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Aman Lie’s parents were already in plastic industry since he was 23 years old. At that time, he even built his own printing machine due to the lack of fund to support his printing and plastic bag-cutting business, Ligokriyasa Mandiri. “I understand about my parents’ situations at that time, they were very focused on their business. Therefore, I also pursued my own and so thankful that it went well,” he said.
Aman Lie admitted that he didn’t pursue higher education. Despite that, his courage, persistence, and desire to learn and find out about things became valuable assets that led the young Aman Lie to enter the world of the plastic industry. “A businessman has to have courage to make a decision, to take risks, even to face failure,” he recalls.
Aman Lie also admitted that at that time he has a big curiosity and eager to learn. “I will find all answers for my questions and find people to ask and to discuss with. I never feel ashamed to ask. If people give me answers, I would feel very grateful but in the other hand, ifthey didn’t, I will never stop figuring it out. For me, if there is a will, there will always be an opportunity and success awaits. Determination is the key,” Aman Lie recalled.
He believes there are no stupid people, but there are lots of them that are not willing to find out and doesn’t have the desire to learn. “I believe as long as every human has a desire and will to figure it out, they will learn so many things and have more opportunity to succeed,” he said.
It has been proven now, within 30 years, Aman Lie has succeeded to grow his business and built Ligo Group that oversee five companies that runs in the plastic industry. Ligokriyasa Mandiri as a plastic producer for other companies; Dolpin Putra Sejati that produces plastic bags such as IPP, HDPE, heavy duty bags/FFS, and PE Mulsa under the brand Bawang, Sawo, etc; Unggul Karya Semesta that produces tarpaulin; Unggul Plastik as the distributor of plastic bag, tarpaulin, plastic cup, mulch, and many others; Cahaya Dinamika Persada as the produces and distributor of packaged drinks.
Until now, Ligo Group’s existence and track record are supported by advanced technology and human resources. “Without technology we will be left behind. We need technology to create a perfect product,” he said. Aman Lie also admitted that plastic packaging technology industry has grown rapidly. For example, nowadays people already used Polyethylene (PE) plastic technology as a substitute to Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and nylon that are hard to recycle.
Not only machine and technology, Aman Lie also believes that human resources are essentials for their business growth. “For me, business is all about managing and developing human resources as well. If we can have a team that consists of the best personnel, business will be running smoothly,” said Aman Lie that already has more than 3,000 employees.
Aman Lie acknowledges that so far competition is still healthy among the plastic packaging domestic market players. “These industries also provide lots of opportunities for those who need it. Anyone could be able to enliven the industry and become a competitor,” he explained.
Plastic packaging market is niche market. “We have a lot of bulk food products varieties that need plastic packaging to be distributed, for example sugar and oil. Overseas there are no bulk food products, everything has already packaged. Therefore, our PE plastic packaging are still on demand. They are useful especially in traditional market for packing various products such as vegetables,fishes, and many others,” he said.
In this competitive market sector, Ligo Group managed to strengthen their business products’ distribution networks. Aman Lie acknowledges that everyone could run plastic packaging business. However, the challenge is on the distributions. Traditional market has been the central of distribution of Ligo Group’s several plastic packaging products. Plastic bag under the brand “Bawang” becoming one of Ligo’s flagship products.
To source all the production’s raw material, Aman Lie has collaborated with Chandra Asri through years. Their partnership has been built long before Chandra Asri was established. “We’ve known each other since Chandra Asri was established, even since the name was still Tri Polyta. In fact, even long before Tri Polyta started their first production we already started to build this relations,” he remembered.
According to Aman Lie, Chandra Asri’s resins quality is excellent. “Overall, their product is classified as a great product. But, they can improve the quality of their flexible packaging material,” he said.
Besides the products, Aman Lie sees Chandra Asri as a strict company on applying “game rules” including business agreement and pricing. These things are indicating Chandra Asri’s professionalism,” he said.
Even so, Aman Lie together with Ligo Group are obeying the rules that have been made by Chandra Asri. “I don’t have any better option for domestic plastic production besides Chandra Asri. “Air yang įauh tidak saya įaga, tapi api yang dekat yang saya įaga” (an Indonesian idiom which means we are keeping the nearby fireballs instead of the faraway waters). As a domestic player, we also hope to have domestic supplier. Importing is only an alternative. Importing materials are also challenging, not to mention about price and delivery time,” he said.
Therefore, Aman Lie is hoping ChandraAsri to continue developing their products so it would be able to meet the local plastic industry demand.
Black campaign against plastic bags which sparked controversy a few days back and became a hit for Ligo Group and many other plastic-producing industries. Even when it wasn’t obstructing the companies’ work ethics, black campaign has made industry players ruminate over the best way possible to develop their businesses. On the other hand, Aman considered this plastic waste issue and plastic ban issue as mis-targeted actions.
“It’s not the plastic’s fault, but the communities’. The problem isn’t solely for the entrepreneurs to fix; the government must also participate. As one of the vice-chairmen in The Aromatic and Plastic Industry Association (INAPLAS) in charge of the downstream industry, we have made many attempts to solve this problem. Unfortunately, that’s only been a piloting project that’s hard to apply nationally without the government’s support,” he explained.
According to Aman Lie, nowadays, the problems are policy regulators such as plastic tax or prohibiting the use of plastic in DKI Jakarta, which suppresses the work of plastic-producing industry players. Unfortunately, this ban is not associated with a fair solution and alternative, for both for producers and consumers. He considers the consumers’ need for plastic bags at an affordable price in traditional markets. “They have to be given the exact solution and alternative,” he said.
Regarding plastic waste, Aman Lie reminds us to reconsider our habits as a responsible citizen. “If only household plastics are sorted out, the economic value still be above average. Even in landfills, plastics are manually cleaned because they can be recycled,” he said.
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