LG Claims No Layoff Plan in Indonesia

President Director of PT LG Electronics Indonesia Jaeyoung Lee has confirmed that there is no plan for layoff (PHK) at its two factories in Indonesia. “The economy is stabilizing and has shown signs of improvements and we will survive,” he said on Tuesday evening during the 2016 LG InnoFest Asia, at Grand Hyatt Hotel, Seoul.

Lee’s statement was made in response to the decision of two Japanese electronic manufacturers, Panasonic and Toshiba who recently have been restructuring and merging their factories in Indonesia. “We have other strategies, one of them is by strengthening our brand and entering non-conventional markets, such as ultra premium market.”

Lee is also optimistic that, to date, the company is still dominating the domestic market of electronic sales. “LG Indonesia’s contribution to global market is around 4-5 percent. It’s substantial,” he said.

In Indonesia, LG produced refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioner, televisions and audio-video devices as well as monitors. “Products from the factory are exported,” Lee noted.

Toto, one of the sales representatives of LG products in Medan, is optimistic that the phenomena occurred in Panasonic and Toshiba would not happen in LG. “See, we can hold an event [LG InnoFest] of this magnitude,” he said to Tempo.

Toto added that, LG’s step to make innovation by launching new products which targets ultra premium consumers also shows that the company’s performance is good. “The logic is that layoffs would not happen if the company is still performing.”