Indonesia SEHEN Solar Lamp Programme

Client Background

In 2010 an Indonesian customer visited us. They were buying for PLN, the Indonesian utility power company, which needed a large quantity of SEHEN lamps for rural households.

The Challenge

We sourced hard and could not find the product anywhere. No factory wanted to develop for that demand without confidence in the requirement and an assurance of future orders. The tooling and development cost was real and the follow-on volume was not guaranteed.

Customer Pain Points

• An open tender that had to be followed to the letter, with no room for a substitute.
• A national laboratory test the product had to pass before any supply.
• A large volume needed on a programme timetable.
• A price that a subsidised rural programme could carry.

Our Solution

We first recommended several replacement solar systems. Every one was refused, and correctly so, because an open tender means following the instruction exactly. So we established our own R&D team and built the lamp the tender described.

Manufacturing Process

It was hard work. From moulding to components, after eight months of day and night work, the lamp passed the Indonesia laboratory test. That programme is the reason the company has its own moulding and R&D capability today.

Supply Chain Coordination

Panel, cell, LED, housing and accessory supply were brought together against the programme delivery window, with the specification held identical across every batch.

Quality Control

The finished lamp went through the Indonesian laboratory test before volume supply began. That test, not our own opinion of the product, is what released the order.

Final Result

We supplied 150,000 pieces of solar lamp to Lapuwan Island near Bali, and were one of the pioneers in this work from 2011 onwards.

Customer Benefit

A tender that could not be filled was filled, at a specification that had been written down and tested rather than argued about. For the households on the island it meant light in the evening and a lamp that kept working.

What Changed For Us

After that project, with our feet in most undeveloped countries, we saw that rural households in many other countries needed the same thing. Since then we support local partners with customisation for local demand, local production and cost optimisation.