In a news article published on November 1, 2011, Malkan Machinery announced two celebrations together: the company's 40th year and the 100,000th machine it had produced. The hundred-thousandth product was a pneumatic, fully automatic PLC-controlled ironing press.

Described as a jacket sleeve shaping ironing press, the PLC-controlled ironing press was delivered on October 20, 2011 to Velko Tekstil, a suit manufacturer in Bayrampasa, Istanbul. The delivery took place with a ceremony and a plaque presentation.

Then, on October 23, 2011, a helicopter tour over Istanbul was held with Veli Eyrik, founding partner of Velko Tekstil. This article retells the story of that day and examines the PLC-controlled ironing press technology that made the 100,000th machine possible, in its technical aspects.

A Journey That Began with One Apprentice

Mustafa Alkan, one of the pioneering figures of Türkiye's textile and garment machinery industry, set out on this road in 1971, alone and with only one apprentice. By 2011, the journey had reached its fortieth year.

Having carried the effort, name and quality approach of Malkan Machinery since 1971, Alkan became the figure who steered the company's growth.

Founded in 1971, Malkan Machinery is Türkiye's first domestic manufacturer of industrial ironing machines. The first industrial iron produced in Türkiye, displayed today at the Rahmi Koc Museum, bears witness to the starting point of domestic ironing technology.

The distance between this first product, made entirely with domestic means, and the 100,000th machine sums up the transformation that industry went through in forty years. The line that runs from an industrial iron to a programmable controlled press also shows how domestic machine production matured.

The news noted that only a small share of businesses around the world manage to complete 40 years. In that respect, the fortieth anniversary was already a meaningful threshold for Malkan Machinery. The production of the 100,000th machine in the same year added a very meaningful coincidence to this threshold.

The 100,000th Machine in the 40th Year

Producing 100,000 machines is a hard threshold for an industrial manufacturer to reach. The news stated that this threshold was reached through a structure based on equity capital and steady growth. The company was moving forward with the goal of becoming a world brand, led by Mustafa Alkan, its General Manager at the time.

This number referred to the total of machines produced over forty years in different product groups and delivered to garment and laundry businesses. Each became part of daily work on a production line, in an ironing department or in a laundry.

A hundred thousand machines were also a measure of the labor that hundreds of thousands of operators touched every day.

Today, Malkan Machinery exports to 95 countries. The 2011 threshold also showed the road that the accumulation built on domestic production was opening toward international markets. Each new machine was a continuation of the same engineering approach that has run since the first industrial iron.

The 100,000th Machine: A Pneumatic, Fully Automatic Jacket Press

It was striking that the hundred-thousandth machine was a special product. Built by drawing on the technology of the day to the fullest, the machine was designed for jacket ironing as a pneumatic, fully automatic PLC-controlled ironing press. The line that began with the industrial iron had thus reached programmable automation.

Jacket ironing is one of the most delicate jobs in garment making. The shoulder, sleeve, collar and front need different bucks, pressure and steam settings; a small error spoils the jacket's stance. So a PLC-controlled ironing press with repeatable results on the final jacket line frees quality from operator fatigue.

The 100,000th machine, a PLC-controlled ironing press, entered Velko Tekstil's final jacket pressing line. The hundred-thousandth machine thus became part of a pressing line restructured with a quality goal. The story of this line is told separately below, in the section on cooperation.

Presses Used in Jacket Ironing

A jacket is not ironed on a single machine. Seam opening and shaping are done at the intermediate pressing stage, while in final pressing the shoulders, sleeves, collar, front and back each take form on separate presses. Each area requires a buck geometry suited to its anatomy.

Sleeve and shoulder presses shape the most conspicuous areas of the jacket, while collar and front presses determine its stance. Bucks are covered with layers of sponge and fabric so that they support the cloth without leaving marks. The condition of the covering directly affects ironing quality and belongs in the maintenance plan.

When these presses are lined up in a line arrangement, the jacket is completed by passing from station to station. Each PLC-controlled ironing press on the line applies the recipe of its own area. At the end of the line, a jacket comes out with every area pressed with the same care.

How form ironing presses were used by jacket and trouser manufacturers in Anatolia in 2014 is described in a separate article.

The PLC-Controlled Ironing Press: Operating Principle

A PLC (programmable logic controller) is an industrial computer that reads signals from inputs and drives outputs according to its program. On a PLC-controlled ironing press, the inputs are start buttons, buck position sensors, pressure switches and temperature sensors. The outputs are steam, vacuum and air valves.

When the operator places the jacket on the buck and starts the cycle, the PLC applies the steps in order. The upper buck closes, steam flows for a set time, vacuum draws moisture and heat from the cloth, and the buck opens. The duration and order of each step are defined in the program.

Thus every jacket is pressed by the PLC-controlled ironing press with the same cycle.

On a manually controlled press, these steps depend on the operator's timing. In a busy shift, times can shorten and steam can be supplied too much or too little. A PLC-controlled ironing press repeats the same program with the same precision for the first and the last jacket.

