Tekin Ozalit’s journey, which began in a small area in Sefaköy, Istanbul in 1988, also reflects the successful development of the Turkish printing and signage industry. Carrying out its first works at a time when digital printing opportunities were just emerging and finding reception in the market, the company today responds to the demands of numerous different sectors for printing, document duplication, promotion and promotional solutions with its five branches and seven-storey headquarters building. Tekin Ozalit, producing for Turkey and numerous foreign markets, invested in new-generation Mimaki printing solutions due to increasing demands and quality expectations. The company has created a dedicated line in the printing department at its head office with a series of Mimaki solutions, including the CJV330-160 eco-solvent print & cut machine in the 330 Series, which Mimaki introduced to the market in 2022.
The founder and owner of the company Tekin Gültekin said that they have left 35 years behind in the industry and today they provide uninterrupted service to various industries with their five branches. Gültekin stated: “As Tekin Ozalit, we have a very rich product portfolio. We started out with personal services such as blueprint printing and photocopying 35 years ago, over time we have become able to offer a wide range of solutions including advertising, promotion and printing, flag and label production as well as services for duplication and printing. We have never stopped investing in order to provide more solutions to our customers and have become one of the most important brands of the industry in this field.”
Saying: “20% of our customers are Class A upper segment corporate customers, the majority of the rest are SMEs and a limited number of individual users,” Gültekin stated that they provide services to hundreds of companies from every sector in various fields from business card production to vehicle wrapping, from flags to direct printing on promotional products. He noted that there are separate departments for all business units in their head office with a closed area of 10 thousand square metres, and remarked that digital printing has an important weight in their business.
The need for digital printing is constantly growing
Tekin Gültekin said that the printed works produced by Tekin Ozalit are constantly increasing in terms of quantity and variety, and disclosed: “Digital printing has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Digitally produced products are used in every area from store signs to the mug you hold in your hand, from flags and banners to textile products. People desire to see abstract brands in printed form. Therefore, new materials and new technologies emerge in line with ever-increasing demands and applications. Customer satisfaction and innovation are two values that we cannot give up. For this reason, we act quite bravely in investing in new technologies. Our cooperation with Mimaki Eurasia, which started in this period, and the technologies we have purchased are an indication of this.”
Gültekin, expressing that they had a negative experience with Mimaki service years ago, explained how they regained trust with the brand as follows: “Trust is very important to us. Nothing is over when you buy the machine, on the contrary, it is just beginning. We need to know whether our demands for service, spare parts, consumables and inks can be met. For this, we need to find a contact person when we make a phone call. About 15 years ago, we had problems in this context, but Mimaki’s establishment of its own company in Turkey as of 2018 and structuring its dealer network provided the trust we needed. We can always reach a contact person and a representative when we call the Mimaki dealer or Mimaki Eurasia office that we work with during the sales process and we can get clear responses to our requests. We made our investments in favour of Mimaki due to the trust we started to gain in the Mimaki brand.”
Gültekin noted that as of September 2022, the new generation Mimaki printers were installed in their head office and started to work immediately, and underlined that they started to experience the comfort of the Mimaki Experience from the first day.
CJV330-160 eco-solvent print & cut solution opens up new opportunities
Tekin Gültekin said that they were one of the first companies to invest in Mimaki’s CJV330-160 eco-solvent printer in the Turkish market, and explained that they can perform print & cut operations with a maximum width of 1,610 mm with this model, which has a brand new design. Remarking: “CJV330-160, fully meeting our expectations in terms of both print quality and efficiency, strengthened our hand especially for indoor and outdoor advertising and signage applications,” Gültekin continued his words as follows: “Our printing business has become faster, easier and safer thanks to the industrial-spec CJV330-160. Our Mimaki investments offered us the opportunity to perform different applications with various materials.
Gültekin, stating that the CJV330-160 is a print & cut solution and this integrated cutting process will provide great convenience in high-density work, explained that operator-related errors can also be prevented by integrated cutting. Gültekin disclosed: “Our business is continuing as planned with this machine, which has a printing speed of 21 m2 per hour, and this offers us a very good potential in terms of our capacity.” He also noted that the ability to load three different rolls of material at the same time and the fact that this process can be easily carried out by a single operator has a positive impact on operating costs.
Original Mimaki ink has a very strong adhesion on difficult surfaces
Reiterating that they print on various materials, Tekin Gültekin said that they use original Mimaki inks in the CJV330-160 eco-solvent printer. He mentioned that they usually had problems with ink adhesion when printing on difficult surfaces but they overcame it with Mimaki, saying: “Mimaki’s BS4 eco-solvent ink flows very delicately and prevents the formation of a distorted visual thanks to its balanced structure. The ink adheres very strongly to the surface after printing and there is no subsequent cracking or spillage even on flexible materials. Indoor or outdoor applications have different climatic conditions and Mimaki inks have proved to be successful in this area as well. None of the problems such as quick fading, leaking in the rain, and spillage are experienced.” Gültekin reminded that Mimaki inks are GREENGUARD GOLD certified and explained that they have the necessary sensitivity for human health and the environment and meet the standards.
Gültekin emphasised that both Mimaki’s original ink and CJV330-160’s print head technology added strength to them and stated that thanks to Mimaki Core Technologies, the works were carried out without any disruption and as planned.
Gültekin explained that they will continue to grow in both domestic and foreign markets by increasing their product portfolio and production volumes in the coming period, and added that they are confident and pleased to be a part of the Mimaki family due to the opportunities it provides in this growth process.