In 1951, Ahmet Fethi Ekmekçioğlu, the founder of Kilsan, established Altın Yağ and Altın Kiremit Factories in Izmir . In 1961, he left his business to his partners and moved to Istanbul . First, he rented the Topser brick factory in Büyükdere, Sarıyer from Yapı ve Kredi Bank and then bought it. In the meantime, he bought other brick factories in Küçüksu, Üsküdar and in Paşabahçe, Beykoz. In 1966, another brick factory, with a 10,000 m² plant was built on a 45,000 m² of land in Mürefte, Tekirdağ.

The Ekmekçioğlu Group continued with these four factories until 1972 when growing demand for construction in Istanbul created a need for additional capacity. In 1972, the Kilsan Brick Factory was established in a 45,000 m² factory building situated on 270,000 m² of land. In order to meet the high production target of 1050 tons per day, Kilsan employed German technology (from Rieter Werke and Keller). By 1974, Kilsan had gone into production with the largest kiln capacity in the brick and tile industry throughout the world. In the meantime, the Topser, Pasabahçe and Küçüksu Factories were closed.

To provide Kilsan raw material, transportation and machinery maintenance, affiliate companies were established: Ma-Kö for clay preparation (1973); Haf-Nak for transportation (1973); and Ek-Ma for machinery production and maintenance (1981).