The Pneumatic System and Utility Requirements

A pneumatic system consists of cylinders and valves that convert compressed air into motion. In a PLC-controlled ironing press, the closing of the upper buck, the pressure applied to the buck and some auxiliary movements are provided by pneumatic cylinders. The PLC decides which cylinder moves and when through valves.

The advantage of pneumatic pressure is that it is adjustable and repeatable. Air set with a pressure regulator applies the same force to the buck in every cycle. When the type of fabric changes, this force can be readjusted.

The healthy operation of the system depends on the quality of compressed air. The air line contains a conditioning unit made up of a filter, a regulator and, if necessary, a lubricator, while a dryer is used on the compressor side to remove moisture.

Damp, dirty air wears out valves, damages cylinder seals and reduces cycle precision.

Alongside pneumatics, steam and vacuum are also basic inputs of the press; a PLC-controlled ironing press works only as well as the utilities that feed it. Steam arriving dry and at sufficient pressure lets the buck heat up quickly and the fabric take shape without getting wet.

The filter and steam trap at the machine inlet keep water and dirt collected in the line from reaching the PLC-controlled ironing press.

Vacuum draws moisture and heat out of the fabric softened by steam and so fixes the form. Vacuum can be provided with individual motors or with a central system serving more than one machine; the choice is made according to line layout and the number of machines.

Leaks in the vacuum line leave the jacket damp and spoil its form.

On the compressed air side, compressor capacity is chosen to cover the simultaneous demand of all pneumatic machines on the line. Line diameter matters as well; a narrow line lets pressure drop and weakens buck pressure when many machines run at once.

When the utilities are installed correctly, every step programmed by the PLC gives the expected result.

Recipe Logic and the Operator Panel

Recipe logic is one of the most important gains for a PLC-controlled ironing press. A recipe is a program made up of steam time, vacuum time, pressing time and pressure values for a specific fabric and model. A jacket in a wool blend and a jacket that is mostly synthetic are ironed with different recipes.

Recipes are stored in the memory of the control system and selected by model. When a model changes, settings are therefore not redone one by one; the right recipe is selected and production quickly resumes. This approach is especially valuable for garment factories that work with short runs and frequent model changes.

Recipe development is done with trial pressings. The fabric's response in terms of shine, marks, shrinkage and residual moisture is examined, and the values that give the best result are recorded. The press applies this record with the same precision in every shift.

The daily use of recipes relies on the operator panel. Communication between a PLC-controlled ironing press and the operator is mostly established through this panel. The operator selects recipes, follows the cycle and sees alerts on the panel; a simple, clear panel shortens training and reduces wrong selections.

The cycle counter and step information shown on the panel also support production tracking. At the end of the shift, the number of cycles can be seen, and if there was an unexpected stop, the step in which it happened is clear. This information is the shared language of maintenance and planning teams.

Authorization levels are another important detail. Letting the operator only select recipes, while only authorized technical staff can change recipe values, keeps approved settings protected. With this arrangement, a PLC-controlled ironing press applies the same approved program in every shift.

Repeatability on the Final Jacket Pressing Line

Final pressing is the jacket's last touch before it goes to the customer. A mistake made at this stage can overshadow all the earlier sewing and intermediate pressing labor. For this reason, consistent quality on the final pressing line matters more than the performance of individual machines.

When the presses that make up the line work on the same logic, jackets get a predictable result as they pass from one station to another. Operator training becomes easier and the number of products returned from quality control falls.

Having a PLC-controlled ironing press at every station means the whole line speaks the same quality language.

Repeatability also contributes to workforce planning. Because cycle times are fixed, the hourly capacity of the line is calculated more accurately. The planning team sees more clearly at which station the bottleneck forms.

The quality control point at the end of the line also benefits from this arrangement. When the inspector sees a defect, they reach the source of the problem quickly because they know which station worked with which recipe.

The correction is applied not to a single product but to the recipe or the buck, and it does not recur.

Consistent quality is also at the center of the quality approach at Malkan Machinery. The Gold Award the company received in 2013 under the TSE Quality Awards is one of the corporate indicators of this approach.

Operator Safety and Control Elements

A closing pressing buck poses a serious crushing risk to the operator's hand. For this reason, the cycle on ironing presses is usually started with a two-hand control; having both of the operator's hands on the buttons keeps the hands outside the buck area.

The emergency stop button is always within reach.

The PLC-controlled ironing press does not start the cycle unless safety conditions are met. If compressed air is insufficient, the buck sensor is not in the right position or the emergency stop is pressed, the system waits and warns the operator. The PLC-controlled ironing press is thus not forced to run under faulty conditions.

Ergonomics is also part of safety. Buck height, the angle at which the jacket is placed and the position of the control buttons are arranged so that the operator can work all day without strain. An operator who does not tire works both more safely and more steadily.

Hot surfaces and steam also require attention. Properly insulating steam lines and buck bodies both protects the operator and reduces energy loss. Regular training turns these safety measures into a daily habit.

Cooperation with Velko Tekstil

At the time the news was published, Velko Tekstil was a suit manufacturer producing for both the domestic market and export. The company was said to have made significant progress recently with Malkan products and to have raised its production quality clearly. Veli Eyrik, one of Velko Tekstil's founding partners, voiced this at every opportunity.

