FOCUS ON METAL FORMING
What began as a small workshop for maintaining a bus fleet has grown into a thriving company that employs over 600 people and manufactures its own bus bodies.
on chassis from well-known brands such as Mercedes- Benz, Volvo and Scania, while also producing intercity buses that serve routes across Java, Bali and other islands in Indonesia.
Managing director, Yohan Wahyudi, aims to make Tentrem into Indonesia’ s premier bus manufacturer. His vision hinges on getting the right balance between two seemingly contradictory goals: customisation and standardisation. He is determined to optimise production efficiency, but customers must still be able to access unique, tailored products.
“ By providing our employees with new machinery and suitable software, we help them to instil creativity and innovation in their work,” he said. Quite an achievement for a company that started out so small …..
Growth through transformation
Managing director, Yohan Wahyudi, aims to make Tentrem into Indonesia’ s premier bus manufacturer. His vision hinges on getting the right balance between two seemingly contradictory goals: customisation and standardisation
Modern buses consist of thousands of individual parts.
Yohan Wahyudi keeps a close eye on the business and is known for his systematic and data-driven approach to management. Before joining the family firm, he studied computer science in Canada and completed an MBA in China. Today, he strives to introduce greater speed, efficiency and precision into the company’ s production processes.
“ In the past, clients brought us sketches and we painstakingly shaped the metal sheets to match,” he said. The problem was that most of the repairs had to be carried out by hand. Whenever they needed a replacement part for a badly damaged bus, the workers found themselves back at square one.“ Nowadays, we try to automate as much as
we can. The trick is to get the right balance between standardised products and customised solutions,” said Wahyudi
Accelerating ambitions
Tentrem has seen a further surge in growth under Yohan’ s leadership. But this growth poses its own set of challenges: customers put in larger orders and Yohan is keen not to disappoint them. His goal is to transform Tentrem into an original equipment manufacturer( OEM), producing consistently high-quality bus bodies in reliable quantities.
Tatang Wahyudi, Yohan’ s father, founded Tentrem in 1983 as a bus operator in Malang on the island of Java. In 1986, he opened a repair workshop to maintain his fleet. His mechanics fixed scratches and dents, getting buses back onto the road by handcrafting body panels and welding components under openair corrugated shelters.
Over time, Tatang’ s business became more successful. The workshop began servicing external clients one year later. The bus operator still exists to this day, and the company was officially established in 1991 as PT Tentrem Sejahtera, or Tentrem for short.“ We kept growing and gradually transitioned from repairs to designing our own bus bodies,” Yohan recalled.
Today, the original tin-roofed sheds have been replaced by modern production facilities. An elegant glass-fronted administrative building occupies a prominent position near the main road, backed by an almost eight-hectare complex of production halls. All in all, Tentrem employs more than 600 people.
The challenge for Yohan Wahyudi’ s generation is transitioning from a manual-labour mindset to efficient line production.
Previously, producing a baggage compartment door required five or six parts to be welded and bent. With the TRUMPF TruLaser 5030 and TruBend Center 5030, Tentrem can now create the door from a single sheet of metal.
ISMR October 2025 | ismr. net | 49