You can understand some things even before you enter the door of a company… Care, meticulousness, professionalism… We are in Isparta… As we enter Afes Marble’s factory, we understand the secret behind the success. Everything is sparkling. Afes is one of the most important companies in beige marble production in Turkey… The stones extracted from two quarries in Bucak and Karamanlı, Burdur, are exported all over the world. We start a conversation in the room of Mahmut Tiren, Production and Sales Manager of Afes Marble.
Our priority is the increase in the weight of beige stones in recent fairs. Mr. Mahmut says, “Beige is a stone that maintains its popularity in every period. Especially light-colored beiges with a solid structure and quality production process have been in great demand even in the last 3-4 years, when gray was in the forefront. We have achieved very good sales figures in the USA, the UK and Europe”… While listening to these words, I think of the fact that we almost didn’t have time to say ‘Hello’ to Afes Marble at his booth at Marmomacc, and I say “He is absolutely right”…
We move on to the quarries… The Vanilla Ice Quarry in Karamanlı comes to the fore. Mahmut Tiren, Production and Sales Manager of Afes Marble, emphasizes that quarry efficiency is as valuable as the product. “Can you clarify a bit?” we ask, and he continues as follows: “Karamanlı Quarry’s block productivity is very high. This is the case in most of the quarries around Burdur. In a demolition of roughly 500 tons, getting 100 tons of blocks is considered very good productivity. Because usually 89-90 percent of a demolition of 400-600 tons is separated as waste. Our productivity average is above 40 percent. In some demolitions, this rate is in the 80-90 percent band, which is really a great rate.”
We remember hearing the saying “8 percent efficiency is considered good for a quarry” in our conversations in the natural stone sector. “Then you are very lucky,” we say to Mr. Mahmut… However, we learn that Karamanlı Quarry offers another great advantage to Afes Marble. And that is the strength of the stone. Mahmut Tiren, stating that they produce 12 mm thin slabs, concludes his words as follows: “The density of our stone is 2.8 and its abrasion is below 1. It is a very hard stone. Its color is almost completely white. However, another great advantage is that it does not require epoxy and mesh. It is one of the rare stones in the beige group that can be made into 12 mm slabs. None of the 12 mm. thin 61×122 cm products use epoxy and mesh. This means a double advantage in terms of both production cost and weight loaded on the building.”
