Kale Group celebrates annual Ceramic Festival with the opening of new production plants

The Kale Group’s Ceramic Festival, organised every year for the last 59 years to celebrate the anniversary of the Group’s foundation, was held in Can on 26 and 27 July. This was the first time the Festival had taken place in the absence of the Group’s founder Ibrahim Bodur, who died in May this year.

Greeting the numerous public figures in attendance, including the Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Fikri Işık, as well as the Group’s employees and suppliers, President and CEO Zeynep Bodur Okyay emphasised the Group’s determination to carry on the industrial legacy established by her father over a period of almost 60 years, a journey that has transformed the company originally set up in the small village of Can into a world-famous industrial Group.

To demonstrate this determination, the Kale Group’s Ceramic Festival 2016 provided an opportunity to present the first results of the almost 44 million euros of investments made this year. These include the new full-body porcelain tile factory with a capacity of around 20,000 sq.m/day in sizes ranging from 40x40 cm to 80x160 cm, and the new raw materials processing plant, both of which were officially opened during the Festival.

One of the most eagerly-awaited moments was the ground-breaking ceremony for the second facility for the production of Sinterflex panels, which Zeynep Bodur Okyay stressed will further strengthen the group’s position amongst the world’s leading ceramic producers. The new line, equipped with a GEA 26000 press from System, will produce two different sizes, the 1000x3000 mm already in the range and the 1200x3600 mm, both with thicknesses of 3-6 mm. The plant will use System’s latest decoration systems and will increase the production capacity of Sinterflex panels to 2 million sq.m/year. Production is expected to begin in early 2017.  

At the end of the ceremony, Zeynep Bodur Okyay announced that the investments made in 2016 are part of a wider investment programme that will amount to a total of more than 120 million euros by 2019.