An old box recently surfaced from our archive: yellowed cardboard, simple print, the typography of its era — and the word BALÇIK on it. Inside, a 220 V / 450 W iron heating element, probably from the 1970s. What stopped us were two words: TÜRK MALI — Made in Turkey.
Today that is a statement of origin. In the 1970s, printing those two words on a product was an industrial story in itself. Capital was scarce; machinery, raw materials, spare parts and technical know-how were hard to reach. Being an industrialist meant answering scarcity with production capability.
Inside the box sits a tiny part most people never see — yet it is the heart of countless appliances that cook and heat. Perhaps industry is the same for a country: rarely in the shop window, but present in every trained person, every piece of accumulated engineering and every product shipped abroad.
Since 1959 the machines, technologies, standards and markets have changed, and so have we. We are here today not only because we are a long-established company, but because we have been able to change since 1959. This small half-century-old box reminds us not only where we come from, but why we always have to move forward.
Originally shared on LinkedIn.