VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The governments of Indonesia and Japan keep improving cooperation in developing the manpower of the automotive industry. This strategic move aims to encourage competitiveness and innovation of Indonesian automotive industry to be more competitive globally. Indonesian Minister of Industry, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita during the opening of Training of Trainer (TOT) Lean Manufacturing Automation virtually in Jakarta on Tuesday (27/7) said that his side keeps receiving full support from the Japanese government in developing manpower competence of the automotive industry sector.

He also explained that Indonesia has 21 four or more wheeled vehicle industries with investment worth Rp71.35 trillion for production capacity reaching 2.35 million units per year. The industry also absorbs 38 thousand direct workers and more than 1,5 million people working in the whole industry value chain.

Meanwhile, Head of Industry Manpower Development Agency (BPSDMI), Arus Gunawan said that the realization of automotive industry manpower development from Indonesia-Japan synergy was a cooperation between BPSDMI and Lexer Research Inc, which started from the signing of Letter of Intent on Lean Manufacturing Training in March 2019. This collaboration was continued with the Japan-Indonesia Symposium on Industry Manpower in December 2019. This activity became the beginning for SDGs program on automotive industry manpower development in Indonesia. This program is fully supported by Japanese government through JICA funding, which was a cooperation with the Industry Ministry.

On the occasion, Indonesian Ambassador to Japan, Heri Akhmadi said 4.0 industry transformation may change not only the industrial aspect, but also many other aspects of human lives. Indonesia has a strong domestic market and a pool of talent from the available schools, education institutions, and universities. Therefore, the cooperation with Japan through JICA in improving industrial manpower is the right choice.