Conference Program
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
09:30
Welcome Remarks
Kurt Fischer, TCM
Nurten Ergün, BTC
Haluk Yildiz, Yomsad
Speaker's Bio: Nurten Ergün
She graduated from Hacettepe University, Department of Economics in 1987. Between 1988 and 1992, she worked in the sales and marketing of high-tech products in international corporate companies. She founded her first company in 1993. With the belief that innovative and new technologies will gain great value, she received training in design and digital technologies in Italy and Germany. She represented many European companies in the textile sector from design to production and color management in digital printing. Nurten Ergün, who is the founding partner of 5 different companies, has gathered all her activities under the roof of BTC Information Technologies, which represents a total of 11 European companies in Turkey. She closely follows the developments in the world by participating in over 200 fairs, both national and international.
She acts as a locomotive in introducing new technologies to the Turkish industry and bringing them into the sector with the Seminars, Workshops and Conferences she organizes regularly. In 2019, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization organized the “1st Water Intelligence” Conference with the support of İTKİB, İHKİB, TTTSD and invited very valuable European companies that are running for leadership in their fields to this conference where the smart management of WATER was discussed and provided information on sustainable production technologies to over 150 Turkish manufacturers and brands.
Thinking that its long-standing knowledge and experience would also benefit the decorative surfaces, paper and packaging sectors, it made new initiatives and added the distributorship of 5 different European companies to its service area.
In 2024, it will organize the “Surfaces Eurasia” conference in cooperation with TCM Conference in order to lead the industry to get to know new techniques and technologies closely in the field of decorative surfaces. An event that will be organized for the first time in Turkey is celebrating its 25th anniversary in the world.
In this conference, the use of new techniques and technologies in decorative surfaces, the benefits of artificial intelligence will be discussed. As well as energy saving, efficient production, reducing stock costs, responding to customer requests faster and providing unlimited service in colors and quantities with flexible production provided by digital technologies will be also the topics. This event, which will feature very valuable speakers, will be the first event organized in the decorative surfaces sector.
Speaker's Bio: Haluk Yildiz
Born in Samsun in 1959, Haluk Yıldız graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1981.
Haluk Yıldız began his professional career at Karadeniz Copper Enterprises, and then assumed management roles in engineering and investment at Aksa Acrylic Chemical Industry for 7 years.
Haluk Yıldız, who has been working at Kastamonu Entegre Ağaç A.Ş. since 1992, has held management positions as Investment Manager, Factory Manager, and Deputy General Manager, respectively.
Haluk Yıldız has been serving as Kastamonu Entegre Ağaç Industry CEO and Hayat Holding Ağaç Group President since 2000.
During Haluk Yıldız’s term as General Manager, Kastamonu Entegre launched an investment offensive at home and abroad, grew nearly 20-fold in 20 years, and reached a turnover of 1.9 billion dollars.
Haluk Yıldız leads Kastamonu Entegre’s operations in Turkey as well as its subsidiaries in Italy, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He also serves as the President of the MDF and Particleboard Industrialists’ Association and the President of the TOBB Forest Products Assembly.
10:00
Opening Presentaion
Ahmet Güleç, Mobilya Dernekleri Federasyonu (MOSFED)
Speaker's Bio: Ahmet Güleç
Ahmet Güleç was born in Mardin/Türkiye in 1970, he graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Public Administration in 1990.
Known for his work on the development of the Turkish Furniture Industry, Mr.Güleç served in prominent positions in many non-governmental organizations. Güleç, who was the President of Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association’s (MUSIAD) İnegöl Branch between 2007 and 2012, was also a member of the MUSIAD High Advisory Board until 2023.
Güleç carried out many studies to strengthen the unity of the sector in İnegöl, one of the furniture production centers of Turkey, and pioneered the establishment of İMOS with the İnegöl Furniture Promotion Group, which he was chairman of for two years. Güleç, who joined the board of directors of the Turkish Furniture Manufacturers Association (MOSDER) in 2010, was elected as the president of the association in 2012. Güleç, who is also the founding president of the Federation of Furniture Associations (MOSFED), which collects furniture associations of Turkıye under one roof, continues his duty as the president of MOSFED. Güleç is a board member of European Furniture Industries Confederation (EFIC).
Güleç, who is a member of the Board of Directors of Istanbul World Trade Center , served as president of the Istanbul Exporters’ Association, Furniture, Paper and Forest Products Exporters’ Association for two terms in 2014 and 2018. Güleç has been serving as the Deputy Chairman of the Turkiye Exporters Assembly (TİM) since 2022.
