Providing value for its region and Turkish economy with its Çanakkale Factory and port, Akçansa focuses on creating positive impacts for all of its stakeholders with innovative, environment-oriented and social projects it has realised.

Differentiating itself in its sector as the solution partner of Türkiye’s mega projects, Akçansa continues to work for a sustainable future with an understanding that embraces innovation and places digital transformation and innovation at the centre of its activities. In the rotary furnaces and mills at the company’s Çanakkale plant, cement is produced autonomously with operations supported by artificial intelligence and fuzzy logic algorithms, independent of human beings through sensor data. By help of the mentioned Expert System project, improvements in product quality, 3 percent capacity increase, 1,2 percent reduction in variable expenses, and 1,1 percent decrease in electricity consumption have been achieved in the first stage. Akçansa’s investments and activities in this field have been expanded to include 3 factories.

The first company to publish a sustainability report in its sector and explaining its sustainability journey to 2030 with the principle “Working responsibly for the future”, Akçansa maintains its investments and work in this direction. Commissioning its alternative fuel feeding system project at its Çanakkale Factory and the cyclone modification project in the 1st line and reducing its heat and electrical energy expenses by improving its furnace process, the company spent approximately 15 kcal/kg clinker less heat with its furnace and 1 kwh/ton clinker less electrical energy subsequent to the investment. Additionally increasing the ratio of alternative fuel, which was 7 percent in the 1st furnace of its Çanakkale Factory, to 21 percent, the company reduced its 28.100 ton/year CO₂ emission and continues to maintain its environment-friendly activities.

Akçansa has got targets in the social dimension both for its employees and the society, of which it is a part, in the journey to the future that it maintains with the slogan Plus Life. In this direction, the first leg of the ‘My Neighbourhood’ project, which entered its 6th year this year, was completed in Çanakkale in cooperation with TOÇEV (Tüvana Foundation for the Education of Children Willing to Read) and Çanakkale Provincial Directorate of National Education. Between 23 May – 6 June, 1000 students aged 6-14 in primary and secondary schools in Ezine were trained on ‘Waste and Recycling’ and ‘Peer Bullying Based on Gender Inequality’. The goal is to reach 15 thousand children in 4 provinces.

Türkiye’s leading construction materials company Akçansa, in partnership with Sabancı and HeidelbergCement, creates value for the Turkish economy and society with its cement plants in Çanakkale, Büyükçekmece and Samsun Ladik, its Ambarlı and Çanakkale ports, Aliağa, Ambarlı, Marmara Ereğlisi and Yalova terminals, and nearly 30 Ready-Mixed Concrete Plants.

The technology of the future is already in Akçansa

Having realised the ‘Expert System’ application, Akçansa produces cement in the rotary furnaces and mills at the company’s Çanakkale plant, autonomously with operations supported by artificial intelligence and fuzzy logic algorithms, independent of human beings through sensor data. By help of the mentioned system, improvements in product quality, 3 percent capacity increase, 1,2 percent reduction in variable expenses, and 1,1 percent decrease in electricity consumption have been achieved in the first stage. The Expert System project achieved success in the ‘Most Value Creating Company’ and ‘Most Value Creating Project’ categories at the SabancıDx DnA Awards, where Group companies participated.

In its sustainability journey to 2030, the company aims to increase the number of facilities operating with autonomous production, increase remote operability through infrastructure improvements, optimise energy costs through transformations in the production process, and continue its industrial support for digital twin academic studies conducted in cooperation with Sabancı University.

It is moving forward to the future with innovative and environmentally friendly products

1803 Concrete, specially developed by Akçansa, which is also the ready-mixed concrete supplier of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, and used in this mega project, which is the longest medium-span suspension bridge in the world, makes a significant contribution to the national economy by not requiring maintenance for at least 100 years. The concrete produced with 1803 cement was used in the caisson foundation parts of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge piers in the sea and in the approach viaducts. Akçansa also instantly monitored with its Smart Beton product the concrete strength during the construction phase through smart sensors inserted into the concrete. The company had previously developed the ‘100+ Concrete’ product for the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge under the Betonsa brand.

