From a workbench to the world.
An apprenticeship that began in Karaköy in 1941, a 30-square-metre shop in Ayvansaray in 1958, and Turkey's first flexographic printing machine. The story of a craft carried on for three generations.
Apprenticeship
Mehmet Bilgili was born in 1928 in the village of Kemerli in Sürmene, one of the four children of Hasan and Esma Bilgili.
After primary school he came to Istanbul in 1941 to find work. He became an apprentice in a workshop at the Perşembe Pazarı in Karaköy that made ship propellers, shafts and water pumps. He worked for ten years in this workshop, where his master was very fond of him, and became a skilled craftsman.
In 1951 the Taş Kızak Shipyard announced that it would recruit staff by examination. He did not want to leave his master, but his father insisted. He came first in the exam and worked at the shipyard as a master craftsman making ship propellers, shafts and rudders.
“Get yourself a job with the state, and you'll never end up flat on your back.”
Hasan Bilgili, to his son
Ayvansaray, 30 square metres
While working at the shipyard, he set his mind on opening his own workshop. His father was against it. The neighbourhood grocer stepped in:
“Your son is a good, hard-working craftsman. Give him a helping hand.”
His father was persuaded and bought his son a lathe. In 1958 Mehmet Bilgili and his cousin Refik Bilgili hung the "Bilgili Makina" sign on a 30-square-metre shop they rented in Ayvansaray. They made ship propellers and shafts, carrying their products to Karaköy sometimes by horse cart, sometimes on their backs.
Then came the maintenance and repair of Türk Petrol's compressors, followed by the manufacture of compressors and pressure washers, and parts production for the MAN factory. The shop was no longer big enough; the 150-square-metre shop next door was rented too, and the workforce grew to fifteen.
A neighbour in Balat
In 1970 the company moved to a two-storey, 350-square-metre shop in Balat and bought new machine tools from Poland. The next-door neighbour was Güvenal Plastik, one of Turkey's few plastics manufacturers at the time.
Its owner, Selim Bey, had commissioned a craftsman to build a machine for printing on bags. The craftsman left the country before finishing it, and the machine was left half-built. Selim Bey knocked on the door.
“Can you finish this machine?”
I can.
The machine was soon finished and delivered in 1974. The first bag printing machine was well received, and new orders followed. Bilgili Makina has been building printing machines ever since.
Second generation, first export
His son Yaşar Bilgili joined the company in 1973, and Hasan Fehmi Bilgili, who graduated top of his class from the Maçka School of Arts and Crafts, in 1980. In 1981 Refik Bilgili left to continue the compressor business; Mehmet Bilgili and his sons turned to printing machines. In 1984 the company was handed over to the two brothers.
“If you are going to make mistakes, let me see them while I'm still alive.”
Mehmet Bilgili, 1984
In the second half of the 1980s the company made a major leap forward. The first export went to Saudi Arabia in 1987, followed by Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. International trade fairs made the brand known.
Under one roof
While the Ayvansaray workshop kept running, a second 300-square-metre workshop was rented at İMES. The large machine tools moved there; Yaşar Bilgili ran the manufacture of large parts while Hasan Fehmi Bilgili assembled the parts in Ayvansaray and carried on building machines.
In 1990 a workshop was opened in Bayrampaşa for buying, selling and overhauling second-hand machines. In 1992 the workshops were merged and a new factory was set up at the Tormak Industrial Estate.
Third generation
The third generation took over in the 2010s. Yaşar Bilgili's son Mehmet Bilgili, after graduating from the Department of International Relations at Kültür University, took an active role in the company in 2016.
That same year our founder Mehmet Bilgili passed away. Until 2013 he was in the workshop every day from seven in the morning to eight in the evening. Many who joined as apprentices in his time still work here today as master craftsmen.
“Even when he lost money, he never lost his reputation. Even the first machines he built are still running like clockwork today.”
Yaşar Bilgili
Today
Bilgili Makina designs and builds flexographic printing machines for OPP, CPP, BOPP, LDPE, PP, kraft and sulphite at its facility in İkitelli, Istanbul, and ships them all over the world.
See the machines
The information and quotations on this page are compiled from the Bilgili Makina chapter of Makine Hikâyeleri (Machine Stories), Book 5 (Moment Yayınları). You can download the original pages of the book as a PDF.
If you would like to print the next page of the story together, write to info@bilgilimakina.com.tr or fill in the quote form.
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