Founded in 1957 as the Canakkale Seramik Fabrikalari A. S. (Ceramic Factories Corporation) the Kale Group soon became the leading force of Turkey's ceramic tile sector and its on-going investments propelled it into a position as a world-class ceramic producer. As the Kale Group grew and developed, it also began expanding its fields of operations into machinery and spare part manufacture, and the defense, chemical, electrical components, energy, information, transport, tourism, and food sectors. It took important strides into developing into a world company as it formed partnerships with international corporations such as General Electric, Siemens, and Roca. In order to be counted as a player in a world that had begun to describe its future in terms of the information age, the Kale Group also began investing in new companies operating in energy, information, and robotic automation fields. The foundation of the Kale Group Companies was firstly laid in the district of Can of the province of Canakkale in 1957 by Canakkale Seramik Factories. In 1972 the Group further strengthened its leadership role when it founded Kalebodur Seramik Sanayi (Ceramic Industries) . With on-going investments, in time the company became the world's largest ceramic producer operating in one field of production. The Kale Group further expanded its product line with investments into a sanitaryware production company and soon the company was offering a full range of products for wet areas. The Kale Group moved into the production of raw and intermediate materials when it founded Kalemaden (Mining) and Kalefrit (Frit) ; today it ranks among Turkey's, and Europe's, largest producers in these areas. The Kale Group grew even larger with its founding of Kaleterasit, the first company in Turkey to produce outdoor front plaster, and Kalekim, Turkey's first producer of ceramic bonding agents. The names of many Kale Group companies even became generic for its products, as Canakkale Seramik, Kalebodur, Kaleterasit, Kalekim and RocaKale, Kalecolor and MaviKale developed into products brands. In the past several years the Kale Group has also been taking important strides into the information sciences. Kaledata has developed an Enterprise Resource Planning program (ERP) that is now being utilized by Turkish industrial companies. The Kale Group's technical cooperation with international companies started in the 1950s and has developed through the years, establishing partnerships with such world leaders as Siemens, Roca, and General Electric, and thus taking important strides towards becoming a world company in its own right. In 1962 the Kale Group began exporting ceramic tiles. Through the years, the Group has continued and advanced its export activities and today it exports its own products in various sectors to sixty countries on five continents. Today the Kale Group comprises 24 separate companies, each a leader in its own sector. It has a total work force of over five thousand with a net value to the Turkish economy that reaches billions of dollars, and the Group now ranks as one of Turkey's major industrial corporations. As it has worked during the past half century to serve society with its industrial achievements, the Kale Group has never lost sight of the responsibility it holds to the general welfare. This abiding principle of the Kale Group is a legacy of the ideals and principles of its founder, Ibrahim Bodur. Through the years, the Kale Group has made significant contributions to culture, art, science, sport and especially to education and health. To ensure the continuity of its contributions, the Group established the Dr. H. Ibrahim Bodur Kaleseramik Foundation for Education, Health, and Social Welfare. The Kale Group also recognizes its responsibility to nature and the environment and is working to ensure that its contributions to this area attain world standards.