Akhan Un
A vision born in the fields of Mesopotamia
The milling company Akhan Un has been in the flour business for decades – today milling 33 different kinds of flour from the high-protein wheat grown in Türkiye. In 2024, founder and Chairman Orhan İlhan decided to make a play for the fast-growing global pasta sector, aiming to have a factory with multiple lines producing high-quality pasta in just 16 months. To fulfill this vision, he chose Bühler as the company’s partner.
Ellen Thalmann , September 2026
Seen from the sky, the wheat fields around the city of Mardin, in southeastern Türkiye, might be mistaken for a desert – acres and acres of honey-colored tracts patchworked across the landscape. But this area, which belonged to ancient Mesopotamia along with neighboring Syria, Iraq and parts further south, is known as the “fertile crescent”, one of the most agriculturally rich regions on Earth. Situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, it is considered the birthplace of civilization. The region is also the world’s largest producer of durum wheat, the high-protein staple of cuisines around the world – and the basis for semolinaused in making pasta.
In the late 1990s, Orhan İlhan, the owner and founder of today’s well-known flour miller, Akhan Un, had begun producing animal feed at a plant in Mardin, situated in the midst of Türkiye’s durum-wheat-producing region. Coming from a family of farmers, İlhan knew the raw material well. “There is very valuable durum wheat in Mesopotamia,” he says. “Some of the world’s highest-quality wheat is grown in Mardin.”
His company reflects both the history and the aspiration: Akhan is a Turkic name meaning “noble leader”, while Un means simply “flour”. In 2008, Akhan Un began milling flour, adding factories in Mersin and Adana in southern Türkiye that today produce 33 different types of flour – used for everything from pizza to baklava.
Expanding into pasta
As regional demand surged during the Iraq War, Akhan Un expanded their production significantly. But by the early 2020s, Orhan İlhan recognized the need to diversify. He decided to pursue a vision inspired by the golden durum wheat fields of southeastern Türkiye, lending their color to a new golden product. His vision was underpinned by the fast-growing global market for nutritious, high-protein, and high-quality semolina pasta.
In 2024, the company decided to act. “We needed to make this change. We used to export mainly to Iraq and the Middle East with our flour mills,” says İlhan. “We have four flour mills – one in Mersin, one in Adana, and two in Mardin. We transformed the fourth facility, here in Mardin, into a semolina mill and added a new pasta factory next to it.” To do so in the short time that Orhan İlhan envisioned was no easy task. It meant finding the right partner who could provide top-of-the-line machinery and also get the plant up and running as quickly as possible – starting with multiple different lines of pasta.
“Of course, we are good researchers. Before making this investment, together with my teams and engineers, we traveled around the world. Which machines should we buy?” says İlhan. “In our research, we decided on Bühler as the best machinery in the world. We visited and toured many Bühler factories. We were in Switzerland, then went to Germany, and spent time in Italy to examine these plants.”
Nenad Stamenkovic, Project Manager at Bühler, remembers the day he got the call. The executives at Akhan Un outlined their ideas and also their ambitious timeline of 16 months. “From the beginning, we worked very closely together to better understand their needs and their commitment to quality, which motivated me to act fast,” says Stamenkovic. “We spent one year and four months from the first contact to running three lines – which is amazing.”
Watch this video to learn more about Akhan Un: Premium Pasta from Mesopotamia
The right raw material and technology
For Akhan Un, diversifying into pasta was a logical step. “The raw material is the same and we thought if we produce flour we can produce semolina. If you produce high quality semolina, the pasta is absolutely going to be better,” says Muhammed Musa İlhan, General Manager Akhan Un. But without the right technology, consistent daily production of a high quality pasta wouldn’t be possible, he says. “Of course, technology is really important. That's why we chose Bühler.”
Grown in Central Anatolia and southeastern Türkiye, durum wheat is the hardest variety of wheat, known for its high protein and high gluten content. One hundred grams of durum wheat pasta contain 12 to 15 percent protein. When coarsely milled, it becomes semolina. The grind is important: the difference between flour and semolina simply comes down to how finely or coarsely the durum wheat is milled.
Factory production of pasta in Türkiye began around a hundred years ago in the 1920s and shifted to an industrial scale in the 1950s. Today, Türkiye is the third largest pasta producer in world and the second largest exporter after Italy. An affordable staple with a long shelf life, pasta is also an easy way to provide a nutritious meal for families that can be highly varied with sauces or other ingredients, says Muhammed İlhan.
The growing demand for pasta worldwide factored strongly in Akhan Un’s decision to enter the market. As of 2023, the global consumption market for dry pasta was more than 16 million tonnes or $29.5 billion value worldwide. In 2025, Türkiye was set to soon become the world’s largest pasta exporter head-to-head with Italy, with an estimated 1.5 million tonnes exported last year. That is up considerably from 2023 when Türkiye exported 1.246 million tonnes, compared to Italy’s 1.941 million.
