Jovannes, a final year university student in Jakarta, listened attentively to what the woman at a display booth at the Jakarta International Exhibition Center was explaining about their filling, capping and labelling machines – Made in China products.

On display at the Jakarta International Industry Week 2025 from June 4-7 were new models of automatic and semi-automatic machines used for filling, capping and labelling a wide range of liquids like adhesives, medicines, butter & margarine, honey motor oil and sauces.

“This technology, I think, it fits my idea,” Jovannes said.

More than 100,000 prospective buyers from Indonesia and neighbouring countries and regions in Southeast Asia were interested in the products offered at the fair, according to Meorient Exhibition International, which organized the expo.

The exhibition focused on displaying more than 1,000 sets of high-priced equipment, mostly from China. They go with the Indonesian government’s ambition of accelerating Industry 4.0, an integration of intelligent digital technologies into manufacturing and industrial processes to help boost its competitive power in the region and globally. Showcased at the Jakarta exhibition was a wide range of equipment like wood working machinery, automotive & motorcycle parts, logistics & transportation system, power transmission, printing & packaging machinery, food processing & packaging machinery, machine tools and metal working.

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H. Syamsul from Banten in the western tip of Java Island looked amazed when observing booths that displayed smart technology for making bread and snack cakes. “I just thought about whether new machines offered here at this expo are cheap enough so I can replace my old and outmoded equipment,” Sjamsul said. Driving more than three hours from his home, he was accompanied by two workers.  

Grace Zhao, export manager of Guangzhou Bossmai Machinery Co Ltd, said they had received large numbers of visitors since the opening day. Those people curiously want to know from her the details of the equipment on display.

“Indonesia has a big potential, a big population, which means a big market,” Zhao said. She said they already have distributors who target medium-scale and large-scale buyers.

The many other Chinese companies also displaying their products in the expo included Guanzhou Qingli Thermal Energy Mechanical Equipment Co Ltd; Pourin Special Welding Technology Co Ltd; Guandong Yabang Integrated Housing Technology Co Ltd; Shandong Lianbang Heavy Industries Co Ltd; Jiangsu Macro CNC Machine Co Ltd; Hebei Pingle Flour Machinery Group Co Ltd; and Zhejiang Guanxu Numerical Control Equipment Co Ltd.

A booth that displayed new integrated house technology drew visitors’ attention, showing

products like prefabricated house, foldable container house and expandable container house.

In Indonesia such houses are becoming more and more visible, notably at building project sites, said Camila Fong, a manager at Guandong Yabang Integrated Housing Technology Co Ltd. Their container houses are found in North Jakarta and in South Sumatra, where they are used by construction project workers, Fong said.

Fong said they are optimistic about the future of their business in Indonesia thanks to the country’s determination of boosting its industrial and infrastructure development using advanced technologies.

Coco Zhang, manager at Hangzhou Xitong Electric Technology Co Ltd, said her company already has an agent, a warehouse and an after-sales service center, all in Glodok, Jakarta’s largest Chinatown. Starting operation in the capital city a couple of years ago, the company specializes in inverters, which are called variable frequency driver (VFD), widely used in automatic industrial equipment to control the motor speed by changing the motor frequency.

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H. Syamsul said that given the presence of more and more Chinese technologies and products in Indonesia, the Indonesian people can more seriously learn technological innovations from other countries, notably from China.

Mahendra Rianto, chairman of the Indonesian Logistics Association, said they hope more and more companies in China will relocate their factories to Indonesia and that his organization will facilitate their logistic and supply chain activities as well as their operation in the archipelago’s industrial zones.

Rianto, speaking in the expo’s opening ceremony, said the presence of Chinese businesses in Indonesia provides a good opportunity for the local people to learn more and adopt about technologies from China for production and export businesses.

China is Indonesia’s largest source of machinery and electrical products, followed by Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.