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Exide charges up
Page 104
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• INDONESIA is the latest country to make its presence felt in the European aftermarket with the Gemala Battery Company's purchase last year from Chloride of Exide Batteries. Gemala has now opened a new administrative complex at Dagenham, Essex. and is looking to increase market share following its injection of capital into the business.
Gemala is a joint venture between P T Sapta, Indonesia's fifth largest industrial group, and venture capital companies Alan Patricof Associates and Porter Investment.
At the opening of the new hq, by Under Secretary of State for Overseas Trade John Meadway, Gemala executives told Workshop that the UK battery industry has been a troubled and difficult one in recent times.
Competition, they said, drove prices to unprofitable levels and cheap exports from the Continent had been dumped on the UK market. In addition, quality and technology had advanced battery life to the extent of slowing demand.
Yet against this gloomy picture, Exide, with quality products and major market share, has been in a better position than others to weather the storm, they said. The market for automotive batteries in the UK is estimated to be worth around £250 million a year and in 1989 it is estimated that Gemala had a 33% share of the original equipment and 20% of the replacement market.
Marketing people now head the organisation, they said, and they are looking for a much greater share particularly in the larger aftermarket.
Gemala in fact, while based in Indonesia, now also has Exide operations in Australia, Republic of Ireland and Sweden besides the UK. Sapta Group automotive parts account for $230 million of total turnover with Gemala Batteries contributing an additional $100m.
At the opening the Minister congratulated the company on its farsighted approach to people management, seeing the complex as an investment in its staff. The Exide name and jobs had been saved.