Indonesia is a dynamic economy and is also ASEAN’s largest market, with rising production capacities in the food and beverage sectors, according to Sofyan Mansol, Country Manager of igus Indonesia. Sofyan said that in the past 10 years, more companies are adopting semi and fully-automated operations to replace their manual operations. This is because ‘automation’ has become more affordable and accessible even to the typical small scale producers, and igus is leading this effort with its motion plastics products as well as comprehensive technical support to its customers.
The past 10 years had also seen an increase in local production with lesser reliant on food imports. More multinational food companies are investing into Indonesia bringing new technological know-how on safe, hygienic and efficient production and new packaging methods which indirectly boosted the existing domestic food sector.
With rising disposable incomes particularly among the middle class in the urban cities like Jakarta, Medan and Surabaya, demand for hygienic, highly processed and well-packaged products will also increase.
With growing investments from larger multinational players, Indonesia will soon start to export more of its locally manufactured food and beverage products.
igus offers more than 200,000 components to meet industry needs
When asked what are igus main selling components to the Indonesian market, Sofyan said, “No single solutions or one main product could be singled out as the variety of machines for F&B processing is huge. With igus more than 200,000 variety of products, we are providing a customised solution to meet our customer needs from our range of iglidur, igubal, drylin, chainflex as well as energy chains which form the main components whereas our LCA (low cost automation) range of products include Linear Robots, Delta Robots, and flexible modular robots from our Robolink to support a wider range of automation solutions for our customers.”
Use of igus components/LCA led to successful case studies in Indonesia
Food and beverage manufacturers in Indonesia have utilised igus motion plastic components in their production processes and have achieved substantial benefits in terms of lesser production downtime and greater efficiency and volume.
One example is a major manufacturer of sports and functional beverage in PET bottle that has utilised igus Tribotape on its guide conveyor which has resulted in higher production with lesser breakdown, while ensuring lesser damage to end products.
Another example is a FMCG manufacturer which utilised igus drylin linear module and its drygear Apiro gearbox to allow adjustment application on a conveyor system. Previously, the manufacturer requires manpower to do simple manual adjustment for different box sizes which led to unnecessary waste of manpower and inconsistent productivity. With the igus components, the benefits include maintenance-free with no lubrication, and no corrosion spotted on its existing conveyor.
Meanwhile, a major beverage manufacturer in Indonesia has achieved substantial cost savings by replacing its existing metallic pillow block bearing for transfer bottle conveyor with igus igubal iglidur bearing.
igus strategic positioning – ‘Tech Up & Costs Down’
Sofyan said that igus aims to meet its strategic target of ‘Tech Up & Costs Down’ which translates to better production efficiency and yet requiring lesser costs or investments for its customers.
“We provide technical consultation to offer the correct solution by working together with customers. We have local technical support in Indonesia as well as as support from our regional headquarters in Singapore.”
In addition, speedy delivery of igus component stocks in Indonesia within 24 hours or the next day, with further support from igus Singapore and Asia network will ensure customers get the component fast with no MOQ (minimum order quantity).
igus products have also been comprehensively tested at its test labs in Germany with predictable lifetime online guarantee.
In the words of Sofyan, “We are proud to announce that we have helped majority of these companies in Indonesia, from small to medium and large F&B enterprises, to provide a safer, cleaner, sustainable solutions for their most challenging motion problems in their production. With our latest LCA solutions, we also aim to provide a simpler, cost effective, efficient & faster solution that can address mundane, manual and repetitive processes, which impact our customers in various ways.” He added, “With our solutions, we help to reduce or even remove Human Errors, negate the ever Increasing Labor Costs, Remove Unpredictable Workflows, increase productivity and best of all, to free up human resources and assets to achieve and attain more productive tasks with increased motivations.”
igus customers in Indonesia stand to gain from higher visibility of their processes, increase their business agility (new range of products could be adapted quickly) as well as gaining compliance to various F&B regulations (lowers compliance risks).
Sofyan concluded, “At igus, we do not simply produce and sell products, instead we provide solutions which will transform our customers towards a more successful and competitive processing for their production. We wish to succeed with the success of each and every one of our customers, by improving all motions with igus.”
igus performance in Indonesia market
Since the inception of the local igus branch in Indonesia in 2013, igus has seen its domestic business growing at an incremental rate of 20% annually. Sofyan said, “We are confident that the market in Indonesia will continue to grow at a stable pace as Indonesia has one of the most productive working population in the world, currently at 60%, and igus is set to further invest and expand to keep up with the growing customer demand.”
