Always Reaching Higher

Transcription

—Yokogawa centennial booklet—
Yokogawa Electric Corporation
Published in November 2015
©2015 Yokogawa Electric Corporation
Message from the President
Yokogawa Electric Corporation marked its 100th anniversary on September 1.
To help commemorate this major milestone, we have compiled this booklet in
the hope that this will reinforce our understanding of the principles Yokogawa
has upheld since its foundation and encourage everyone to work together to
put the company on the right track for another 100 years of success.
Yokogawa traces its history back to 1915, when Dr. Tamisuke Yokogawa, a
prominent architect, founded an electric meter research institute in Shibuya,
Tokyo. His ultimate aim was to begin the manufacturing of electric meters,
which were all imported in those days, and launch a new era for the
measurement industry in Japan. Amidst drastic social and economic changes,
Yokogawa continued to transform itself by expanding the scope of its business
Taking the opportunity presented by this centennial anniversary, Yokogawa
from measurement to control and information solutions, and provided essential
has established the corporate brand slogan of “Co-innovating tomorrow.” This
core technologies that helped to spur industrial growth.
clearly expresses the intent of the vision statement in the long-term business
At the time of the company’s founding, Dr. Yokogawa explained his business
framework that was announced in May: “Through ‘Process Co-Innovation,’
philosophy to Ichiro Yokogawa, who later would become the company’s first
Yokogawa creates new value with our clients for a brighter future.” This has the
president, and Shin Aoki, the eventual first chief engineer. Passed down over
added purpose of encouraging all Group employees to work together. Under
the years to the present day, these founding principles emphasize putting
this new slogan, Yokogawa will seek to build even stronger bonds of trust with
quality first, having a pioneering spirit, and contribution to society. Based on
its customers by working with them to create value and stimulate growth.
these principles, Yokogawa has built trust not only with its customers, but also
I want to make Yokogawa an ideal company in which all employees can say
the broader society, and has gone on to develop new technologies and become
with confidence, “Our dream is to make customers’ dreams come true,” and I
a global enterprise. Our commitment to these principles is firm and unchanging.
ask everyone in the Group to be aware of Yokogawa’s history and values, and
Our business environment is changing dramatically as a result of globalization
to work together to make our next 100 years even better.
and the transition to a multipolar world order. Likewise, change is coming to
industry as trends such as the integration of things and information gather
momentum. At this crucial juncture, Yokogawa is transforming itself to set the
stage for continued growth.
Takashi Nishijima
President and Chief Executive Officer
2
3
Quality first
The Yokogawa Philosophy
As a company, our goal is to contribute to society
through broad-ranging activities in the areas of
measurement, control, and information.
Individually, we aim to combine good citizenship with
the courage to innovate.
The Yokogawa Heritage
In his instructions to Ichiro Yokogawa and Shin Aoki, Dr. Tamisuke Yokogawa said,
“You don’t need to worry about profits. Just learn and improve our technology. You
must make products that earn us the respect of our customers.” This is the origin of
the founding principles that have been handed down through the generations and
The concepts and values that underlie everything we do at Yokogawa
did not come about in just one day. Amidst social change and
the growth in our business that has transpired over the past 100 years,
we have remained faithful to this cherished heritage.
emphasize putting quality first, having a pioneering spirit, and contribution to society.
Although first set into words in 1988, the Yokogawa Philosophy is based on these
founding principles, and is embodied in the code of conduct that guides employees in
the performance of their daily tasks and in all pronouncements on our corporate
objectives.
Core Values
Respect
Value creation
Collaboration
Integrity
Gratitude
These core values are exemplified in the priorities and commitments made by each
Yokogawa employee and which mold and shape our corporate culture. Rooted in
these values, we will continue to create value and contribute to society as we point
the way forward for Yokogawa’s next 100 years.
Pioneering spirit
Contribution to
society
4
5
Our Next 100 Years—
Vision Statement
Through “Process Co-Innovation,” Yokogawa Creates
New Value with Our Clients for a Brighter Future
In May 2015, Yokogawa announced a long-term business framework that states where we wish to be 10
years from now. The vision statement that is part of this framework clarifies what Yokogawa wishes to
accomplish in the long term.
We envision an automation business that will utilize all of Yokogawa’s measurement, control, and
information technologies. And with the phrase “Process Co-Innovation,” we refer not just to the optimization
of production processes, but to the improvement of the flow of products and information between
companies. In short, we will co-create new value with our clients as we work with them to provide
comprehensive solutions.
Corporate Brand Slogan
Having marked its 100th anniversary, Yokogawa will continue to strive for growth and live up to society’s
expectations. Unified under the new “Co-innovating tomorrow” corporate brand slogan, we will set out on
the path leading to our next 100 years.
The expression “Co-innovating” conveys our determination to keep co-creating new value by producing
solutions in long-term partnership with our clients. The word “tomorrow” expresses our resolve to move
steadily into the future one step at a time.
Looking ahead to our next 100 years, with the aim of remaining a company that can proudly proclaim
“Our dream is to make our customers’ dreams come true,” Yokogawa will stride confidently into the future.
