Good News! Company to Build New Plant, Hire 250 Workers
This article is adapted from CNBC Indonesia
Amid a slowdown in Indonesia’s manufacturing sector — as reflected in the declining Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) — there are still investors expanding by building new factories. One of them is PT Superior Prima Sukses Tbk (BLES), a lightweight brick producer under the Blesscon and Superiore Block brands, which has just inaugurated its fifth plant in Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java.
The investment, valued at hundreds of billions of rupiah, is generating new employment opportunities for hundreds of workers.
“The groundbreaking of our fifth factory took place on August 28, 2024, and it officially began operations just a few days ago, on July 25, 2025. The total investment reached around IDR 280 billion, employing 250 workers — most of them local residents. Currently, the company employs 1,600 workers in total,” said BLES President Director Liauw Billy Law to CNBC Indonesia, Wednesday (July 29, 2025).
The factory was built on a 57,134 m² (approximately 5.8 hectares) site, with a main building covering 25,069 m², including a 15,908 m² production area and a 4,937 m² green open space. The Banjarnegara plant has a production capacity of 1 million m³ per year, bringing BLES’s total production capacity to 5.6 million m³ annually.
As for capital expenditure (capex) realization in the first half of 2025, funds were allocated to continue the Banjarnegara factory project (IDR 140 billion), machinery modification (IDR 42 billion), trucks (IDR 8 billion), and heavy equipment (IDR 5 billion), totaling IDR 195 billion, Billy added.
The company pursued this factory expansion due to significant market potential. Until now, deliveries to areas near Banjarnegara were supplied from other BLES plants located much farther away. With the new facility, logistics costs will be reduced, benefiting not only the company but also consumers.
“Market demand remains strong even though this new factory’s production capacity is larger. The company sees great growth potential ahead and an opportunity to broaden product distribution. With this plant, BLES can now serve western and southern parts of Central Java as well as eastern and southern West Java — regions previously under-reached,” Billy explained.
This expansion comes as a breath of fresh air amid the wave of layoffs (PHK) hitting the country. Recently, sales of cement and other building materials were reported to have plummeted sharply.
Utilization at the new factory is expected to increase gradually, reaching full capacity early next year. The company is targeting markets where conventional red bricks are still widely used, even as purchasing power remains under pressure.
“We hope the national economy and consumer purchasing power will improve, even if conditions are still far from ideal. Government and banking incentives for housing, as well as the ‘3 Million Homes’ program, could bring positive momentum to the building materials industry,” Billy said.
“The government’s commitment to strengthening tax compliance will not only boost state revenue and the national economy but also create healthier competition. This will benefit compliant companies like ours. Typically, the construction materials industry gains momentum in the second half of the year, and we hope to see the same this year,” he added.
At the macro level, Indonesia’s manufacturing activity, as measured by the PMI, remains in contraction territory — below the 50-point threshold separating contraction and expansion.
In June 2025, Indonesia’s manufacturing PMI contracted further, falling to 46.9 from 47.4 in May. This marks the lowest level since April 2025 and the second-lowest since August 2021.
