Farplas

We talked to Gökhan Taşar, Plant Executive Director, about Farplas’ latest international expansion in Romania, its growth strategies, and the Farplas and Smart Solutions joint venture.

When did Farplas Romania open?
Farplas’ manufacturing plant in Romania – a joint venture between Farplas and Smart Plast Solutions – officially opened in May 2020.

What will be manufactured at this plant?
Our Romanian production facility serves multiple purposes. First, we aim to supply cost-competitive value-added parts (painted parts or the production of parts requiring advanced technology) for our customers in the EU. In addition, we will provide solutions for our customers who are experiencing technical or supply problems for these types of parts with our technical know-how and high-quality service.

On our way to becoming a global company, launching the Farplas Romania plant is an important milestone for Farplas as it is our first international plant investment. We will strive to provide quality service for our customers at this plant, just as we do in Turkiye.

Why was Romania preferred for this investment decision?
The most important reason that we chose Romania is that our customer, Dacia, is located in Romania. In addition, Ford has a production plant in Romania, with which we have existing partnerships in both Turkiye and Thailand. We believe we can continue our cooperation with them in Romania as well. However, many of our customers may have needs in different countries, and we do not invest in every country. Of course, economic and geographical factors specific to Romania also played a role in this decision. For example, Eastern Europe’s growth rate is quite good compared to other regions. In addition, one of its most significant advantages of Romania is that it appeals to both developed EU markets and a wide variety of neighboring countries from Russia to Central Asia. The fact that Romania has EU-compatible and investor-friendly legislation is also among the factors that make this country very attractive. I think the sufficiently equipped workforce in Romania should be added to the list as well.

“The fact that Romania has EU-compatible and investor-friendly legislation is also among the factors that make this country very attractive.”

Could you tell us about the company structure of Farplas Romania?
The company is a joint venture, 60% Farplas and 40% Smart Plast Solutions.

What is the name of the company?
Our name is Farplas & Smart Solutions, per the joint venture company structure. Our logo is a combination of both companies.

Could you give some information about our partner? Our partner, Delta Group, is a very experienced and reputable company in plastic injection operations. The group has two manufacturing companies, Delta Invest and Smart Plast Solutions. Apart from that, the group has other initiatives in the tourism and energy sectors.

How did Farplas meet with Delta Group? We met Delta Group through our customer, Dacia. As a result of the warm relations established with the top management after a negotiation period that lasted about a year, we reached an agreement in January 2020. However, due to quarantine requirements and border closures caused by the pandemic, there were delays in the company’s official establishment.

What are the reasons behind choosing a joint venture structure?
Besides the fact that each country has its own business culture, there is a lot we don’t know about them. Our partner helps us to adapt more comfortably to many issues we need to learn about their culture. In addition, by using our partner’s readily available manufacturing plant infrastructure, we can direct our investments to advanced technology and provide speed and resource efficiency.

Where is the Farplas Romania manufacturing plant located?
It is located in the city of Mioveni in the state of Arges. We are 5 km away from our customer, Dacia’s plant. The highway is under construction at the moment. When it is completed, the distance between our plant and the Ford plant will be one hour.

Our plant has a 4.300 square meter closed area and a 4.500 square meter open area. As we agreed with our partner, we can expand the plant by an additional 9.000 square meters area in the future. Also, when our administrative building, which is currently under construction, is completed, we will have an additional area of 900 square meters.

How many people work in Farplas Romania?
We will be about 100 when production starts soon.

Which parts are being manufactured in Romania?
The spoiler of the Duster model is the part we are manufacturing for our first customer, Dacia. We will deliver injection, paint shop, and assembly parts to our customers using the Just-in-sequence (JIS) method for the first time at Farplas. By utilizing the JIS method, we will deliver our parts according to customers’ production lines. The parts will be assembled on the line in just 4 hours upon receiving the order from the customer.

When did you get assigned to this new role?
I accepted the role in January 2020, but officially started in October 2020 as the “Plant Executive Director”.

Could you tell us about your career journey and your new position at Farplas?
I started at Farplas as a Paintshop Team Leader in November 2015. Subsequently, I took part in two new paintshop investments. In addition, I took on more responsibilities after some of our