While the rubber industry is rapidly gaining momentum, SEB is responding to all these demands with its new investments. Suat Zeinaldin, General Manager of SEB Group of Companies talks to Automotive Exports Magazine about their activities.
Can you tell us about your company’s story? What products do you have in your product range?
Our first company was established in Istanbul at the beginning of the 2000s, and after that, our business life continues as a group of companies with the investments we made. We have been continuing our activities in this sector for more than 20 years, and this adventure, which we started with the import and export sectors, continues with the production of rubber, bellows, wedges, bushings and rubber metal in our factory in Bursa as of 2015. In 2021, we provide support to our customers thanks to our logistics company, which we established with the decision we took after the price policies that changed greatly with the effect of the pandemic.
Our export company, with our product range of more than 10000, has business partnerships with more than 200 companies throughout Turkey, and we mainly export products to the Middle East, Europe and African countries according to the demands of our customers. In our factory, we closely follow and benefit from today’s technology in the dynamic and competitive environment of the sector, without sacrificing quality with our product range of more than 10000. Our company, which aims to increase the product diversity and continuous development every year with the investments made, continues its customer satisfaction-oriented works, which is our most important mission, by applying management and production techniques appropriate to our age.
You are in a good position in your industry, rubber production. What are your export targets in your sector for the coming years?
When we look at the number of companies in the rubber market, it is a highly competitive sector. Thanks to today’s technology, it is much easier to produce than in the past. However, the challenge is to create a high-quality, low-cost and sustainable production plan. Although we seem to be at the very beginning of the road in terms of time compared to many companies, we have come a long way in a short time in the light of the right plan, investment and strategies that we have created with the vision, knowledge and experience of our company’s founder Dr. Saad Zainueldin. Thanks to the network we have established in every province of Turkey, you can see the products we produce with our own patented brands on the shelves of our customers.
We want to strengthen our international relations thanks to the fairs we have attended and will attend, and to reach many continents thanks to our competitive price policy, investments and quality of products.
Which products do you export to? Which regions do you have export activities?
We mainly produce for FIAT, RENAULT, PEUGEOT brand vehicles in our factory in Bursa. The product group includes wedges, bellows, bushings, rubber metal and aluminum parts.
The region where we are strongest in the Middle East countries is Egypt. In addition, we export to Algeria, Morocco, Jordan and Lebanon, as well as Germany-Portugal in Europe, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia and Comoros in the African continent.
Can you tell us about your fields of activity? How do you work differently from your competitors to increase customer satisfaction?
As we mentioned before, we operate in many fields. In the export sector, which is our priority, we export 80% automotive spare parts and the remaining 20% food, machinery and raw materials. On the other hand, we have slowed down our import activities due to the high freight rates in the last two years. For this reason, we also operate in the field of logistics.
Customer satisfaction is a very important issue for our company. As a result of our statistical research, we deliver 99.8% of our product shipments to our customers on time, without sacrificing quality and according to the given deadline. Our number one priority is to keep our product stocks as high as possible thanks to the incoming demand and the correct production plan, and to provide the best service to our customers with on-time shipments.
Do you have different goals in your industry for the coming years? Do you plan to invest in different areas of the automotive industry?
In the coming years, we aim to follow the technology closely and invest in development and developing points. I can say that the primary investment is moving to a new production area. In this way, it is among our plans to serve more customers with a larger production pool. However, as you know, we have to act cautiously due to increasing costs and fluctuations in foreign markets and economy.