State aircraft company to cut jobs by 40 percent
State aircraft company to cut jobs by 40 percent
JAKARTA (JP): State-owned aircraft manufacturer PT IPTN will
cut its jobs by 40 percent to 10,000 from the current 16,000
personnel as part of its restructuring plan, company president
B.J. Habibie said.
Habibie, also state minister of research and technology, said
over the weekend that the aircraft company would focus on its
core business; designing and producing airplanes.
"IPTN will only focus on aircraft," Antara quoted Habibie as
saying after signing a technology cooperation agreement with
visiting Minister of Economy and Finance of Saarland, Germany
Christiane Krajewski.
He said IPTN would, for example, hire another firm to handle
security and service instead of maintaining its own security and
service division.
"The restructuring plan is not bad and this doesn't mean that
IPTN has failed," he said.
General Manager Hari Laksono said at the company's
headquarters in Bandung that no one would be laid off in the
restructuring program.
"We will, instead, replace the personnel of the affected
divisions," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said a number of IPTN's divisions would be separated as
independent companies such as those involved in packaging,
polyclinic, hotel, transportation, real estate, printing and
publishing activities.
He said that IPTN had selected AT Kearny, a management
consultant from the U.S., as the advisor in the restructuring
plan.
He said that AT Kearny outbid three rivals, Mc Kenzie,
Anderson and Booz Allen to obtain the consultancy job.
The Bandung-based aircraft manufacturer set up in 1976 was
called Industri Pesawat Terbang Nurtanio. Ten years later Habibie
changed the name to Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara.
The company makes C-212 and CN-235 fixed-wing aircraft in
cooperation with Casa of Spain and NBO-105, NSA-330 Puma, NAS-332
Super Puma and Bell 412 helicopters.
In 1987, the company was assigned to develop its own aircraft,
the N-250, which carried out its maiden flight in 1995. The N-
250, equipped with fly-by-wire electronics, is a turboprop
commuter airplane with a top speed of 300 nautical miles per
hour.
Giri Suseno, a top executive of the Strategic Industry
Management Board chaired by B.J. Habibie, said earlier this year
that IPTN lost Rp 185.55 billion (US77.2 million) in 1995.
At present, IPTN has several subsidiaries including PT IPTN
North America, an aircraft assembler in Alabama, the United
States, PT Batam Aircraft Maintenance in Batam, Riau, PT IPTN
Europe ASL and IPTN's marketing arm in Lemwerder, Germany.
The company also has a 51.1 percent stake in PT Nusantara
System International, a software and system company, a 10 percent
stake in PT General Electric Indonesia and a 40.1 percent in PT
General Electric Nusantara Turbine Services.
Laksono said that three private companies, including the
Humpuss group, had offered to buy into Universal Maintenance
Center, IPTN's maintenance service.
IPTN is currently developing N-2130, an Indonesian-designed
passenger jet which will be able to carry 130 passengers. The
first aircraft product is scheduled for 2004.
The designing, engineering and construction of the N-2130
prototype will take eight years and cost at least US$2 billion.
The aircraft will be able to fly at a speed of 232 kilometers
(125 knots) per hour with a maximum cruising altitude of 11,890
meters (39,000 feet).
President Soeharto has set up a company, PT DSTP, assigned to
finance the N-2130 project led by Habibie's eldest son Ilham
Akbar Habibie.
"So far there have been Rp 400 billion (US$166.3 million)
raised from DSTP's share offering," Ilham said in Bandung over
the weekend.
He said the world needed some 3,600 jets like N-2130 aircraft.
"We estimate to grab 25 percent of the share market. We will
break even after selling 300 jets." (ahy/icn)