Purbalingga produces high-quality muffler systems for motor behicles<\/p>\n
Agus Maryono, Contributor\/Purbalingga<\/p>\n
If you happen to travel along a busy road in your city and notice
\na muffler workshop with a sign saying Knalpot Bralink ( Bralink
\nmuffler), you might just wonder what Bralink means.<\/p>\n
Bralink is the popular nickname for the Central Java regency
\nof Purbalingga, some 200 kilometers southwest of Semarang.<\/p>\n
It is also used as a name for many muffler workshops in some
\nof the country's major cities because it is there that a
\ntraditional muffler manufacturing center is located.<\/p>\n
Pesayangan, a hamlet in Purbalingga Lor village in
\nPurbalingga, has been known for decades as the center of the
\nmuffler industry, and its mufflers are sold all over the country.<\/p>\n
It's not surprising, therefore, if people also often refer to
\nPurbalingga as the city of mufflers despite the fact that some 80
\npercent of the population of one million work in the agricultural
\nsector.<\/p>\n
It is for this reason that a giant statue of a worker
\nproducing a muffler was erected near the hamlet, as an
\nexpression of pride.<\/p>\n
Of some 2,000 people living in Pesayangan hamlet, 90
\npercent make a living from this particular industry.<\/p>\n
Entering the hamlet, therefore, you will be greeted with a
\n\"decoration\" bearing mufflers of different sizes and kinds hung
\non the main entrance gate.<\/p>\n
The loud banging sound of iron being cut or shaped
\nmanually is heard in almost every corner of the hamlet.<\/p>\n
A craftsman in Pesayangan told The Jakarta Post
\nthat the muffler industry in the hamlet started in 1946 by a
\nvillager named Sultoni who initially produced home appliances
\nsuch as knives, cooking jars, kettles, containers, stoves and
\nothers items made from used iron and oil drums.<\/p>\n
\"His expertise eventually inspired him to produce more and
\nmore products made of iron, including motorcycle mufflers,\" said
\nDaryono, 45, a craftsman.<\/p>\n
It turned out later that producing mufflers was very
\nlucrative, so others were also inspired to do the same. And that
\nwas the way the hamlet eventually developed into a center for the
\nmuffler industry to this day.<\/p>\n
The industry is not, however, necessarily large-scale or
\nmodern. It is just a collection of many cottage industries with
\nmanually operated equipment such as iron cutters, grindstones and
\nwelding tools.<\/p>\n
Yet, its products are considered to be of quite high quality,
\ngiving them prominence in the market.<\/p>\n
\"We have sold our mufflers in almost all of the country's big
\ncities including Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, Bogor,
\nSemarang , Kalimantan, and Denpasar,\" another craftsman said.<\/p>\n
Sudarsono, 43, a craftsman, told The Post he had
\nbeen delivering mufflers of different sizes and types to the East
\nJava city of Surabaya for years. Other producers, similarly, also
\nreceived similar orders from buyers in other large cities.<\/p>\n
Sudarsono added that with some 150 business units
\nproducing mufflers in the hamlet they could produce nearly 50,000
\nof them per year. They comprise car and motorcycle mufflers of
\ndifferent sizes and types.<\/p>\n
\"We produce to two different levels of quality, standard and
\ndeluxe quality,\" said Sudarsono, adding that standard items were
\nusually made from used kerosene or asphalt drums while those of
\ndeluxe quality were made from stainless steel or galvanized
\nsteel.<\/p>\n
A large used oil drum can be purchased for around Rp 20,000,
\nsaid Sudarsono, and could produce about five main bodies for car
\nmufflers. They still require iron piping to turn them into proper
\nmufflers.<\/p>\n
Mufflers of this type are usually sold at an average of some
\nRp 100,000 and is generally the lowest price one can find in the
\nhamlet. The ones made of stainless steel are usually start at
\naround Rp 250,000.<\/p>\n
\"Regarding the quality, we can give you a guarantee. We can
\ncompete with the ones made by big factories,\" Sudarsono assured.<\/p>\n
For motorcycle mufflers, Pesayangan producers mostly use only
\nstainless steel and iron piping. They produce various types,
\nmodels and sizes of motorcycle mufflers. The cheapest motorcycle
\nmufflers are sold for Rp 50,000 each. The main market for these
\nparticular products are motorcycle workshops and motorcycle spare
\npart shops.<\/p>\n
\"I can assure you that many of the motorcycle mufflers sold in
\nthe workshops and shops, especially those in Central Java and the
\nneighboring provinces, are made in Pesayangan unless they are
\noriginals,\" said Daryono.<\/p>\n
Motorcycle mufflers, according to Daryono, are much simpler to
\nproduce than car mufflers. All they have to do is cut the metal
\npipe to the desired size, make a suitable muffler body and weld
\nthe them together. The muffler is then ready for sale.<\/p>\n
Car mufflers, especially those made of used drums, are a
\nlittle more complicated to produce. After cutting them into
\nseveral parts as desired, workers need to smooth the surface of
\nthe cut pieces with sandpaper or grindstone before they can be
\nformed into mufflers.<\/p>",
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