Local steel grating company optimistic

JAKARTA (JP): PT Webforge Indonesia, a manufacturer and fabricator of steel grating whose prices are said to be 20 percent lower than imports, is optimistic that its products will win a place on the domestic market.

The chief commissioner of Webforge Indonesia, Harjono Kartohadiprodjo, said yesterday the company, which will soon officially open its factory in Bekasi, West Java, expects to reap some Rp 1 billion (US$434,782) in revenues a month from the sales of steel grating.

Steel grating is used as a substitute for concrete floors in various industrial sites, including cement plants, mines, power- generator plants, petrochemical factories and off-shore oil platforms.

Webforge Indonesia's general manager, Wilyn, said the competitiveness of the company's prices is a result of its ability to cut down costs in the manufacturing process.

Webforge Indonesia is wholly owned by the Webforge Group of Australia and is affiliated with Pacific BBA Limited-Australia.

The company started fabricating steel grating in December, 1994, but only started fully manufacturing in December 1995.

The factory, which will be officially opened next Monday, was built with an investment of $7 million and has a production capacity of 8,000 tons of steel grating a year. Its raw materials are wholly imported.

Wilyn said the company is currently focusing its sales on the domestic market, but will move on to the export market once it can boost its production level. The company is presently producing at about 40 percent of its capacity.

The company's services include shop-detail drawing, making layout plans for erection, fabrication of grating panels and hot- dip galvanizing.

Harjono said Webforge Indonesia currently has competition from imports from South Korea, Canada and European countries. It is the first company in Indonesia to fully manufacture steel grating.

He said that Krakatau Steel, the state-owned steel manufacturing company, is reluctant to enter the steel grating sector because the domestic demand for such a product is only 1,000 tons a month.

"A production level of less than 10,000 tons a month is considered inefficient for Krakatau Steel," Harjono said.

He said Webforge Indonesia expects to reach a break-even point after three years of full-scale manufacturing activities. (pwn)