President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, inaugurated PT DAHANA’s Elemented Detonator Factory. The inauguration of the factory which is located at DAHANA’s Energetic Material Center in Subang, West Java, was held in conjunction with the launch of the Defense Industry SOEs Holding (DEFEND ID) which was marked by the signing of the inscription at PT PAL Indonesia, Surabaya on April 20, 2022.

 

DAHANA’s Director of Technology and Development, Suhendra Yusuf RPN, who is also the Chief Executive of Holding DEFEND ID conveyed that the purpose of establishment of Elemented Detonator Factory is one of the company’s strategies for achieving self-sufficiency in domestic explosives, and reducing dependence on imports, especially in the initiating device sector.

 

“Thank you President Joko Widodo for inaugurating the first Elemented Detonator Factory in Indonesia. This is a step to realize the company’s vision that we have taken by mastering the aspects of raw material of detonators, which is a backward integration strategy from downstream to upstream; and realization of independence of explosive technology so as to reduce imports and save foreign exchange by USD 6 million a year or an equivalent to Rp 87 billion per year,” said Mr Yusuf.

 

Mr Yusuf also said that  elemented detonator is one of the main raw materials for making detonators consisting of high explosives as the main charge and a delay element to adjust the delay time of the detonator. The elemented detonators will later be used in the manufacture of electric and non-electric detonators produced by DAHANA, which currently serves consumers in the mining, quarrying, and construction sectors.

 

The presence of this factory marks an incline in technological mastery and independence of detonator explosives from 35% to 80%. In term of local content value of value of this detonator also increased from 14% to 50%. Apart from that, its dual use of technology can also support the needs for commercial and military explosives.

 

“By constructing the Elemented Detonator Factory, DAHANA realizes the independence of explosive technology and produces explosives, especially detonators with the best quality and competitive prices, reduces import of explosives to Indonesia in order to help diminish dependence on other countries, and increase the company’s revenue and profit in particular,” concluded Mr Yusuf.