“We will make Turkish pasta a global brand,” says Orhan İlhan. That’s the ambition of the company, with its focus on quality and superior raw materials. “We will break the perception of Turkish pasta in foreign markets. The world will meet a pasta taste it has never experienced before.” The goal is to export around 80 percent of their capacity and sell the other 20 percent locally.
With Bühler equipment, we can control every step of our production, and we can produce stable quality for our customers.
Muhammed Musa İlhan,
General Manager at Akhan Un
From Turkish cuisine to the world
At home, like in many parts of the world, pasta is a staple of Turkish cuisine – with beloved dishes that reflect the regional palate, such as eriste, egg noodles often served with a yoghurt-garlic sauce and walnuts. An alternative to the traditional manti – meat-filled dumplings – has become popular with families who turn to yalancı manti – “fake dumplings” – as a time-saver. The meat filling is served as a sauce over short pasta.
“Pasta consumption in Türkiye is eight kilograms per capita annually,” says Orhan İlhan. “It is one of the top ten consumers worldwide.”
Gaining a foothold in high-quality markets is the aim. “With Bühler equipment, we can control every step of our production, and we can produce stable quality for our customers,” says Muhammed İlhan. “Thanks to the controlled dough preparation, pasta extrusion, and optimal climate control in the dryer and cooler, we achieve the highest product quality – which is why we chose Bühler.”
The plant’s pasta lines use Bühler Priomatik presses – a pasta press designed to process coarse semolina. The Priomatik enables hydration of the dough for perfect gluten development and has hygienic components that align with strict food safety rules. The pasta lines are also equipped with a full vacuum system – one of the first installed in the region – which helps remove air bubbles from the dough and ensures consistent quality. Drying machines, such as a shaking pre-dryer and a C-line dryer, are also key for ensuring a long shelf-life. Moreover, the long-goods lines are equipped with the newly developed Bühler cutting machine.
“We can be proud of the modern solution when we walk through the plant,” says Nenad Stamenkovic. “We can see high-end machines. We can see high-end automation solutions. We can also see services from Bühler. So overall, it's one of the most qualitative plants.” When Bühler is not onsite, the engineers are monitoring the production line remotely and can control the processes. Muhammed İlhan says this allows him to focus on key aspects of the business: the quality of the raw materials, analysis of production, and exports.
Closing a circle
Even before considering quality and efficiency, however, the executives at Akhan Un look at sustainability. The company is also in the business of solar energy and uses this to power parts of its production. Closing the circle with its animal feed business, the factory also reduces waste by saving any broken pasta as a high-protein additive in animal feed mills.
Today, the pasta lines in Mardin are running 24 hours, seven days a week, and Akhan Un analyzes the consistency of quality day and night. The factory has a capacity of 10,800 tonnes per month, with 250 employees running three production lines: one for making long-good pasta, such as spaghetti or vermicelli, and two for making short goods, like fusilli or penne. An additional long-goods line was ordered during the installation of the first three lines and will be ready for production in September 2026. One reason for starting with multiple lines is that for any brand to gain a foothold, they must offer more than one type of pasta, says Muhammed İlhan. This is especially important for the export markets like Asia, Europe and Americas, which Akhan Un is targeting.
Getting three lines up and running in 16 months was no small feat: “I split the whole project into several shipments. And this helped us to start the installation very early,” says Nenad Stamenkovic. “We started with one line, then with the second line, then with the third line. Then we went back to the first line to complete it. With this approach we had a very fast installation time.”
From the beginning, we worked very closely together to better understand their needs and their commitment to quality.
Nenad Stamenkovic,
Project Manager at Bühler
A partnership for new ideas
Working with Bühler goes beyond technology, however, Muhammed İlhan says. “Anytime, night or day, I can call them, and I can ask something different. For example, I can get help for new investments and we brainstorm together. It is like a partnership, but we are almost like family.”
The ability of manufacturers to discuss major investments with local teams from Bühler creates trust in a project like the one with Akhan Un. “We know their pain points, and they know us,” says Bülent Özşahin, Head of Sales Grains & Food at Bühler Türkiye. “People feel much more comfortable when they are talking in their mother tongue, and this creates a good synergy with the customer. We can support customers locally with our service and back-office teams.”
Akhan Un has big plans for the coming years. It wants to be a major food player in Türkiye and abroad. “Currently, our 4-line pasta investment is not sufficient for us. We are planning and targeting additional investments. Because our current 360 tonnes daily capacity is not enough. We are planning further expansion. The Group is growing and diversifying,” says Orhan İlhan. To raise money, the company started trading on the Istanbul Stock Exchange in 2026 – a move toward the development that İlhan envisions: “From frozen products to fresh products to pasta – you will find all of them. All of these will, one by one, turn into investments when the time comes.”
“Pasta was our dream investment,” says his son Muhammed İlhan. “Bühler has one of the best technologies for producing pasta. That's why we met with Bühler, we decided to work with Bühler – and now we will continue.”
In our research, we decided on Bühler as the best machinery in the world.
Orhan İlhan,
owner and founder of Akhan Un
How can we help?
Gupfenstrasse 5
Uzwil
9240
Switzerland
