b'Indonesia boosts ThiessThiess first venture into Asia was in 1972, in a fifty-fifty partnership with Petrosea. The first job was to construct a dry dock in Singapore, and from there the companys presence in the region solidified. As well as Singapore, Petrosea had projects in Malaysia and some maintenance work in Balikpapan, Indonesia. With a significant enough presence there, long-serving senior managers Alex Morokoff and NormFussell were given the responsibility of making it all work.The history of Thiess When CSR took control of Thiess, one of the areas they sold off was the share of is littered with examples ofPetrosea and the work being done in South-East Asia. After the CSR takeover and necessity being the mother through the mid-1980s, Thiess was struggling financially as well as strategically. In 1985, of invention, and I guess thisManaging Director Martin Albrecht placed a return to Indonesia firmly on the agenda.I dont know that we had time to be strategic by deciding to go back into Indonesia, was one of those. he recounted in 2008. [But] our brand was still respected there, and there was the chance to win work. And we needed to win work. Martin and the team decidedto tender for six relevant opportunities on the smell of an oily rag, and wonfour of them. We began to regain some confidence in our future.Indonesia law required at least part-local ownership on mining operations, so PT Thiess Indonesia was created with Sam Rumende, the local owner and Director. Ive been involved with Thiess since the Petrosea days, he says. In 1979, we did $6 million. After re-entry we did $175 million in 1989, then $500 million in 1999, and around $1 billion in 2009. We have been able to replicate Thiess values, people performance and pride.The history of Thiess is littered with examples of necessity being the mother of invention, and I guess this was one of those, Martin humbly says of the time.By the time Bruce Munro started working in the Asian operations in the early 1990s (hed later become the boss of Thiess), Indonesia was generating over 20 per centof Thiess revenue and more of its profit. A decade after that, the Sangatta Coal Mine was the largest project Thiess had on its books, and in 2001, it signed its biggest ever contract, at Arutmin.There are cultural differences to deal with, working in Indonesia. But after beingin the country so long, those differences are strengths. The challenges remain, however; many of the sites are in remote jungle locations with limited infrastructure. Equipment is often boated in or, sometimes, dropped in by helicopter. Rainfall is unpredictable and when it arrives, it is torrential. Local power generation is usually required, as the grid network can be inaccessible or unreliable.Since 2015, Thiess has stepped up its exposure in the country once again. A key part of Thiess strategy is to make inroads into other industries. For more than three decades we have been working in coal, so moving into other commodities is a big thing, President 60'