7
Contents
Message from the President ………
The Yokogawa Heritage ……… 4~5
Our Next 100 years ……… 6~7
2~3
Yokogawa’s
History
Our Past 100 Years
Chapter 1
From the Founding to Postwar Reconstruction (1915-1947) ……… 36~39
The Electric Meter Research Institute and Tamisuke Yokogawa ∕ Becoming the Top
Electric Meter Maker in Japan ∕ Oscillograph: an Early Main Product of Yokogawa ∕
Relocation to Kichijoji and Development of Control Devices ∕ Development of Aircraft
Instruments and Wartime Operations ∕ Yokogawa during the Wartime ∕ Yokogawa Starts
Afresh with One Tenth the Number of Employee
Yokogawa’s
Strengths
Globally Recognized Technology and Quality
High Precision and Long-term Stability — Keys to Winning Our Customers’ Trust
……… 12~15
Chapter 2
From Postwar Recovery to Rapid Economic Growth and Oil Crisis
……… 40~43
(1948-1974)
Contributing to the Development of Modern Science and Engineering ∕ Scaling
From Reconstruction to Recovery ∕ An Overseas Visit and the Decision to Develop ER
the Heights of the Measurement Field ∕ A Theory- and Principle-based Approach to
Instruments ∕ Tie-ups with Two US Companies ∕ Rapid Economic Growth Era in Japan ∕
Measurement ∕ The Value of Non-stop Performance ∕ High-quality Products at a
Intensified Competition ∕ Setting Up of Yokogawa-Hewlett-Packard ∕ End of the Rapid
Reasonable Price — Improved Production Technology
Economic Growth Era
Professional and Honest : the Yokogawa Approach to Delivering Solutions, from
Solution Proposal to Project Execution ……… 16~19
Yokogawa’s People Keep Their Promises — Yokogawa’s People Honor Their Commitments ∕
Chapter 3
From Steady Growth to the Bubble Economy and Its Bursting (1975-1990)
……… 44~48
Our Customer Approach ∕ Challenges Keep Coming Even After a Project
Overcoming Difficulties ∕ CENTUM: the World’s First DCS ∕ Entering the Medical
Order Is Booked ∕ Comprehensive Solutions Backed by a Wealth of Expertise in
Equipment Market ∕ Improving Financial Strength ∕ Merger with Hokushin Electric Works ∕
Production Operations ∕ Looking beyond Our Role as a Main Automation Contractor (MAC)
Stronger Yen and Yokogawa’s Diversification ∕ Development Non-Japan Markets with the
Spirit of Mutual Benefit
High Quality Solutions for Global Customers — the International Development of
Yokogawa ……… 20~23
Column
The History of Hokushin Electric Works ……… 49
Transitioning from Indirect Exports to Direct Sales ∕ Business Expansion Targeting the
Global Market ∕ Aiming to Be the Global No.1 in the Control Business
Excellent Execution of Megaprojects, as Demonstrated in the Petro Rabigh
Project ……… 24~27
Doing What’s Best for the Customer ∕ Yokogawa Selected as MAC for Global Megaproject ∕
Think Ahead, Be Prepared ∕ Petro Rabigh II — The Challenge of Providing Local Content ∕
Advancing Together through the Development of Saudi Human Resources
Contributing to Society, People, and the Earth ……… 28~29
The Relationship between Business and Society ∕ Good Citizenship
Contributing to Society through Our Business ∕ Being a Good Neighbor
8
“VECTOR 21” and Organizational Reform ∕ Developing Unique Products ∕
Reforming the Control Business and ETS ∕ A New Long-term Corporate Strategy for
Achieving a Profitable Structure ∕ Bursting of the Dotcom Bubble and Another Structural
Reform ∕ Making Engineering More Competitive ∕ Transforming into a Global Company
under the Vigilance Campaign ∕ The Second Milestone of the VISION-21 & ACTION-21
Plan and the Financial Crisis in 2008
CSR Initiatives
For Yokogawa around the
Chapter 4
Overcoming the Post-bubble Recession and the Beginning of the Age of
Globalization (1991-2010) ……… 50~53
Globe ……… 30~33
Chapter 5
Aiming to Become Global No.1 in the Control Business (2011-) ……… 54~55
Announcing the Evolution 2015 Mid-term Business Plan ∕ Control Business Responds to
Structural Changes in Market ∕ Transformation 2017: the First Step towards the Next 100
Years
9
Data
Trend of sales and operating income
Trend of sales outside Japan
Sales by segment
Group employees
Group companies
Yokogawa’s Strengths
Globally recognized technology and quality
10
11
Yokogawa 100th Anniversary
High Precision and Long-term
Stability—Keys to Winning Our
Customers’ Trust
N-3 electromagnetic oscillograph. Oscillographs were
long a good source of profits for the company
Contributing to the Development
of Modern Science and
Engineering
Throughout our 100-year history, from
one generation of employees to the next,
Yokogawa’s people have been steadfast
and resolute in their purpose. This is why
Yokogawa is at the top of the control
field in Japan, and ranks alongside
global competitors who do business on
a scale that is several times or even tens
of times larger. This firm resolution is the
source of our strength, and it continues
to make our position secure.
