Innovations for Indonesia 4.0

Diverse sectors covered

What made the second edition more interesting was the wider range of topics covered and the dynamic exchanges between the speakers and the delegates. 

 

Henky Wibawa, Executive Director of Indonesian Packaging Federation (IPF), started off the Summit with a presentation on riding on the wave of Industry 4.0 to leverage packaging design-to-value. He also stressed the need to embrace the design-to-value process as an option to achieve greater brand awareness and higher margins by adding new elements to drive change in the packaging design. Billy Tjang, Managing Director of PT Bilplast Grapindo, provided an overview of Indonesia’s plastics industry, plastics consumption vis-a-vis plastics production, and trends in the industry that affect the production process, such as preference for environment-friendly products.  

 

Claudio Domasi, Sales Director of Frigel Asia Pacific Co., Ltd. discussed the importance of intelligent cooling solutions for the plastics industry. With energy savings being a major consideration in a plant’s operation, Frigel’s intelligent process cooling solutions can help plastics manufacturers achieve greater reduction in energy consumption while ensuring efficient operations. Frans Mandeko, Business and Technology Development Manager at PT Dharma Precision, made an interesting point when he brought forth the benefits of collaborative automation as applied in automotive production. He also talked about overcoming the challenges in Indonesian automotive industry for it to achieve automation. 

 

In the area of high performance materials, the technical presentations covered various applications. Widodo Widodo, Advanced Material Division Manager at PT 3M Indonesia, discussed how glass bubbles Microsphere filler can provide injection plastic productivity improvement for parts, especially those made of composites. In his presentation, Kenneth Lam, Senior Development Specialist of Plastics Technical Service & Development, Asia Pacific of Trinseo, gave an overview on the benefits of MAGNUM™ABS Resins for various industries, as well as the material’s attributes in the application or processing methods. Dr. Asmuwahyu Saptorahardjo, Technical Advisor of PT Inter Aneka Lestari Kimia, traced how starch can be processed into biodegradable bags and how Enviplast meets today’s market demand for biodegradable materials. Another presentation by a sponsor, Ever Polymer Co., Ltd’s Sales & Marketing Manager, Tan Wei Kar, showed how TPEs can be applied in various industries especially in the automotive and medical sectors. The new generation of polylactic acid (PLA) and how it can benefit the environment by offering end-of-life possibilities was discussed by Stefan Barot, Senior Business Director of Total Corbion PLA.  

 

An important issue on the use of plastics is waste management and recycling and the Summit devoted sessions to tackle environment concerns starting with the presentation from the Asosiasi Daur Ulang Plastik Indonesia (ADUPI) representative who talked about the the challenges of plastics recycling and the role of ADUPI. Emenda Sembiring, Associate Professor at the Institut Teknologi Bandung shared the potential use of plastic waste for pavement and how the institute has been conducting studies to achieve the goal of utilizing plastic as construction material. Retno Hapsari, Manager of XSPROJECT, gave valuable insights on how trash has been able to transform the lives of people in a project where consumer items are being designed and made out of plastic waste.  

 

The Summit is a great medium to facilitate between technology owner and end user, according to resource person, Mr. Widodo. “ We met in one forum and exchange ideas that will nurture the industry in the future. I met many leads that really interested with my solution and believe it could help them to solve productivity issue. In other side, I got a lot of ideas from end users based on their specific application and experience. Hopefully, we could join the event in upcoming years.”  

 

Most speakers cited the positive impact of the event on them. Mr. Mandeko looks forward to joining the next edition soon and thanks the organizers for holding the Summit in Indonesia. Mr. Barot learned more about bioplastics market in Indonesia as the event proved a good venue for information exchange. Ms. Hapsari of XSPROJECT said that the Summit is a good opportunity “to let more people know what we do in Indonesia. We look forward to more cooperations next time.”

 

For delegates, the Summit gave interesting and valuable information that they expect to return next year to listen to more technical presentations. Christian Todt, Managing Director of Leistritz SEA Pte Ltd., said the topics are good and discussions engaging. “I’m happy to be part of this well-attended event. Our company is engaged in various sectors, including plastics manufacturing, and we look forward to joining more events like this in Southeast Asia. “ 

 

A delegate from PT Intera Lestari Polimer, Sales and Marketing Executive Oscar Noviyante Gunawan, said that the Summit has been able to introduce their company to many new customers. “We are expanding fast right now since we last joined this event. We have new partners from India and from African countries. We also have inquiries from firms from different countries so we see the business growing. As for the Summit, I am happy to be part of it and all the presentations are good. But I’m hoping that there would be more than one conferences like this in a year and not just once a year. Also, each presentation should be longer so people can ask more questions and there could be more discussions.  

 

Rina Husen, PT DIC Graphics Director, joined the Summit in 2017 and returned to learn more about packaging, in particular, on printing. “The topics this year are wider and there are a lot of information offered by the presentations. I hope that next year, there would be more presentations on printing and in-mold labeling for packaging as this would be of great interest to us."