Güleç, who is married and a father of four children, speaks English.
10:30
Speaker's Bio: Hüseyin Yildiz
I am a fourth-generation member of the Yıldız Family, which has been involved in the forest products sector for over 130 years.
From a young age, I participated in the family business, taking on various roles after school and during summer vacations, and I started working full-time early in my career.
After graduating from Bilkent University with a degree in Economics in 1998, I joined the company on a full-time basis.
Throughout the years, I have gained valuable experience by taking on different responsibilities at various levels within the organization. For the last 10 years, I have served as the Chairman of the Board of Starwood.
My primary goal is to transform our company into a sustainable, innovative, and value-generating organization. To achieve this, I focus on making strategic investments and leading digital transformation initiatives.
I am married and have two children.
11:00
Company Update
Kastamonu Entegre
11:30
Coffee Break, Exhibitions
12:00
Market Update
Speaker's Bio: Matthew Crichton
Matthew has over eight years of experience in the wood-based products and decorative surfacing industry. He has been involved in numerous projects, covering a wide variety of surfaces; from paper-based materials to finished foils and liquid coatings. His main focus is on cost-competitive modelling, having developed cost models for laminate flooring, primed plywood, and many other value-added products.
13:00
Massimo Colombo, Metis
Speaker's Bio: Massimo Colombo
Informatic school
From 1985 to 1990 Sales Manager Dicomed Italy
From 1990 to 1997 Managing Director Dicomed Europe
From 2002 till now Sales Manager Metis Systems
13:30
Networking Lunch
14:30
Kai K.O. Bär, Adphos
Speaker's Bio: Kai K.O. Bär
Dr. Kai Bär graduated and completed his PhD in 1989 from the University of Aachen.
From 1989 – 1994 he was involved in the European space shuttle program and served as the leader responsible for the HERMES heat structure tests within the business segment “High Temperature Technology and Installations” at IABG GmbH, Ottobrunn.
Since 1994 he is the co-founder and Managing Director of IndustrieSerVis GmbH in Bruckmühl, which later evolved into adphos.
In 1998 Dr. Bär was honored with the title of “Entrepreneur of the Year”.
Since 2009 Dr. Bär is Managing Director/President of the adphos group, which includes adphos Innovative Technologies GmbH, adphos Digital Printing GmbH, adphos Thermal Processng GmbH.
15:00
Gravure printing in the course of time – Increasing Productivity in Analogue Rotogravure Printing
Karsten Klöpperpieper, Jagenberg Converting
Speaker's Bio:Karsten Klöpperpieper
15:30
Frank de Jonge, Neos
Speaker's Bio: Frank de Jonge
My career started at Olympia, where I started as junior product manager for one of the first laser Printer launched to the European market. I had the opportunity to sell inks and toner from global leaders like Mitsubishi Chemicals, Toshiba, Hitachi and Sensient to a broad number of challenging and exiting digital printing applications from desktop to industrial scale.
At Neos, where as the Commercial Director I have the unique opportunity to combine all my more than 30 years professional experience and sell the most sophisticated single-pass-inkjet-printers to a global audience.
16:00
Coffee Break, Exhibitions
16:30
Chair: Hüseyin Güler, Kastamonu
- Hüseyin Yildiz, Starwood
- Orhan Kahraman, Gentas
- Goran Schmidt, Afry
Speaker's Bio: Hüseyin Güler
Dr. Hüseyin Güler is a prominent innovation leader with over 25 years of professional experience across various industries, including telecommunications, automotive, public sector, and wood-based panel. He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Marmara University (2001) and an MBA from Uludağ University. In 2013, he earned his PhD from Middle East Technical University (METU) with a focus on innovation networks.
Throughout his career, Dr. Güler has held significant roles in organizations such as TURKCELL (as a marketing specialist), TOFAŞ (as a product development specialist), and TÜBİTAK (as the National Coordinator of the 7th Framework Program and Head of the Science, Technology, and Innovation Policies Department). Additionally, he served as the General Secretary of the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Since joining Kastamonu Entegre in 2015, he has been leading R&D and innovation transformation as Global R&D and Innovation Director. Under his leadership, the company has implemented an intrapreneurship program that has led to the creation of new business models and new products experiencing exponential growth. His efforts have also contributed to the company being named one of Türkiye’s most innovative companies by Fast Company Türkiye in 2021 and 2023.
