Daihatsu to slash overtime hours

JAKARTA. PT Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM) has decided to scrap overtime for its workers due to current economic instability in the country that has led to a weakened automotive market and decreased demand.

ADM marketing director Amelia Tjandra said that scrapping overtime was the right decision for the time being.

“Currently, production runs in two shifts, but no overtime. We will maintain this rhythm until market conditions improve,” she said as quoted by kompas.com on Saturday.

Amelia projected that Daihatsu would only produce 430,000 cars, the capacity of its two factories in Sunter, North Jakarta, and Karawang, West Java.

If overtime was to be maintained, production levels could rise to 521,000 units, such as what ADM produced in 2014. Ameila added that 430,000 units was an adequate amount as it could be absorbed in the Indonesian automotive market, which stood at 1.2 million cars.

“If the market doesn’t decrease this year, absorbing 40 percent from the demand could still be maintained,” she said.

The decrease in demand, according to Amelia, was connected to the decrease in consumer purchasing power, as current economic conditions were affected by the rise in fuel prices.

Despite the outlook, ADM is still keeping an optimistic eye as their woes are mostly explained by Amelia as general market weakening. Daihatsu’s market share in Indonesia was 16.1 percent and decreased between January and March 2015.

Other than producing cars under the Daihatsu brand, ADM also produces under the Toyota badge, the Avanza MPV and Rush SUV.