Having achieved many breakthroughs, made a variety of innovations, and won many awards in the past four years after its privatization, Bursagaz has achieved yet another impressive success by winning the EFQM Excellence Award.

Bursagaz which was formed as a state-owned company and later joined the Çalik Group following its privatization continued to grow with synergy provided by EWE, one of the leading multi-distribution companies in Europe and created an exemplary success story by achieving many breakthroughs, made a variety of innovations, and won many awards in the past four years.

After the company was presented with Excellence Award for 2008 by EFQM, Bursagaz's success story was outlined in a news recent conference.

Bursagaz General Manager Hasan Erbil Doyuran said that acting like a big family and making excellence its business philosophy was behind the secret behind Bursagaz's achievements following its privatization in 2004.

Noting that they were proud and thrilled to win the EFQM Excellence Award, Doyuran went on to say that Bursagaz also won the Quality Award for Bursa in 2006, pointing out that the award had not been presented to any company in the preceding eight years.

A record increase in customer satisfaction

“Our main objective was to join the league of leading gas distribution companies in the world," said Doyuran, emphasizing that showed their difference by achieving breakthroughs and creating social benefits in their all operations without compromising on quality.

Reminding that the company distributes natural gas in Bursa, the fourth largest city with a population over two million and one of the industrial centers in Turkey, Doyuran added that Bursagaz is the third largest company in Turkey in its sector. He underscored that they were serving a region with a potential to consume four billion cubic meters of natural gas

Pointing out that they increased customer satisfaction from 54 percent in 2003 to 86 percent in 2007 as a result of services they had offered to their customers, Doyuran went on to say that they increased Social Benefit General Satisfaction level which stood at 57 percent in 2004 to 86 percent in 2008 thanks to social responsibility projects they carried out.

Four years full of records

Doyuran pointed out that Bursagaz had broken many records in the past four years, adding that they increased natural gas utilization rate from 35 percent to 95% following investments made by the company.

Doyuran went on to say:"Bursagaz had 288,521 subscribers when we took over the company on April 19, 2004. We raised this number to 641,303 as a result of our endeavors in the past four years. In other words, the number of subscribers we registered during that period was almost equal to the number of subscribers registered before Bursagaz's acquisition. The length of polyethylene pipelines went up from 1,094,078 meters to 2,915,000 meters, the length of polyethylene service pipeline was up from 392,000 meters to 1,167,650 meters, and the length of steel pipeline increased from 129,288 meters to 308,280 meters. We raised our subscription penetration rate from 41.22 percent to 91.61 and gas user penetration rate from 37.86 to 70.17 percent."

Bursagaz: a center of breakthroughs and innovations

Noting that Bursagaz leads the natural gas distribution sector as a result of its breakthroughs and innovations, Doyuran stressed that Bursagaz was the first company to use e-signature in the private sector in Turkey. He reminded that ZetaCad project which it enables installation companies to obtain an approval through the Internetwas first used by Bursagaz.

Doyuran said that other systems which they introduced to Turkey included Sign a Contract at Your Home which permits prospective consumers to use natural gas after signing a subscription agreement at their homes, Industry Line targeting industrial subscribers, 360 Degrees Perfection System comprising the company's human resources policy, and Natural Gas Internal Installation Assistance 7/24 used for the repair of breakdowns in natural gas installations at homes at any time of the day in addition to online insurance offered for installation conversion projects.

Underlining that Bursagaz was also the first company to form a partnership with a foreign company in the natural gas distribution sector in Turkey, Doyuran said:"EWE, a German energy company which entered the Turkish market by acquiring 80% of Bursagaz, transfers its experience in the field of energy distribution to Bursa."

Bursagaz Excellence Model

"We have achieved both financial and operational goals thanks to the involvement of all our stakeholders. We maximized our customer satisfaction by spearheading many innovations in our industry with outstanding performance. Forming a team with our motivated and committed employees, we focused on right targets - our strategic operations. We devised plans and performed reviews systematically while comparing ourselves with the best in order to excel. We have endeavored and will continue to endeavor to offer best services to our customers and Bursa citizens by taking advantage of our synergy created by our employees and stakeholders during our journey which we started in order to join the league of leading companies in the world."

He thanked the Bursagaz family

Emphasizing in his news conference that Bursagaz employees were the real owner of EFQM Excellence Award because of their exemplary success story, Doyuran concluded by saying:

“All members of the Bursagaz family worked day and night in the past four years. The members of our families who met us with a smiling face when we returned home late at night was our biggest asset and supporters. They, therefore, share this award with us. We are thankful to our stakeholders who are members of the great Bursagaz family. They guided and supported us. We achieved very impressive results beyond our expectations and we tried to be a company which would be a source of pride for Bursa."