Dr. Güler is actively involved in international innovation policy-making and is recognized for his work in sustainability focused innovation management. He also served as a Climate Technologies Ambassador for the Turkish Technology Development Foundation (TTGV), advocating for the development of technologies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Speaker's Bio: Hüseyin Yildiz
I am a fourth-generation member of the Yıldız Family, which has been involved in the forest products sector for over 130 years.
From a young age, I participated in the family business, taking on various roles after school and during summer vacations, and I started working full-time early in my career.
After graduating from Bilkent University with a degree in Economics in 1998, I joined the company on a full-time basis.
Throughout the years, I have gained valuable experience by taking on different responsibilities at various levels within the organization. For the last 10 years, I have served as the Chairman of the Board of Starwood.
My primary goal is to transform our company into a sustainable, innovative, and value-generating organization. To achieve this, I focus on making strategic investments and leading digital transformation initiatives.
I am married and have two children.
Speaker's Bio: Goran Schmidt
Goran joined AFRY in 2021 after completing his PhD in Bioresource Engineering (University of Hamburg) and is an experienced project manager in the Bioindustry team. At AFRY, Goran focuses on market and product assessments, including route-to-market, strategy and due diligence projects. He leads projects in the bioenergy and waste sectors as well as in the forest industry. Goran is based in AFRY’s Hamburg office.
17:30
End of Day 1
19:00
Conference Dinner
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
09:30
Speaker's Bio: Adnan Serbest
3 generations of carpenters, grandfather and father himself
His first design was a bus in 1976
His first space design was the courtroom
He designed hundreds of interiors until 1986
1986, he was influenced by the Memphis Group movement in Italy and started designing.
1995, he organized Kelebek Mobilya’s first furniture design competition.
1996, he held his first workshop at ITU with Rodolfo Dordoni
1996, he wrote his first design critiques
1997, curated the “10 works 10 designs” exhibition, which was the first exhibition of professional designers
1998, took part in the organization of the Design Odessa exhibition
In 1999, he received the new version of the ISO Certificate from Türk Loyd. (It wrote its first procedures for design and R&D and is one of the first furniture companies to receive this new version.)
1999 Became a member of Kalder
2001 Participated abroad fair and was nominated for Best of the Best in the first year.
2002, entered the world’s best design catalogue. (3 times Best of the Best nominee and 4 times Hit Guide)
2003 Admitted to membership in the United Nations Global Compact
2003, Gave dozens of lectures and published papers, organized about 10 conferences
2004, He gave workshops on fractal and brand in universities (such as Bilgi University, Anadolu University, Yeditepe University, Yıldız Technical University, etc.)
2005, Design Turkey received five awards in one night. He said, “Young Designers should also receive awards,” and never participated in the competition again.
2006 he was accepted into the book of “150 years of modern history in the World”
2007, established 4 Companies, one of which is a French Company
2008, He served as a council member of “ISO” for 5 years.
2009, he worked as a consultant for MUDER, OMSIAD, MOSDER, MOBSAD associations.
2009, He curated all the fairs of MUDER and OMSİAD.
2010, organized the competitions of the Maksder association
2011, his works were exhibited in Berlin, Guggenheim, Austrian Royal Museums
2014, he was selected as a TrendSetter.
He still continues his efforts to add value to the furniture industry.
10:00
Speaker's Bio: Nino Speranza
Mr. Nino Speranza is Sales Director and Member of the Management Board for Interprint.
10:30
Opportunities in Sustainable and Competitive Furniture Production in the World: The Bulgarian Case
Naci Güngör, Alim Group
Speaker's Bio: Naci Güngör
Mr. Naci Güngör holds a mechanical engineering degree from Middle East Technical University and an M.B.A. degree from Bilkent University. He has an experience of over 30 years in the wood based panel industry and worked for 12 years as marketing and corporate communications manager at Kastamonu Entegre, which is among the top 5 producers globally. He then joined in 2018 Boyut Edgeband company, a member of Alim Group, as director of marketing and corporate communications.
He acted between 2015-2021 as a member of the Forestry Products Consultative Committee in FAO of United Nations, between 2012-2014 as Board Member of Wood Products Exporters Association in Istanbul and still a member of Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) Business Council Executive Committee.
11:00
Coffee Break, Exhibitions
11:30
Speaker's Bio: Göran Ziegler
Göran Ziegler holds a M. Sc. In Chemical Engineering and Licentiate in Polymer Technology both from Lund University and have a background in material technology for building products from different industries. He currently serves as the Director of R&D Surface Technology at Välinge Innovation. Göran has been with Välinge for 17 years and have been responsible for the development of several new flooring and surface technologies. Göran is also head of the Swedish flooring standardisation group and active on both CEN and ISO level. Outside his work Göran enjoys mountain biking, golf and spending time with family and friends.
