Executive Interviews

日本語ページ

“The size of the business in the country in general will increase at a faster pace in the next few years” --An interview with the managing director of an Indonesian engineering solutions provider for the automotive industry and the like

2017/1/26（Thu）10:00

(Indonesia/インドネシア)

 

PT. Solusi Rekatama Makmur
Mr. Vincentius Lauw (Managing Director)
Indonesia

 

Many business people from abroad including the emerging countries have participated in HIDA training programs. Positions of the targeted audience vary with the programs, and there are some programs aimed for top executives.

 

This time, we interviewed with a person who runs a company providing an engineering solutions for the automotive and general industry and the like in Indonesia.

 

 

--Please explain your company profile first.

 
Our company, PT. Solusi Rekatama Makmur, is an engineering solution provider of robotic, automatic and manual systems for the automotive industry, general industries and the like. Our company was established in 2002 and back then, we initiated our business simply as a parts distributor, but have now shifted to a solution service provider through designing a system for respective purposes, and currently we have 37 employees. We are dealing with more than ten products/services including fluid handling equipment, robot and engineered systems including programing such as paint circulation systems, sealer supply systems, etc. Our head office is in Jakarta and our technical center is about 50 km east of Jakarta. Our sales turnover hit approximately 10 million USD in 2013 and was about 3.5 million USD in 2015.
 
--What aspects of corporate management do you put much value on? Please share with us your management philosophy or policy, or something considered important.
 
The management philosophies we focus on are as follows:
  • Customer satisfaction
  • Continuous improvement
  • Striving for proactive mindset of all team members
  • Safety, Quality and Schedule
  • Customer care with 24 hours call service in emergency cases
  • Human capital development

--Do you think of any challenges that hinder your company business to grow and develop further? What kind of actions do you think need to be taken to address the above-mentioned “challenges”?

 
There are some business challenges we are facing but these can be classified into two categories as follows:
 
External Challenges:
  • Increasing competition both from local and overseas companies.
  • Shifting of manual application to a robotic and automatic system solution due to increasing labor costs.
  • Increasing demand on new technology which improves efficiency, energy saving and an environment friendly solution.
  • Intensive cost reduction demand from customers.
 
Internal Challenge:
  • Lack of capable people and competency of middle management.
 
Against the above-mentioned challenges, we are trying the following:
  • Enhancing a more technology based system solution such as robotic and automatic solutions at our technical center. We are trying our best to widen our product line ups.
  • Investing in developing our people and new technology products and solutions.
  • Providing professional knowledge and training to external customers and internal employees to enhance team member competency.
  • Restructuring manpower’s role and approach to customers which will take effect in early 2017.
 
--How do you view the current status of your business in the global market?
 

We successfully supplied a paint circulation system to Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corp. in the first five years, from 2004, and this was followed by many similar successes. These achievements gave confidence to global painting facility builders like Taikisha Ltd., and Trinity Industrial Corp. to invite my company as their preferred business partner/vendor. Other than Japanese customer companies, we have a business relationship with France, Germany, the UK, the U.S.A., etc.

 

--Are you planning to expand your business overseas? What does your company consider important and wish to focus on to lead your business overseas to a success?

 

Yes, I would like to expand my business nationwide and overseas.
I believe development and strengthening human resources and knowing the business culture of the country are critical points. Solusi needs to transfer knowledge of new technology systems to our employees in order to be able to sell at more competitive prices.

 

--Please tell us about the current market environment of your business in your country.

 

The size of the business in the country in general will increase at a faster pace in the next few years because of the massive development of infrastructures projects nationwide, government and private company capability to finance the projects and the easing of business-related regulations. Under this circumstance, our industry will also reap the benefits accordingly.
 
--Business customs of your country may differ from those of other countries including Japan. Please use a few episodes to explain your distinctive differences from them in terms of the mindset for working, business culture, and national characters.
 
In my personal view, Indonesians are a friendly people, and a good relationship with the customer is important in business. Generally speaking, most employees do not think deeply enough when they do their jobs; rather they tend to take the easy way. It can be said that self-improvement is a rare thing.

 

--What are the points that you have kept in mind to develop human resources in your company? In other words, how do you wish to improve your engagement with the matter in the future?

 

Human Resource Development is a continuous process, and professional human capital is the key asset to a company’s growth and profitability.

 

The challenges for an SME company is how to get qualified people to apply for the job because most ‘bright’ candidates apply for jobs at big and reputable companies. As a result the qualified applicants are limited. Even so, we work closely with our people to find out who would be the right person to be given higher responsibility in a respective position. We also do our best to recruit good personnel by headhunting.

 

--What is your impression about Japan and Japanese companies? Please share with us an episode or experience that surprised or touched you.

 

A highly developed country with superb infrastructure and a clean environment, this is my impression about Japan. Also, I realized that Japanese people are respectful, helpful, responsible, disciplined, perfectionists, have high sense of belonging and are productive.

 

My impression of Japanese companies is that they are very much customer satisfaction oriented; i.e., the Toyota Production System: Customer First with two main pillars, Jidoka and Just-in-time, to pursue high quality, high productivity, short delivery time and minimize waste.


In terms of the human resource development concept, I noticed developing people first through continuous improvement/kaizen, good thinking, good products, quality and efficiency. Japanese employees are doing multiple tasks at workplace, and one person can do different jobs.

Thank you very much for your cooperation.

What We Do