Melih Şahiner becomes Ekici Peynir factory director, how do producers pick ops leaders?
Melih Şahiner has started as Factory Director at Turkish cheese maker Ekici Peynir, where he coordinates production, R&D and quality, maintenance, occupational health and safety, planning and warehouse management (Perakende.org, 30 September 2026). A food engineering graduate of METU, Şahiner has 22 years of experience in food production and operations. His most recent role was Factory Director of two dairy plants at Lactalis Groupe.
What this means for you: a dairy producer is handing day-to-day factory management to a professional who knows the product range, automation and food safety together. For mid-sized cheese and yoghurt producers in Türkiye in autumn 2026, the real question follows: when should you hire an operations leader, and which experience should you look for?
What is Melih Şahiner responsible for at Ekici Peynir?
As Factory Director, Şahiner coordinates the units that run from production to the warehouse. According to the news, operational efficiency, food safety, automation and investment projects are also part of the job. The headline speaks of “all operational processes”, so it is safer to read the scope through the title and the units actually listed.
What do Melih Şahiner’s 22, 17 and 11 years of experience show?
The three numbers describe three separate layers and should not be mixed up. According to the news, Şahiner has 22 years in food production and operations, 17 years in milk and dairy products and 11 years in factory management. This structure, narrowing from general to specific, also gives you three hiring questions: sector, product range and management responsibility.
Which experience should a food producer look for in a factory director?
Look at three criteria: line experience in the same product range, a track record of running automation projects and hands-on use of a food safety system. In trade terms, the candidate should give concrete examples on OEE, waste rate and the HACCP plan. Diplomas and company names make the first cut; the real choice shows in the cases the candidate describes.
An owner standing at the line slows growth at some point
Let’s say, in a representative scene, a small dairy owner in the Aegean meets the milk delivery himself each morning, calls customers at noon and talks through breakdowns with the maintenance technician in the evening. The product is good and demand is rising, but every decision waits on his phone. Then one morning he misses a supply meeting with a supermarket chain. That is the turning point: time to hand the factory to someone who knows the work.
Who does Ekici Peynir’s factory director appointment affect, and how?
The direct effect is on Ekici Peynir’s production teams, as the listed units now report to one coordinating desk. The indirect effect reaches mid-sized milk processors. Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) data reported by Ekonomi Gazetesi show cow’s milk cheese output at 71,644 tonnes in June 2026, up 8.5% year on year. Growing output puts experienced factory managers in the spotlight.
What does an operations leader change on a dairy producer’s digital side?
An operations leader turns production data into something sales and marketing can use. Stock information flows to marketplace listings, quality certificates to the website and capacity information to a corporate buyer’s supplier form. Until the factory is in order, promises made in the digital shop window hang in the air.
What should a food producer do this week about hiring an operations leader like Ekici Peynir’s?
This week, list the daily decisions you make yourself. Next to each, answer one question: could someone else make this call? If half the list can be handed over, your need for an operations leader is already clear.
Quick Summary
- Melih Şahiner has started as Factory Director at Ekici Peynir (Perakende.org, 30 September 2026).
- Şahiner has 22 years in food production, 17 in dairy and 11 in factory management (Perakende.org).
- His remit covers production, R&D and quality, maintenance, health and safety, planning and warehouse coordination.
- Ekici’s capacity figures are not used because they could not be confirmed from a company source.
- When choosing an operations leader, look for product range, automation and food safety experience together.
Short Glossary
- Factory director
- Factory director is the title used for the manager who runs production, quality, maintenance and planning at a plant from one desk.
- Robotic palletising
- Robotic palletising is the automation method used to have robots stack packed products onto pallets.
- Whey
- Whey is the name used for the liquid left after the curd is separated in cheese making, which can be dried into powder and reused.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
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Sources: Perakende.org, 30 September 2026 · Yeni Birlik, 2 October 2026 · Ekonomi Gazetesi, TÜİK dairy data · Ekici Peynir corporate website
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
A factory director decides which line runs when, how long maintenance can stop production and how to settle the tug of war between quality and planning. The role also shapes, indirectly, whether the sales team can keep its promises. Put simply, whether the product reaches the shelf on time and tasting the same is settled at this desk.
No announcement of the appointment could be found on Ekici Peynir’s corporate website. Yeni Birlik, a Turkish newspaper, reports that the company produces in Antalya and gives capacity figures. Those figures could not be confirmed from a company source, so we do not use them here. The news also contains no quote from anyone.
According to Perakende.org, Şahiner has experience with milk, cheese, UHT, yoghurt, ayran (a salted yoghurt drink), milk powder and whey powder. The list spans technologies from liquid milk lines to drying plants. For a cheese maker, knowing how to make use of whey, the by-product of cheese, carries extra weight.
Şahiner’s career includes Ülker Çikolata ve Bisküvi, Ülker Akgıda, Ak Gıda, Eti Gıda and Dardanel Önentaş. The news says that at Lactalis he led capacity increases, line automation, robotic palletising and a whey powder plant project. The names of the two plants he ran and the project dates are not in the news.
For the same dairy owner, the first expectation is order, not miracles. A written shift plan, maintenance done before breakdowns and quality records kept in one place are the changes you see in the first months. The owner wins back time for sales and customers from that order.
Not always. A manager from a large group may be used to a ready maintenance team and a budget. In the interview, ask the candidate to describe a project run on limited resources.
Because automation and investment projects appear in the remit, suppliers of line automation, palletising and drying technology watch appointments like this closely. Ekici’s concrete investment plan, though, is not in the news. Supermarket chains benefit from steady supply and consistent quality.
Small and mid-sized family-run milk processors may struggle to find an experienced factory manager. A business that cannot compete on salary can stand out by writing a clear job description and a clear scope of authority.
Farmers who supply raw milk and businesses that buy by-products such as whey feel it indirectly. Operational decisions can change milk intake hours, quality requirements and by-product flows. We look at the risk side separately in our piece on Howden Türkiye’s risk advisory appointment.
When a delivery time is entered wrongly on a marketplace or B2B portal, the product gets punished in reviews. A setup where planning and the e-commerce team look at the same stock data helps keep cancellations and returns down. When the shelf is empty the customer walks out the door, and the same thing happens on screen.
Yes. A corporate buyer looking for a supplier will want to find certificates, product range and a contact person on the website. When information updated at the factory reaches the site the same week, it supports both search visibility and trust.
As in the Ekici example, count the areas of responsibility one by one: production, R&D and quality, maintenance, health and safety, planning, warehouse. Write down plainly where you give decision rights. A director with unclear authority waits in the owner’s shadow.
Talk with the candidate about how production, stock and quality data will reach the website and sales channels. We build this flow with businesses as part of our digital consulting work. We explain when environmental and quality certificates become necessary in our ISO 14001 piece.
TÜİK data reported by Ekonomi Gazetesi put yoghurt output at 722,928 tonnes in January to June 2026, up 9.4% year on year. Tie the data for your own product range to a monthly calendar. Our retail page, where we interpret the Turkish retail agenda for you, can go on that calendar too. Thinking today about who gets the keys to your factory saves tomorrow’s missed meeting.
Size alone does not decide it. If most of the owner’s daily decisions could be handed over, an operations leader is worth considering, whatever the title.
The start date is not in the news. The appointment was published on Perakende.org on 30 September 2026.
The news contains no such information. Investment projects and automation appear in the job description only as general terms.