T

echnology manufacturer PT ABB Sakti Industri (ABB Indonesia), a subsidiary of the Swiss-based ABB Group, officially opened its new low-voltage electric tool plant in Cibitung, West Java on Thursday, which will double production of the company'€™s miniature circuit breaker (MCB) in the country.

The US$12 million facility, the construction of which commenced in 2013, has the capacity to produce 10 million units of MCBs per year, ABB Indonesia local division manager for low voltage products Roy Kosasih said after the official launch of the factory.

The MCB, generally installed in residences, is an electrical component that serves as a detector to prevent power overloads and fire dangers caused by short circuits.

Roy said demand for MCBs was increasing as more retail customers sought more efficient and cost-saving electrical products. At the same time, he said, state-electricity firm PT PLN as one of ABB'€™s
largest industrial customers regularly purchased the company'€™s products.

'€œHigh economic growth and the large amount of young people has increased demand in residences, which has also pushed the need for low voltage components. This increasing need for electricity has also prompted PLN to seek more component supplies from us,'€ he said at a press conference in the Cibitung facility.

Aside from the manual process operated by around 200 employees, the company has installed in the Cibitung facility more advanced machines from Germany, as an automatic process helps manage production costs.

Roy said the new facility would double MCB production capacity at the company'€™s existing plant, also located in Cibitung, and that more MCB products were sold domestically. Some parts of MCB production are exported to ASEAN countries, Australia and New Zealand. '€œThe exports are mostly to address shortages of MCB supplies in other countries, while we have a production surplus,'€ he said.

ABB is also building another plant in Tangerang, Banten. The Tangerang facility was expected to start manufacturing medium voltage products early next year, Roy said.

According to Roy, the Cibitung and Tangerang facilities will complement the company'€™s portfolios as the former serves the downstream market with low voltage products, while the latter will be more upstream with medium voltage products, such as power equipment.

'€œEach of our five divisions of products, including low voltage ones, has contributed equally to our total sales, which has reached above $200 million annually,'€ he said.

Since 1986, ABB Indonesia has operated via 10 offices, workshops, plants and maintenance centers in Jakarta'€™s surrounding areas including Cibitung and Tangerang as well as Medan in North Sumatra, Pekanbaru in Riau, Batam in Riau Islands, Surabaya in East Java, Semarang in Central Java, Balikpapan in East Kalimantan and Makassar in South Sulawesi.

Globally, the ABB Group operates in more than 100 countries with a business focus on manufacturing products in power and energy systems, industrial and specific automations and motions, as well as low-voltage components. (gda)