Copra is the dried meat of the coconut harvested from the
coconut palm. These trees were in every kampong; the coconuts were collected
and transported (by the Chineses) to the factory, where they were first split
and dried before pressing out and extracting the oil.
In the 1910's and1920's there were many oil factories combined into the "OFI" (N.V. Oliefabrieken Insulinde in Nederlands-Indië). In that period dr. Albert Jan Kluyver spent several years (1916-1919) on Java as scientific consultant; later he became head of the laboratory of OFI in Bandung. He then heavily critisized the manifacturing of by-products.
On the level of management, the OFI was critisized in 1918 by a principal agent of the NIHB ("Nederlands-Indische Handelsbank) in Batavia, Conradus Woldringh (my grandfather). He warned that the administrators of OFI were incompetent and too autocratic (p.74 of the book of R.N.J. Kamerling about the OFI; T. Wever bv, Francker, 1982). Although the directors in Amsterdam were annoyed and told him to mind his own business, it appeared that he was right: In 1923 the OFI had to be liquidated which resulted in the foundation by the NIHB of "Mexolie" (Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Oliefabrieken). Conradus Woldringh went to Amsterdam where he became director from 1921 to 1935 (documented in the book of W.L. Korthals Altes, "Tussen cultures en kredieten", Amsterdam 2004).
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| The drying field of the Mexolie factory in Keboemen in 1933 |
In the 1910's and1920's there were many oil factories combined into the "OFI" (N.V. Oliefabrieken Insulinde in Nederlands-Indië). In that period dr. Albert Jan Kluyver spent several years (1916-1919) on Java as scientific consultant; later he became head of the laboratory of OFI in Bandung. He then heavily critisized the manifacturing of by-products.
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| Cover of a book by dr. R.N.J. Kamerling, a study describing the decline of the "OFI" |
On the level of management, the OFI was critisized in 1918 by a principal agent of the NIHB ("Nederlands-Indische Handelsbank) in Batavia, Conradus Woldringh (my grandfather). He warned that the administrators of OFI were incompetent and too autocratic (p.74 of the book of R.N.J. Kamerling about the OFI; T. Wever bv, Francker, 1982). Although the directors in Amsterdam were annoyed and told him to mind his own business, it appeared that he was right: In 1923 the OFI had to be liquidated which resulted in the foundation by the NIHB of "Mexolie" (Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Oliefabrieken). Conradus Woldringh went to Amsterdam where he became director from 1921 to 1935 (documented in the book of W.L. Korthals Altes, "Tussen cultures en kredieten", Amsterdam 2004).
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