REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PADANG -- The state-owned cement manufacturing company Semen Indonesia is constantly making innovations in technology to face the ASEAN Economy Community (AEC) 2015, especially with regard to the free-market cement competition.

"The AEC is an extraordinary competition, and innovation is the main key to deal with it," Executive Director of Semen Indonesia Suparni noted here on Wednesday.

According to Suparni, winning or losing are the only two options in a competition.

"The fact is that an old company is not necessary the winner and the new company is not always the loser. Innovation is the key to emerging as the winner," Suparni claimed.

Semen Indonesia is initiating technological innovations from the upstream to downstream areas, with the objective of satisfying its consumers.

One of its strategies was the construction of a cement packaging network, which is currently spread across 26 locations, to facilitate the distribution of its cement products to consumers.

In order to promote technological innovations, Semen Indonesia has been organizing an annual innovation competition named "Semen Indonesia Awards on Innovation (SMI-AI)" since 2009 among its employees.

This competition aims to boost the company's competitiveness in the global market.

The innovation is useful as it reduces production costs, which helps to make the prices competitive and leads to greater profits for the company.

The innovation comprises four categories: raw material production, technology and production process, management, and business affiliation.

Suparni remarked that the innovation initiated by the employees will lead to potential savings worth Rp800 billion or about US$60.6 million.

"The potential savings since 2009, when the innovation was firstly implemented, have reached Rp3.35 trillion (about US$253.7 million), which is equivalent to the cost of constructing a cement factory, with a capacity of 2.5 million tons," Suparni added.

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