Lead Feature

Catering to the needs of the industry

Established in 1990, specialising in producing masterbatches and polymer compounds, the company's factory is located in the Balaraja region, in the province of Banten, on a 35,000 sq m site.

PRA spoke to Herman Moeliana, a major shareholder as well as President of the company, to find out how the masterbatch supplier distinguishes itself from the competition.

PRA: What is the unique advantage that Aneka is able to offer its customers compared to the competition?

Herman: We are a one-stop shop that is able to supply a range of colour masterbatch, additive masterbatch and polymer compounds. We are committed to delivering products/services to satisfy customers' needs and in meeting their requirements through quality consistency, responsiveness to problems and developments with continuous innovation and improvements.

We are here to support the plastic converting industry, helping it to create high performing products and improve productivity. We are committed to exploring innovative ideas and developing our business.

This is supported by a quality as well as an occupational health and safety management system. We achieved the ISO9001 certificate in 2000 and implemented the 5S concept in 2007.

PRA: Which countries are the masterbatches supplied to and to which market segments?

Herman: We have a capacity of 20,000 tonnes/year and supply to the local market and to ASEAN countries.

Although we are a local company, we are supported by international networks. We have gained international acknowledgement and maintain it through continuous improvements of our products.

The markets cover mainly the the blown film, blow moulding, injection and extrusion industries - in fact, you can say that we cover practically all the processing segments in the plastics industry!

PRA: What is the latest product introduced and why is this unique?

Herman: Our latest product is a fully biodegradable resin and the product is registered under the trade name Enviplast. It is produced mainly from tapioca starch, a derivative of vegetable oil and other ingredients derived from natural abundant resources.

It is classified as a fully biodegradable resin that leaves no hazardous residue and is highly cost effective compared to resins under the existing similar product classification, like PLA.

PRA: Explain briefly the benefits of Enviplast.

Herman: Enviplast dissolves instantly in hot water, softens in cold water and leaves only a small amount of ash when burnt.

Based on experiments we have conducted, when a plastic bag made of Enviplast is buried in soil, it will almost disappear in 3-6 months, depending on soil conditions, like the water content, amount of organisms and microorganisms present in the soil.

We have also discovered that an Enviplast plastic bag can be eaten by insects and other small animals, such as snails. We are confident that our new product will be a reasonable alternative for applications like shopping bags where mainly PE is used.

Though Enviplast is not yet certified according to EN13432, preliminary pilot testing in our own laboratory shows that Enviplast is fully biodegradable after 6 months and does not harm the environment. Enviplast, being in the same product catagory as PLA, is more economical and cheaper than PLA.

PRA: What is the future outlook of Aneka?

Herman: We aim to become a prominent regional masterbatch and compounds supplier, supported by innovative products as a result from our strong research and development as well as competent human resources.

Our successful development of the biodegradable compound is one such example. It is intended to be used for the manufacture of plastic bags to replace conventional plastic bags, for far less possibility of polluting the environment because the compound is easily degraded in natural surroundings.

We can therefore give optimum added value service to all our stakeholders.