Komatsu Indonesia to invest $100m for expansion, research

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

PT Komatsu Indonesia, a subsidiary of Japan-based heavy machinery manufacturer Komatsu Ltd., plans to invest some US$100 million over the next three years for expansion and research.

Vice president Nokiaki Tomimuro said here Wednesday the additional investment was needed to expand production and strengthen its research activities.

"However, we haven't decided the composition of the fund budgeting yet," Tomimuro said Wednesday after the inauguration of his company's industrial development center at the Cakung-Cilincing plant in North Jakarta.

Director Pratjojo Dewo said the company planned to boost its monthly production by 25 percent every year.

"For example, we are expecting to increase monthly production from 250 units this year to more than 300 units per month next year and so forth," he said.

Komatsu, which produces equipment such as excavators, bulldozers, motor graders and dump trucks, expects to have a market share of about 50 percent this year, Pratjojo said.

National heavy equipment sales are expected to reach 6,000 units this year.

The company, which was established in 1982, produced 1,708 heavy equipment units in 2006. Excavators and bulldozers account for 60 percent of the company's total production.

"Eighty percent of total production is for the domestic market and the remainder for exports," he said.

Touching on industrial research, president director Bambang Suharyanto said the company would use its newly built development center to share Komatsu's technology with local companies.

"The development center is not only for Komatsu Indonesia, but also for all parties in the industrial sector," he said.

The center will be operated jointly with the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

Komatsu operates foundry, fabrication and assembly plants on 18.2 hectares of land in Cakung, North Jakarta, and employs 1,400 workers.(nkn)