Eyrik said they were extremely satisfied with the cooperation with Malkan Machinery. By the time the news was published, all the old presses on Velko Tekstil's final jacket line had been replaced with Malkan products.

The entry of the 100,000th machine onto this line gave the relationship between the two companies a special meaning.

The relationship between a garment manufacturer and a machine manufacturer does not end with the sale. The two teams work together in installation, adjustment, recipe development and maintenance. The Velko Tekstil example shows that this joint work can turn into trust that extends over years.

The Handover Ceremony and a Helicopter Tour over Istanbul

Malkan Machinery's management had decided in advance, as part of the 40th-year events, to make some special arrangements for the customer who would receive the hundred-thousandth product. The machine was delivered to Velko Tekstil on October 20, 2011 with a ceremony and a plaque presentation.

The plaque symbolized that this threshold was a shared memory for the two companies.

The second part of the celebration took place three days later. On October 23, 2011, a helicopter tour over Istanbul was held with Veli Eyrik, founding partner of Velko Tekstil. Accompanied by the views of Istanbul and the Bosphorus, this meaningful day turned into an unforgettable memory.

The ceremony and the helicopter tour meant more than celebrating a machine delivery. They were a symbol of gratitude toward customers who had used the company's machines for forty years. The customer who received the 100,000th machine represented all the customers who had trusted Malkan Machinery until then.

Maintenance and Long Service Life

A PLC-controlled ironing press serves for many years with proper maintenance. Daily checks include draining water collected in the air conditioner, checking buck coverings and covers, and watching for steam leaks. In weekly and monthly maintenance, steam traps, the vacuum system and cylinder connections are checked.

On the electrical and control side, it is important to keep sensors clean and in the right position. A dirty or loose position sensor can cause the PLC not to start the cycle or to interrupt it halfway.

In the event of a fault, the alerts and input-output states shown by the control system help the technician find the problem quickly.

Backing up the recipes is also part of maintenance. When a control board is replaced or the program is updated, the saved recipes must not be lost. Keeping maintenance records regularly makes it easier to see the machine's history and its later needs.

Buck coverings also wear out over time. When the sponge loses its elasticity or the fabric surface loses its smoothness, marks or shine may appear on the jacket. Checking and renewing the coverings at regular intervals keeps ironing quality at the level of the first day.

Key Criteria When Choosing a PLC-Controlled Ironing Press

Before the investment, the first question is which ironing operation the PLC-controlled ironing press will be used for. Presses designed for the shoulder, sleeve, collar or front of a jacket have different buck geometries. The right buck gives the desired form without straining the fabric.

The second topic is utilities. A PLC-controlled ironing press requires steam, vacuum, compressed air and electrical connections, and their capacity must be compatible with the existing facility. The third topic is recipe flexibility: as the variety of fabrics and models a factory produces grows, the number of programmable recipes and ease of selection gain importance.

Finally, service and training support are evaluated. A PLC-controlled ironing press shows its full potential when the operator and the maintenance team are trained correctly. Spare parts access and technical support speed also determine the long-term value of the investment.

Energy consumption also enters the comparison. Because a PLC-controlled ironing press supplies steam only for the programmed time, it limits unnecessary steam use; insulating the buck body and setting the cycle time correctly support this effect.

Requesting the machine's steam, air and electricity needs in writing at the offer stage allows a correct comparison.

The Value of Domestic Production for the User

Working with a domestic machine manufacturer makes technical communication easier for the user. Reaching the team that designs and builds the machine in the same language and the same time zone allows problems and special needs to be discussed quickly. This closeness saves time in tasks such as buck adaptation or recipe development.

Access to spare parts is also a practical advantage of domestic production. Being close to where parts and buck coverings are produced shortens waiting times. For a PLC-controlled ironing press that will run for many years, this is a factor that should not be overlooked in the investment decision.

Velko Tekstil's choice of Malkan products while renewing its final jacket line was one of the concrete examples in 2011 of this trust in domestic production. The entry of the 100,000th machine onto this line meant that forty years of accumulated domestic production found its answer on a user's production line.

Trade fairs are one way to meet the technical team of a domestic manufacturer face to face. Malkan Machinery introduced its Thermo Steam boiler at the Garment Tech Istanbul 2025 exhibition. After the CAITME 2026 exhibition in Tashkent, it will welcome visitors at HOSTECH 2026 on November 10-14.

Conclusion: The 100,000th Machine and the PLC-Controlled Ironing Press

The fact that the 100,000th machine Malkan Machinery produced in its 40th year was a PLC-controlled ironing press symbolized the line that runs from a journey begun with one apprentice to programmable automation.

The delivery to Velko Tekstil, with its ceremony and helicopter tour, turned this threshold into a celebration shared with the customer. The step Mustafa Alkan took in 1971 grew into an accumulation of a hundred thousand machines in forty years.

This engineering approach, built up over forty years, continues today. The current goals of the company are set out in detail on the Malkan Vision 2025-2026 page.

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