Saint-Gobain Implements Product Diversification
Bisnis Indonesia, 2003-11-07
Saint-Gobain Norton Hamplas is optimistic that it would be able to obtain a turnover of Rp.120 billion in 2004 and also dominate 68 percent of the domestic market due to the implementation of its product diversification program. Prior to the diversification, the company mostly manufactured sandpaper for the lumber industry, especially plywood, outside of Java. Due to the significant decline of production volume as an effect of increasing competition, the company decided to diversify its products. Hence, the company has started to also manufacture metal and automotive sandpaper. Saint-Gobain has involved 22 distributors in Indonesia and plans to increase the number to 27 in 2004. Currently, the company holds 62 percent of the domestic sandpaper market with total sales of Rp.101 billion in 2002. Forty percent of the turnover was contributed by export to Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. PT Saint-Gobain Norton Hamplas, manufacturer of textile and sandpaper under the brand Norton, is a local subsidiary of a French company Saint-Gobain. It started operating in Surabaya in 1981.