A Friday Morning at Our Hendek Factory — Production Flow Across 5,000 m²
Published:
Publisher: Alkur Kapı Sistemleri A.Ş.
Friday morning, 07:30. The first shift begins at our 5,000 m² factory in Hendek/Sakarya Organised Industrial Zone. Our production planning officer picks up the weekly order list; today 9 doors will be dispatched: 3 NORMTOR industrial sectional, 2 ALKUR HPVC high-speed roll, 4 garage series.
This piece is meant to convey the ordinary things that happen in the factory in a day. Something our customers often wonder: “What happens when our order leaves the factory?“
07:45 — The panel line warms up
When our facility opened in 2009, on 29 October, there were four production lines; today there are five parallel lines:
- Sectional door panel production — 40 mm sandwich, 40 kg/m³ PU filling
- HPVC door production — 900 g/m² PVC fabric, high-speed roll and folding
- NORMPANEL panel line — industrial + finger-safe series
- NORMDOCK dock leveler + shelter production — hydraulic, 6/9 tons
- r-tec electronic board and motor assembly — G24, R2, FU, I-380, GIGA Sedo
The panel line is warming up; the first panel is not pressed before the hot-dip galvanising + polyester coating reaches process temperatures. The line operator has been doing this job for 25 years; he notices thermal gradient differences by visual familiarity.
08:30 — Order check
The production planning officer looks at 3 documents for each order:
- Confirmed dimension verification form from the customer
- Internal technical drawing — track type, motor, accessories
- Dispatch plan — date, location, installation team
One of the NORMTOR industrial orders is 6,500 × 4,200 mm — high-lift track, FU inverter control. For this type of door separating a cold storage from an internal corridor, the cold side + hygiene requirement means the panel detail is controlled more strictly than standard.
09:15 — Surface quality control
The line manager performs a three-stage check on each panel:
- Surface check — paint thickness (with micrometre), stains and scratches
- Mechanical check — corner sealing, panel fold angle
- Dimensional check — die tolerances within ±2 mm
Last month a RAL colour mismatch was caught in a batch; two panels came out flawed, the line was stopped, the paint supplier was contacted within the day, and production was redone. We notified the customer of a two-day delay. These happen, even if rarely; what matters is catching them before dispatch.
This entire process is documented under the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System. When the annual TÜV NORD surveillance audit takes place, this record system is reviewed.
10:00 — Fabric calibration on the HPVC side
The HPVC line works with different dynamics. Two high-speed roll doors are produced today; one for a spare-parts warehouse, the other for a distribution-centre type internal passage application.
The fabric — 900 g/m² panama-weave PVC — is unrolled. The line operator carries out the fabric tension calibration; without this, the door swings during installation and the force balance between the motor and the fabric is disrupted. Calibration is not a manual check; it is performed with an instrument and the value is recorded.
After the Ø 140 mm aluminium drum is mounted onto the fabric, the door moves to stock. The product will set off tomorrow morning for a dealer order.
11:00 — The r-tec electronics side
At the other end of the facility, a quieter area: r-tec electronic board and motor assembly is being done. The number of people on this line is small but the attention level is high. Each board is tested separately; the G24 universal control board can be tested with 5 different motor types.
The control boards produced today will be packaged tomorrow for a dealer order — they will go to dealers’ installation teams as spare parts.
12:15 — Pre-dispatch final check
Before the lunch break, the doors prepared in the morning are subjected to a final pre-dispatch check:
- Mechanical function — manual open-close, track movement
- Motor compatibility — correct voltage/board match for the field connection
- Packaging — pallet, foam, protective film
- Label — barcode, customer code, waybill number
- Documentation — TÜV NORD / EN 13241-1 / Domestic Product / EAC files (where required)
If a single item is faulty the door is not dispatched; it is remade. Holding firm at this point prevents the issue that would otherwise appear in the field.
13:30 — A shipment is on its way
The truck arrives, the pallet is loaded. The driver signs the waybill, the dispatch officer opens the tracking code on the system. The customer will receive the door by 09:00 tomorrow morning.
One advantage of the facility being in Hendek: overnight delivery to Istanbul and surrounding cities is possible. For Ankara, Izmir and more distant cities, it can extend up to two days.
Evening — shift change
At 17:00 the shift changes; raw data records of the panels produced during the day are created. Tomorrow morning the production planning officer starts with these records. The same rhythm every day.
For our customers who would like to see our Hendek facility up close, we run a factory visit programme year-round. You can request an appointment via our contact form.
