POTEM is located at the same campus as Petrol Ofisi’s Lubricants Production Facility in Derince, Kocaeli. As soon as we entered the campus, we were directed to the conference room and informed about occupational health and safety before our visit. Petrol Ofisi, which applies a very sensitive procedure in this regard, provided us with necessary equipment such as helmets, glasses, shoes, and vests to ensure the safety of our visit, as they do for all their guests.
We were welcomed at POTEM by Petrol Ofisi Lubricants Director Sezgin Gürsu and POTEM experts. All of the team is young and vibrant with the majority being women. We have seen that the facility places importance on qualified young and female employment. We have encountered Turkish technicians who perform the installation and maintenance of the devices, and we can see that support is provided for the development of local technology companies in this field.
POTEM provides internship opportunities and trains new graduates in theoretical and practical aspects to help them become fully equipped engineers in the industry. In addition, it serves as an academy by providing trainings to customers, sales teams and distributors in the industry. Collaborating with universities for scientific research and many innovative projects, POTEM produces high-quality information, which is turned into articles and presentations and shared with the industry in international symposiums and peer-reviewed journals.
Petrol Ofisi Lubricants Director Sezgin Gürsu: We Invest in People
We started our conversation with Petrol Ofisi Lubricants Director Sezgin Gürsu.
Gürsu, who is one of the industry’s opinion leaders, knows each of the POTEM experts by name. Gürsu, who is knowledgeable about the technical specifications of the devices and machinery in the facility, spoke highly of the projects being carried out and the work of his team members.
Sezgin Gürsu underlined that POTEM is one of the most comprehensive laboratories in its field in Türkiye and neighboring regions. Since its establishment, the investments in technology and human resources have raised both the capacity and know-how of the facility to an almost unattainable level. Gürsu expressed the working philosophy of POTEM as follows:
“Lubricant business is a human effort. At POTEM, we make it a principle to invest in people first by adopting this philosophy. As a team, we bring our dreams to life in this technology center. We choose scientists who can dream, wonder and have the perseverance to realize their dreams as our companions, and we provide them with a free working environment where they can realize their dreams and imagine even more. Within this direction, we are expanding our team day by day with our increasing number of projects and capacity.”
Sezgin Gürsu also shared the aims of POTEM: “At POTEM, our main goal is to become one of the leading technology centers that shape the industry on the international level and to have a stronger presence in both the market and academic field. We want to influence the dynamics of the sector internationally with the new technologies we will develop. With the work carried out here, as Petrol Ofisi Lubricants we aim to contribute even more to the development and progress of Türkiye.”
The Most Comprehensive Accreditation
Petrol Ofisi Technology and Technical Services Manager Murat Bayram emphasized the accreditation power of the facility: “POTEM is a technology center that holds the first and most comprehensive TS EN ISO IEC 17025 accreditation in the industry. In addition to this accreditation, as part of the Integrated Management System and Sustainability efforts applied by all stakeholders of the Petrol Ofisi Group, it continues to work and provide services in compliance with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 10002, ISO 27001 standards.”
Murat Bayram shared the following information about the activities and services provided at POTEM, stating that they apply 144 different testing methods and work as a technology base: “Thanks to its long-standing expertise, existing accreditation capacity, and expert team, POTEM provides R&D, quality control, analysis, and technical consultancy services to many domestic and foreign companies, including top global players. Besides, POTEM is a technology center with national and international publications, articles, and patent initiatives in its field. Our facility has become increasingly recognized both nationally and internationally thanks to its innovative and academic studies carried out in recent years. Only in 2022, we have published 6 articles and presented them at reputable national and international institutions in the field. One of these studies was introduced to the audience at the NANOTR-16 congress organized in collaboration with METU and Hacettepe University. Another one was presented at the ELGI 2022 Hamburg Congress and published in EUROGREASE Magazine’s issue 2022-3.”
Extensive Equipment Range, Hundreds of Test Methods
POTEM Laboratory Manager Sevda Şahan shared the following information about the technical capacity and competence of the facility: “POTEM has approximately 250 testing equipment in various fields such as lubricants, engine coolants, greases, AUS32, water and fuel derivatives. In addition, 262 national, international, and in-house (i.e. developed and validated using its own know-how) testing methods can be applied in these fields.”
Sevda Şahan also provided details about POTEM’s current projects and ongoing work on the agenda: “Thanks to its experienced and qualified research team, POTEM has been an active technology center in the past year, participating in various national and international consortiums, congresses, and symposiums organized by universities and institutions, where it has made international publications and presentations, national papers and presentations, along with patent applications. One of our ongoing projects is to officially register our proven technology center as an ‘R&D Center’ to further demonstrate our expertise and knowledge.
We have a number of ongoing projects at present, including nationally supported R&D projects, as well as numerous self-funded projects in collaboration with universities. Reducing our carbon footprint by investing more in technology for a sustainable environment, increasing the number of products that reduce carbon emissions, diversifying the products we have developed for emerging electric and hybrid motor vehicle technologies, and bringing our new research in this field to market are among our top priorities on the agenda.”
Continuous Innovation at POTEM: Adaptech Technology
Under the Petrol Ofisi brand, the leader in the Turkish market of lubricants and chemicals, POTEM continues to provide the most accurate solutions for end users’ changing needs and expectations, improve the performance of existing products, and develop new technologies. The recently introduced Adaptech technology is also one of these innovative projects.
POTEM Laboratory Manager Sevda Şahan stated the following about Adaptech: “The innovation behind Adaptech technology is the engine oil’s ability to adapt to any climate and environmental condition. Adaptech technology takes its name from the word ‘adaptation’ as it is inspired by the movements of proactive oil molecules that can adapt 100% to the surrounding conditions. Maxima motor oils with Adaptech technology provide full protection by adapting to any condition thanks to the proactive molecules that become active according to the need.”
Meaningful Certificate to Petrol Ofisi: Equal Women at Work
With the equality of rights and opportunities it offers to its employees Petrol Ofisi Group, which was entitled to receive the Equality for Woman at Work Certificate after the independent audit covering the headquarters, regional offices, lubricant plant, fuel and LPG terminals, also contributes to women’s employment at POTEM.
After the independent audit conducted with the cooperation of the Sustainability Academy and the British inspection company Intertek, it was confirmed that Petrol Ofisi offers women equal rights and opportunities in business life. Petrol Ofisi became the first company to receive the Equality for Woman at Work Certificate in the fuel and lubricants industry, with its sensitive approach carried out at every stage of the employee lifecycle, from competency-based equal pay policy to physical experience design. The traces of the egalitarian approach applied throughout Petrol Ofisi can also be seen in POTEM’s staff profile. Many women managers and experts work at POTEM, Türkiye’s technology base.
