R and D automobile industry lacks funding

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)