Jakarta –
President Director of PT Krakatau Steel Silmy Karim finally brought the company into profit. Whereas previously this state-owned steel company recorded losses of up to hundreds of billions.
Silmy Karim was asked to lead Krakatau Steel in 2018. At that time he did not know if the debt of this company was more than Rp. 30 trillion.
Even so, he wasn’t surprised. However, he said the company’s cash flow was negative, which caused problems.
“Paying debts using debt, paying salaries using debt. When I first entered, I calculated that the debt increased from interest alone at IDR 7 billion every day,” he said at an outspoken event earlier this week.
Therefore, he immediately took steps to restructure the debt. He negotiated debts with 10 banks. It was not easy, the negotiations were quite tough until finally finding an agreement one year later, namely January 12, 2020.
In addition to debt restructuring, he carried out the efficiency of KS’s body which was considered fat. There were 60 subsidiaries that were downsized, did not renew the outsourcing company contracts and offered early retirement to employees.
Silmy said he also completely overhauled KS’s business strategy. Namely by going directly to the buyer. Then provide understanding to buyers if this KS product can make business more efficient than importing.
“Until the beginning of the reform, Krakatau Steel held a trade system (monopoly), so it was still in tune with customers. Now I go directly to the field to visit potential customers,” said Silmy.
When many overseas factories closed due to the pandemic, he actually made an opportunity to flood the market with KS’s best products. Before there was a work from home policy, Silmy Karim had already implemented it. “When it comes to quality, KS products are excellent. They are used in Europe and Australia,” he said proudly.
In another part, a man born on November 19, 1974 reveals various tricks of steel importers to avoid taxes. He also explained his reasons for studying at NATO and US NAVAL, and the three main activities he usually does to maintain a balance in life.
(kil/eds)
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