the visitor acquisition process much earlier than

usual. “A lot of explanations are required at the moment, of course, but we get the sense from our conversations with visitors that they not only see the necessity of attending a trade fair, but that they are also looking forward to interzum,” reflects Fischer. “However, it will all depend on the extent to which travel restrictions are lifted. Nevertheless, we are already reaching around 70 per cent of our trade visitors despite the limitations that are currently in place”, he continues. At the same time, the interzum team is also developing a hybrid event format for those participants unable to travel to Cologne. “We will develop a permanent digital extension to interzum that will be fit for the future. We will learn from the digital formats we are offering this autumn – for gamescom and DMEXCO – as well as from imm cologne and LivingKitchen 2021,” Fischer explains confidently. “In doing so, we will be giving the exhibitors the added ability to present their products digitally, communicate with virtual visitors and thereby increase

the overall reach of their interzum appearance. To supplement our digital matchmaking options, we are not only expanding the business opportunities available to our exhibitors but also

reaching a broader spectrum of visitors.” Thanks to all of these steps, the world will definitely meet in Cologne for interzum in May 2021 – in person and virtually.