The group is known as Kastamonu Entegre. Entegre translates quite accurately as 'integrated' and that equally accurately describes the nature of this major panel producer with operations both within and without Turkey. The company's original business was in the manufacture of detergents, tissue paper and disposable nappies and that is still a strong side of the group's operations. However, Kastamonu decided to diversify and entered the panel manufacturing business over 30 years ago. The company built its first particleboard plant at Kastamonu City (hence the company name) in the eastern part of the country, in 1971. Today, it also has production sites at Balikesir (see p22), Gebze-Kocaeli and Gebze Tever in Turkey. Outside the national borders, Kastamonu Entegre has a factory which it purchased in Romania, producing plywood, blockboard and HDF doorskins; a paper production facility in Bosnia Herzegovina; and a particleboard and melamine faced particleboard factory in Bulgaria. That first particleboard plant in Kastamonu City was moved to the company's site in Gebze-Kocaeli (Gebze) in 1988 and the Siempelkamp four-daylight press is still in operation there today, producing around 160m³ of particleboard per day. In 1994, the group's first MDF line was built at Gebze, employing a Küsters continuous press. This was also the first continuous MDF line in Turkey, points out operations manager Ahmet Faruk ?i?ci. Current production is around 500m3/day in 4mm to 30mm thicknesses. In 2003, a 20.5m Siempelkamp ContiRoll continuous press was installed at Gebze to produce 2mm to 38mm MDF, with production volumes ranging from 600m³/day for 3mm thickness to 400m³/day for 18mm. Being a short press it is mainly used for thinner board production. So the total production capacity for the site is roughly 1,100-1,200m³ daily. The wood preparation/size reduction equipment for all lines was supplied by Pallmann of Germany, which has supplied almost all such equipment in the country. For value-adding, there are two Wemhöner short-cycle press lines and a Hymmen continuous press to make laminate flooring. This is complemented by two Homag flooring machining lines. There is also a direct printing line. Three decor paper impregnation lines serve only this site and a resin plant supplies resins for both impregnation and panel manufacture. Kastamonu Entegre recently acquired the nearby Tever particleboard line and supplies resin to that facility as well as to the Kastamonu City plant and the Bulgarian operation. The former Tever factory is 10km from Gebze and has a nine-daylight particleboard press and a 1,000m³/day Dieffenbacher continuous press line. Only the Dieffenbacher line is currently running. "We will dismantle that continuous line and move it to this site, while the multi-opening line will remain at the Tever plant and be refurbished," said Mr ?i?ci. "The existing dryer and the woodyard at Tever has been holding back production there. As we move the press here, we will also extend it by 6.7m to 34.7m and we will buy a new dryer for the line. "We will also extend the Küsters press here from 23 to 27m, incorporating a cooling zone, and we expect to achieve an output of 700 to 750m³/day. We already have the new parts for the press and an agreement with Metso Panelboard [made prior to Siempelkamp's purchase of that side of the business]." The whole press is due for a major overhaul at the same time, with all hydraulics being replaced and many other upgrades planned, said M Sisci. The existing old multi-opening line at Gebze will be removed and sold and the Tever continuous line will go in its place. However, the first priority for the group is apparently the inauguration of the new MDF line at the Kastamonu City site, at which time Gebze can 'afford' to stop its production for the six weeks necessary for upgrading there, plus another two weeks to see the line back in full production. The foundations for the extension of the Gebze press were already in at the time of my visit in February, having been excavated and concreted without interrupting production of MDF. Mr ?i?ci is clearly keen to get started on the improvements. At Gebze, the wood raw material is 60% domestically grown and 40% imported logs from a 250km radius - and imported chips from the US (40,000 tonnes every two months). "The Kastamonu City plant utilises 100% domestic wood as does Balikesir," said Mr ?i?ci. "There used to be seven or eight large paper plants in Turkey producing cellulose, but now there are almost none and so the wood supply is easier now. "Our chips are only good quality ones - there is a problem if you don't know the quality of incoming chips." Two into one will go The two continuous press lines - Küsters and Siempelkamp - sit alongside one another in the same production hall at Gebze. Both lines are fed by Pallmann-prepared wood, with two 500x1,050mm PHT chippers with vibrating table and feeder and protected by a Cassell metal detector over the infeed. Bought-in chips can be fed into the same chip line that serves as the outfeed for the Pallmann chippers, or they can also be fed into the line after the wet silo. The refiner for the Siempelkamp line is also by Pallmann and is a 48in unit with 16in plug screw and 3.5MW motor. The same set-up was also employed for the older Küsters line. "We have a mix of mechanical and blowline blending for the MDF resin on the Küsters line and will continue with this once it is extended, but we have only blowline blending on the Siempelkamp line," said Mr Sisci. Energy for Gebze is supplied by three Turkish made boilers with a total capacity of 17 million kcal, while two gas turbines produce 10MW of electricity. The heat and steam from the process are utilised through a specially-designed heat exchanger, which also reduces the noise emissions from the gas turbines. The central control room for both continuous lines employs a total of three people. GreCon blow detection and thickness measurement serves both lines, while fire prevention is handled by a Minimax system. When the extensions and additions are complete, Gebze will install WESPS for all lines' exhaust gases. Sanding of the boards is carried out in an unusual mix of a new four-head Steinemann Satos unit installed in January this year and an elderly Bison six-head unit which is still giving good service. A new Steinemann Satos eight-head sander is on order for the soon-to-be installed particleboard line. The company's first impregnation line came from Tocchio of Italy in 1999 and is now used as the back-up line to a Vits of Germany line, installed in 2003. The third impregnation line, also from Vits, was installed last year. The direct printing/lacquering line was put together by Bürkle of Germany and is secondhand (ex Hornitex and significantly modified since) but has been working well at Gebze for the last four years, said Mr Sisci. As one of the leading companies in the Turkish panel industry, it is clear that the Kastamonu group intends to maintain its momentum, both within and outside the country.