Rekayasa, Linde to take on world in engineering

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned PT Rekayasa Industri and Linde Process Engineering and Contracting of Germany have signed an agreement to help each other supply engineering products to the world, particularly Asia.

"This cooperation creates an opportunity for Indonesian engineering industries to expand their businesses on the international market," the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Director of Industry, Machinery and Engineering, Achdiat Atmawinata, said yesterday.

Linde, he said, was an experienced engineering company with a good international marketing network, which could be exploited by Indonesian companies.

According to Achdiat, Indonesian companies could produce many quality engineering products, including components and spare parts, cheaply. But they found it difficult to access the world market.

The agreement is part of Linde's global sourcing strategy to maintain its international competitiveness.

"Indonesian companies can benefit from such a global sourcing strategy by tying up with multinational companies like Linde," Achdiat said.

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Linde, established 1879, specializes in engineering, contracting, materials handling, refrigeration and industrial gas projects. More than 50 percent of its engineering projects are in Europe. It expects to procure more materials and engineering products outside Germany in future.

"Our foreign procurement is worth about US$800 million every year," Wolf Gruber, the managing director of Linde Process Engineering and Contracting Sdn Bhd, told The Jakarta Post.

He said this would increase because his company was trying to expand its market share in Asia.

Until now, he said, his company's main partner in Asia was South Korea.

But in the long run, he said, the company was looking for partners outside Korea.

Asked why his company was seeking partners in Indonesia, he said: "We see that Indonesia has capable engineering companies that can offer very competitive prices and high class engineering."

He said the agreement would pool their resources to target the Asian engineering market.

Gruber, however, admitted his company would not only seek engineering products from Indonesian suppliers, but would also look for projects in Indonesia.

"We're interested in petrochemical and natural gas plants, gas treatment and cleaning, fertilizer manufacturing, gas recovery technology, environmental protection plants and plant components such as heat exchangers, reactors, pressure vessels and spiral- welded pipes in Indonesia," he said. (bnt)