R and D automobile industry lacks funding

JAKARTA (JP): Research and development in the Indonesian automotive industry still lacks funding, says an automotive engineering executive.

The executive president of the Indonesian Society of Automotive Engineers (IATO), Hasiholan Sidabutar, said yesterday that the development of automotive engineering in the country suffered from limited facilities because of low auto sales.

"Funding for research and development must come from sales volume, which is still rather low here," Sidabutar said.

He said the knowledge and capacity of human resources was adequate, but without sufficient funding, development of automotive engineering in the country would remain slow.

IATO'S research and development advisor Djoko Suharto said yesterday that developing an automotive industry needed hard work and solid synergy.

Djoko said there must be a combination of good business management, marketing, financing, technology and human resources.

"If one of these is weak, the effort won't work," he said.

Sidabutar said an obstacle facing the country's automotive industry was the slow market.

The market determines the increase of local content in automobiles and the research and development of certain products, he said.

He said the development of the auto industry should also closely follow technology in order to be able to compete in the market. One of the most difficult things to keep up with was engine technology, he said.

IATO will host the ninth International Pacific Conference on Automotive Engineering in Bali from Nov. 16 to Nov. 21.

The five-day conference will be attended by about 400 members of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) from Australia, China, Japan, Korea and the United States.

The conference will adopt a theme of "the vehicle and the environment", as part of the global trend to reduce pollution caused by automobiles.

It will be opened by Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo Nov. 17.

Chairman of Mitsubishi Motors Corp Hirokazu Nakamura, BMW's director of research and development Detlev Frank, and David Chang of General Motors' North American Operations development center will deliver keynote speeches.

IATO has some 300 members from the automotive industry, academia, the government and other related sectors. (das)