“The main concern is that our pasta plant is our profession area. In line with the requests from our customers, we provide packaging machines for the post-production, and support for the customers regarding the milling before prior to production. In pasta plant production, we can produce special machine park for our customer’s building. In this sense, we do not have any standards or restrictions. We have the opportunity to manufacture the plant in a completely optional manner for all types of building.”
BBM Magazine has interviewed Talia Makina this month one of the leading companies in pasta machinery manufacture. Making an indelible impression with its technology usage, R&D and innovation works, Talia Makina started the first Long Cut Pasta Line and produced the first prototype.
Stating that all production facilities of Talia Makina are specially arranged for all kinds of production, Uçak said: “According to the raw materials that our customers use, we can instantly control the values of temperature and humidity and make changes in the values in our facilities where fully automated modern technology is used. The amount of product dried the pressure values and all line checks are provided to our customers by our dedicated teams.”
With Müftah Uçak, the founder of Talia Makina, we talked about the story of Talia Makina, the solutions that the company provides, new technologies and its place in the market. We take the details from Müftah Uçak.
Mr. Aircraft, are you talking about Talia Machine first? Would you share with us the foundation of your company and the process of its arrival?
I founded Hemes Machine in 2008 from the question “Why do not you produce in Turkey” for pasta machines imported from abroad. As a 30-year pasta master, we have been producing “Short Cutting Pasta Line” with Hemes Machine until 2012, and we have won many awards in the field of R&D and Innovation. In 2012, we changed our name to Talia Machine in order to grow and develop further and we have grown even bigger by adding “Mft Machine” and “Hemes Machine” to our world. Starting in 2015 in our country, the Long Cut Macaroni Line (Spaghetti), which no one had dared before, was able to produce our first prototype and became one of the world giants.
Apart from the complex pasta plant, do you offer special solutions for the customers? What can you say about the solutions you are going through?
The main concern is that our pasta plant is our profession area. In line with the requests from our customers, we provide packaging machines for the post-production, and support for the customers regarding milling prior to production. In pasta plant production, we can produce special machine park for our customer’s building. In this sense, we do not have any standards or restrictions. We have the opportunity to manufacture the plant in a completely optional manner for all types of building.
Do you have a new technology, machine, that you have been racing as Talia Machine? If so, will you give me some information about your new technology, your machine?
Our Short Cutting Pasta Line production was already supported by TUBITAK and we made the first domestic production line in Turkey. Again, we currently produce spaghetti line, which is not available in our country. We did the research work in 2015. We can produce a spaghetti line in a quick way. There is not any other company producing the spaghetti line in our country except for Talia Makina.
What features distinguish you from competitors’ products? At what points are you leaving your opponents?
Whether the customer is at home or abroad, reference in this sector is very important. If you have your reference, you are a good manufacturer, but if you do not have your reference, you will not be the biggest machine manufacturer of Turkey. The customer sees the machine live with the technical details and wants to be in an individual dialogue with the person who bought the production line himself. He wants to consult the plus and minus sides of the machine. In this respect, the customer prefers us in reference to our references and in the direction of exports to over 30 countries because we have everything transparent. For example, when a customer from Egypt requests a reference, “In Egypt we have production facilities working in the following cities, you can visit and see them, their address is contact information”, our value in the eyes of the customer reaches another dimension. There are already companies that promise to produce Macaroni Line but since they cannot give a reference, we are always one step ahead and companies are following our footsteps when they think that Turkey is a competitor in Turkey because we always make the first productions. The awards we have already received are a sign of it.
Which countries do you export or which countries do you target? So what are your future goals?
We export to more than 30 countries. Countries such as Egypt, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Syria, Iraq, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Ethiopia, Turkmenistan, Senegal, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Ukraine and Russia are among the leaders of these countries. We do not have a specific target market. There is a machine request from all over the world. Talia Machine’s goal is to strengthen its position among the world’s brands by increasing the number of exported countries to at least 50 before 2020.
Which of the following processes are the most important production processes in macaroni production, or are those that have the greatest impact on pasta quality? What are the advantages of today’s technologies used in these processes?
It is our greatest advantage that the facilities we produce are optional. For example, while our customer in Russia uses durum wheat to produce first-class pasta, our African customer is able to produce pasta using flour. All facilities manufactured by Talia Machine are specially arranged for all kinds of production. According to the raw materials that our customers use, we can instantly control the values of temperature and humidity and make changes in the values in our facilities where fully automated modern technology is used. The amount of product dried, the pressure values and all line checks are provided to our customers by our dedicated teams. These trained customers are able to control all the lines on the screen from where they sit as judges of all the equipment.
What are the indispensable systems and machines of pasta manufacturing plant?
Pasta production has two main production bases. The first is the press section where the macaroni is shaped, and the last is the drying section where the drying process is performed. In the first place, it is the part where the hump is given the final shape and not sticking. There is no pressure here. In the other drying section, the last process related to the color, brightness and hardness of the macaroni is done by using heat, humidity and steam. Of course, these operations vary according to the shape, thickness and raw material of the macaroni.
What is the difference between today’s pasta technologies and 10 years ago pasta technologies? What can you say about developments in pasta production technology over the past 10 years?
Based on my experiences that is more than 30 years ago, there is a difference between the technology of 10 years ago and the mountains between the present. In older systems, though heat-drying is achieved, current technology provides high-temperature drying. In this high-temperature drying system, even if the quality of the raw material is low, high-quality pasta can be obtained. We use the latest high-temperature system in all our facilities. Also in the past, the control panel was completely lit. If the red light is on, there is a problem, if the green light is on it can be checked as no problem. All of the machines we produce are equipped with plc screens and these screens can be controlled from a main computer. Our customers can control the whole system from where they live, and when necessary, we can intervene by connecting directly to the system via internet. 10 years ago, while looking at the red-green lights, we can connect to tesisa 6000 km away.
Finally, what do you want to add?
In Turkey, there should be more manufacturers in this sector because competition is fruitful.