The manufacturing sector has a strategic role in strengthening the structure of the national economy. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) is aggressively optimising the performance of the manufacturing industry by encouraging the implementation of digital transformation.

Vice Chairman of Kadin Indonesia for Industry, Bobby Gafur Umar said the manufacturing sector is the main driver of economic growth. Mentioned, the manufacturing sector in 2023 contributed 19 per cent of economic growth.

"But actually our economy is getting bigger, the contribution of the manufacturing sector is decreasing. Previously 21 per cent of economic growth is now 19 per cent. With that we must have a transformation programme on how the manufacturing industry can be more effective, efficient with higher productivity," Bobby said in a discussion themed Manufacturing Technology Roadshow and Business Discussion Forum 2024 in Semarang, Wednesday (24/4/2024).

Chairman of Kadin Central Java, Harry Nuryanto, said that the position of the manufacturing industry dominates the economic structure of Central Java. According to BPS data, the manufacturing industry will dominate Central Java's economic structure in 2023 with a contribution of 34.03 per cent.

"The contribution in Central Java is certainly driven by Central Java's leading industries such as food and beverages, tobacco, furniture, and other processing industries. This shows that we must strive for the growth and development of the manufacturing industry, so that it is expected to make a positive contribution to the Indonesian economy, especially Central Java," said Harry.

He said, for the implementation of digital technology, his party is currently collaborating with Epicor to provide solutions to the industry. "Epicor has software solutions related to digitalisation so we hope that Epicor's active role can provide improvements to the Central Java industry. The implementation of digital technology in the manufacturing sector is expected to increase production efficiency so as to increase competitiveness," said Harry.

He said the application of digital technology for production efficiency is the key to being able to survive in the midst of business competition.