12:00
Kai K.O. Bär, Adphos
Speaker's Bio:Kai K.O. Bär
Dr. Kai Bär graduated and completed his PhD in 1989 from the University of Aachen.
From 1989 – 1994 he was involved in the European space shuttle program and served as the leader responsible for the HERMES heat structure tests within the business segment “High Temperature Technology and Installations” at IABG GmbH, Ottobrunn.
Since 1994 he is the co-founder and Managing Director of IndustrieSerVis GmbH in Bruckmühl, which later evolved into adphos.
In 1998 Dr. Bär was honored with the title of “Entrepreneur of the Year”.
Since 2009 Dr. Bär is Managing Director/President of the adphos group, which includes adphos Innovative Technologies GmbH, adphos Digital Printing GmbH, adphos Thermal Processng GmbH.
12:30
Speaker's Bio: Marc Graindourze
Marc Graindourze has studied at K.U.L. (University of Leuven, Belgium), Master in Chemistry and Dr. Sc. (physical chemistry).
Marc started at Agfa in 1988 as a R&D project manager graphic films and proofing systems.
In 1995, Marc changed to the field of inkjet printing, first as R&D project manager inkjet media.
Since 2004, Marc is active in the field of inkjet inks.
Marc is very interested in the power of inkjet and how to make it work form the ink perspective for a large range of applications, whereby decorative printing is one of the key fields. Marc connects to the companies building inkjet printing solutions, as well as to the companies printing decorative designs by inkjet.
13:00
Networking Lunch
14:00
Speaker's Bio: Philipp Keisker
Graduation: Master of Science in Sales Management
2010: Start of training and studies at Felix Schoeller
2013: Joined as Customer Service Manager for Photo Imaging
2016: Change to sales, Junior Sales Manager Technocell Decor
2018: Area Sales Manager Technocell Decor
2019: Key Account Manager Technocell Decor
2021: Assumption of deputy segment responsibility (sales, technology, coloring) for Decor EMEA and focusing on Solid Color Management
14:30
Speaker's Bio: Sebastian Mailänder
Head of Application Engineering for Furniture and Building Components across Europe, India, and MEA. Together with a dedicated lab team at the Innovation Center in Düsseldorf, he develops innovative adhesive solutions. His experienced field application engineering team ensures seamless integration and comprehensive support for customers worldwide.
As a mechanical engineer with a passion for materials science, manufacturing, and joining technology, Sebastian brings extensive expertise in adhesive bonding. After initial professional experience in the automotive industry and working on projects such as the development of fiber-reinforced materials for Formula Student Racing, he deepened his knowledge in material research and the fatigue analysis of elastic bonded joints. This expertise led him to the adhesives industry, where he contributed to application technology for the automotive and transportation sectors.
Following a position as a product manager in the building materials industry, Sebastian returned to adhesive technology and now leads an international team driving sustainable innovations. His presentations and contributions at conferences reflect his commitment to advancing future-oriented solutions in materials and joining technology.rinting solutions, as well as to the companies printing decorative designs by inkjet.
15:00
Experimental and Theoretical Approach for Understanding the Fundamental
Phenomena of the Delamination of Flexible Polymeric Materials
Carolina Suárez Vallejo1,2, Edgar Dörsam2 and Hans Martin Sauer2
1Sun Chemical and 2Technical University Darmstadt
Speaker's Bio: Carolina Suárez Vallejo
Carolina Suárez Vallejo is a Chemical Engineer and holds a Master of Science degree
in the same field. She has accumulated over 15 years of experience in Research and
Development at Sun Chemical, where she has contributed significantly to innovation
in the printing ink industry.
During the early stages of her career as a Senior Scientist, she conducted research
for her master thesis focused on the synthesis of high-coverage particles as
alternatives to titanium dioxide (TiO₂), specifically tailored for flexographic ink
applications.
Currently, in her role as Group Lead, she specializes in energy-curable inks, leading
projects that explore advanced curing technologies. In parallel, she is pursuing
doctoral studies, investigating the influence of physical properties of corona-treated
PET substrates and electron-beam curable offset inks on adhesion performance and
lamination bond strength.
Her work bridges fundamental material science with industrial application, contributing
to the development of sustainable and high-performance printing solutions.
15:30
Farewell Coffee, Exhibitions
16:00
End of Conference