The company’s environmentally friendly products include DUOCEM, which provides 10 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than Portland cement thanks to its mineral additive content of up to 20 percent, and SOLIDCEM, which contains 21-35 percent mineral additives. The ASTM Type I/II 52.5 cement product, which the company has been exporting abroad from Çanakkale port for many years, also stands out.

Akçansa has also been maintaining its investment in fly ash stocking and feeding system that will reduce the usage rate of clinker in the production of cement. This investment allows the fly ash found in the region to be used in cement production, and thus not only the fly ash to be used instead of clinker reduces the total cement CO2 emission value but also the fly ash, a waste product, is recycled.

Significant works for a sustainable future

As one of the 65 companies included in the BIST Sustainability Index, which includes the shares of companies with high corporate sustainability performance as of April 2022, Akçansa assumes responsibility for minimising the effects of climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The company joined the Climate Target Acceleration Programme led by the UN Global Compact in order to move faster towards its emission targets and strengthen its climate strategy. Akçansa aims to strengthen the roadmap even more with the opportunity of working on good practices with companies from different countries included in the programme that will last 6 months.

The company, which also takes a sensitive approach to the issue of Gender Equality, carries out activities within the scope of the ‘Target Gender Equality Programme’ of the UN Global Compact, in which it participated in the 2021-2022 period.

The goal of being a “good neighbour” with projects centring on people

Akçansa considers the needs of each social segment with its activities centring on people in all regions in which it is active and the understanding of ‘being a good neighbour’ and develops projects with the purpose of improving the quality of life and contributing to creating a safer and well-off world.

In the sixth year of My Neighbourhood, a social responsibility project prepared for children to gain awareness on different educational topics, 1000 students aged 6-14 in primary and secondary schools in Ezine were trained on ‘Waste and Recycling’ and ‘Peer Bullying Based on Gender Inequality’ between 23 May – 6 June. Within the scope of the project, which aims to increase the consciousness of children of their communication with themselves and their environment and of their friendship relations, it is aimed to reach 15 thousand students through trainings to be held in Çanakkale, Istanbul, Samsun and Izmir.

Bringing projects to create value in all regions in which it is active in line with the 2030 Sustainability Targets, the company has started the project ‘My Profession, Your Choice’ it realised with the vision of ‘being a good neighbour’. Within the scope of the project, Akçansa engineers came together with Samsun Ladik Akpınar Science High School students and shared their career choices and experiences in business life with students preparing for university.

Akçansa Büyükçekmece Plant, which celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, is moving towards the future with all its stakeholders through innovative projects, including the My Neighbourhood project, and Neighbour Council meetings.

Akçansa 2030 Sustainability Targets 6 Focus Areas

“Achieving Excellence in Occupational Health and Safety”, “Reducing Our Environmental Footprint”, “Innovation and Digitalization”, “Circular Economy”, “Being A Good Neighbor”, “People, Harmony and Transparency”

• Achieving excellence in Occupational Health and SafetyZero Accidents
  • Reducing our environmental footprint
    • Reduction of CO2 emissions,
    • Improving environmental performance
    • Increasing the use of renewable energy
  • Continuing our work in Innovation and Digitalization with an increasing momentum,
    • Reducing the use of clinker in cement and concrete
    • Increasing the number of facilities operating with autonomous production,
    • Optimizing energy costs with innovative digital transformation applications in the production process
  • Further enabling the circular economy,
    • Targeting 35 percent for alternative fuel use
    • Targeting 15 percent in the use of alternative raw materials
  • Being a good neighbour,
    • Corporate Social Responsibility
    • Volunteering Activities
    • Implementation of social impact analyses
  • Continuing to focus on human orientation, compliance and transparency issues with sensitivity
    • Unique working culture
    • Ethics trainings
    • Supporting women’s employment
    • Targeting 30 percent in white collar and 40 percent in backup occupancy rate is women
    • Spreading sustainability throughout the entire value chain

For detailed information

Akçansa Corporate Communications
Anıl Erbayrak / anil.erbayrak@akcansa.com.tr / 0553 317 46 06