Arwana’s New Plant to Raise Tile Output

Arwana Citramulia, a ceramic tile producer, is looking to add 8 million square meters to its existing 41 million square-meter annual production capacity, once its fourth plant — located in Palembang, South Sumatra — becomes operational this year, the company’s founder and chief executive said.

Tandean Rustandi was upbeat on the industry’s outlook, giving that as the main reason for the business expansion.“Our population is 240 million [people] and yet ceramic consumption is only 1 square meter per capita. It is very low, even when compared with Vietnam which has 4 square meters of ceramic consumption per capita,” said Tandean, who founded Arwana in 1993 and made it one of the top 20 tile manufacturers in the world.

Currently, the firm operates three plants in Tangerang, Serang and Gresik. Its Palembang plant is scheduled to begin commercial operation in October.Since its inception, Arwana has consistently targeted the lower- and middle-class segments. In 2011, it introduced a new product for the well-heeled segment of society but remains confident that the lower and Ceramic tile, traditionally its bread-and-butter, remains its major market.

The biggest hurdle for the business, however, as Tandean explained, was the lack of a reliable gas supply. The ceramics business is energy-intensive, making securing energy sources a top priority.Energy is the largest cost component in the ceramic industry, accounting for 35 percent of total costs.“Even with a low level of consumption we find trouble securing natural gas supplies,” said Tandean, who believes there is a need to make the domestic gas market more competitive.

Tandean, who entered the business with little knowledge, now has partnerships with 14,000 distributors selling only Arwana ceramics. He says the company commands a 20 percent domestic market share.The company reported net income of Rp 133.9 billion in the first half of the year, more than double from the same period a year earlier, even as sales increased by just 30 percent.

Tandean is no longer the majority shareholder in Arwana. Major financial institutions like Credit Suisse, UBS and HSBC own substantial interests in the company which, according to Tandean, is a show of confidence in the company’s growth plans.

“They include Arwana in their investment portfolio because we are not being forced to expand, but are consistently expanding,” noted Tandean. For his business success, his alma mater gave him the University of Chicago Entrepreneurial Alumni Award for 2011.

Several years ago I was introduced to European Tilt and Turn windows while traveling in Germany. My fascination with these windows ultimately lead to me attending a European Door & Window workshop in Ouray, CO recently.

Organized by Greg Godbout of Rangate, under the direction of master craftsman Joe Calhoun of Cascade Woodwork, we spent four intense days building window and door units. Besides myself, in attendance were Jeff Casagrande of Casagrande Woodworks, and Yaraslov Soukup, an engineer and owner of Soukup Machinery from the Czech Republic. Five of us, brought together by our love for the craft, spent our time together sharing year’s of experience.

In 2011, the US imported $94 million in windows, with a significant share of that coming from Europe. Why? Those windows could/should be produced here in the U.S. There is no better time to take advantage of the benefits these windows offer and at the same time increase our domestic manufacturing capabilities.

With windows responsible for 25% to 30% of the heat loss in a typical building, well-designed and installed windows are critical to reducing energy consumption while increasing thermal comfort and air quality in a controlled environment.

Wood is a sustainable and a renewable resource, and an operable Tilt and Turn window provides excellent air-tightness when closed and controlled ventilation when opened. Together, wooden Tilt and Turn windows and doors are an essential component to enable the overall higher building energy standards.

Danny Johnson, lead designer on the iOS version of Runner2 and a level designer on the console version of the game, told us that he was going through each level, making things work better for the touchscreen controls. “Touchscreens aren’t as responsive as buttons,” he said, “so we needed to go back and rethink the whole game, level by level, to make it work for iOS.”

Things like stairs are tricky using touchscreen controls, he continued, so the team decided to make some stair areas auto-running, so that players won’t get frustrated by the intensity of tapping that must happen for these vertical features.

In addition to the same five worlds, Runner2 for iOS will have all the familiar characters that you can unlock or purchase to play through the levels with. You’ll also have the same chance to unlock challenge and retro levels in the iOS Runner2 game, using gold collected throughout each level, including levels that use the same tile-set as the first Bit.Trip Runner, which originally released in 2010. The new Runner2 game marks the first time the team is using HD graphics, so the retro style is much more marked than previously.

Read the full products at http://www.tilees.com/!