0 ABB Sakti to Spend $20m on 2 New Plants

Electrical engineering and automation company ABB Sakti Industri is spending $20 million this year to build two new plants in order to tap manufacturers’ growing demand for more efficient power systems. ABB Sakti Industri, a subsidiary of Zurich-based engineering conglomerate ABB Group, sees its sales contracts rising to $275 million this year, from $250 million last year. 

“If gross domestic product grows by 6 percent and the manufacturing sector by 10 percent, we can grow stronger by 10 percent or above,” ABB Sakti president director Hendrik Weiler said in a visit to BeritaSatu Media Holdings on Tuesday. Indonesia’s manufacturing sector grew by 5.7 percent last year, a faster pace than its 4.5 percent expansion in 2011, on the back of robust demand from domestic consumption. 

The manufacturing sector accounts for almost a quarter of the nation’s $850 billion economy, which grew by 6.2 percent last year. Weiler said energy-efficient systems and services for manufacturers was the company’s fastest growing business as firms grapple with rising energy costs. This year the manufacturing industry is facing an energy tariff increase of up to 21.5 percent as the government seeks to curb subsidy spending. 

The company’s electrical solutions offer clients up to a 20 percent reduction in manufacturing energy costs by reducing power consumption and reusing wasted energy in the form of heat or emissions recycling, Weiler said. The company expects the two new plants, located in Cibitung, West Java, and Tangerang, Banten, will double its current capacity. ABB Sakti’s Cibitung plant will produce miniature circuit breakers, switches and sockets. The Tangerang plant will make switchgears. 

The company plans to break ground on the Cibitung plant on Thursday, according to Nicholas Pendi, head of supply-chain management at ABB Sakti. ABB Group operates in more than 100 countries in the business of electric equipment products, power systems, industrial process automation and low-voltage electrical products. It booked $39.3 billion in revenue last year, up 3.5 percent from a year earlier. Indonesian sales account for less than 1 percent of the group’s revenue. Its operations in Indonesia began in 1986 with a small office in Jakarta, which has developed into 10 sales offices across major cities in Indonesia and two existing plants, also in Cibitung and Tangerang.

source : the jakarta globe