One of the foundations for this
inheritance that provides a basis for the
measurement and control engineering
underlying our production systems is
our sense of duty and the responsibility
that we feel for the activities that we
undertake as a business. Societies have
flourished through the production and
use of energy and goods, and modern
science and production systems have
dramatically accelerated this. The
basis for all these activities has been
detailed observation and the analysis of
data derived from these observations.
Mass production, automation, and
mechanization have all been brought
about through processes such as
quantification, the accumulation of
knowledge, and the analysis of data
that all draw on the five senses and the
human capacity for reason.
One hundred years ago, company
founder Tamisuke Yokogawa had the
following message for the two young
12
engineers who had been entrusted with
the launch of the company: “You don’t
need to worry about profits. Just learn
and improve our technology. You must
make products that earn us the respect
of our customers.” He said this not only
because they were starting from zero and
were trying to catch up with Europe and
the U.S., but also because his intention
was to first become a trusted source
of the technology that provides the
foundation for research and development
and manufacturing. Yokogawa has
faithfully achieved these aims.
In 1924, the company’s 10th year
in business, we developed a portable
oscillograph, Japan’s first. At an
international exposition that was held
in May 1930 in Liege and Antwerp,
Belgium, we exhibited an oscillograph,
electric meter, and other instruments,
and received an honorary award.
Yokogawa’s oscillographs were
continually refined over the next 30
plus years, and went on to play a key
role in supporting research activities at
research institutions and universities
throughout Japan.
Scaling the Heights of the
Measurement Field
This steadfastness has been evident in
our pursuit to improve the accuracy of
our power analyzers, which we have been
selling since the company was founded
and which continue to be a key product
for Yokogawa today. For readings to be
trustworthy and usable, measurement
must be highly precise. Yokogawa has
poured its heart and soul into this obvious
fact. As the company was established not
long after electrification had commenced
in Japan, our first meters were mainly
modeled after products that were being
made outside Japan. But our products
soon were the equivalent of anything
produced elsewhere.1 And by the 1960s,
a half century ago, we were targeting an
accuracy of ±0.02%, which is the same
level of precision as the Japan national
standard.
To stay accurate, measuring
instruments must be calibrated; the
equipment used to calibrate these
instruments must also be calibrated,
and that equipment must be calibrated
as well... And so the cycle goes on. The
national standard brings this cycle to a
realistic conclusion, and the highest-level
measuring instruments are referred to
as “gods” in the industry. Yokogawa’s
APR-2 power meter boasts such good
performance that it has been purchased
by another country’s national institute of
standards and technology. Yokogawa
has kept up with the latest technologies
and holds the top share of the global
high-end power analyzer market with
the WT3000E precision power analyzer,
and is once more in the limelight due
to the current demand for further
improvements in energy efficiency.
1 Dr. Yasujiro Niwa was the first person in Japan
to successfully carry out experiments with
wireless telephotographic transmission, the first
president of Tokyo Denki University, and a
recipient of the Order of Cultural Merits. Around
1918 – 1919, at the telecommunications
ministry, he suggested that Shin Aoki
manufacture British-style measuring equipment
in Japan, and later summed up his actions by
writing, “In those days it was thought that the
Japanese could never make such precision
instruments, and demand for Japanese
instruments was low. But Mr. Aoki accepted
the challenge, and we were greatly pleased
when, after one year of intensive research, he
succeeded in building a meter that
outperformed Western products.”
DPharp, a pioneering differential
pressure/pressure transmitter
The global top-selling WT3000E precision power analyzer
Cross section of a silicon
resonant sensor
CSU-W1 confocal scanner unit. This product series won
the Okochi Memorial Technology Prize
A Theory- and Principle-based
Approach to Measurement
The unrivaled precision of Yokogawa’s
instruments has its origins in our
emphasis on getting back to the
basics with a theory- and principlebased approach to measurement,
as it is applied in research and
development. Measurement of a
physical substance, energy, and so on
requires the manipulation of a target
object and the capturing of data on
its response. The first consideration in
this is how to get the most accurate
and detailed measurement of a target
object. Yokogawa has wholly focused
its efforts on this in its development
and production of devices used
to measure items such as power,
pressure, temperature, and flow rate.
We never take our eyes off what is being
measured, and our strengths lie not
only in efficient digital processing and
the analysis of measurement signals
and data, but also in the fundamental
technologies that rely on analog
elements to capture signals and data.
Our pioneering DPharp differential
pressure/pressure transmitter was
developed based on just such a theoryand principle-based approach. The
application of pressure on H shaped
resonators thinner than a human hair
stretched out inside a tiny package
causes a change in resonance that
is converted to an electric signal and
digitized. The maximum possible
repeatability and stability (fluctuation
of ±0.02% over a 15 year period) have
been achieved by increasing sensitivity
and reducing the effects of temperature
changes and other environmental factors.
This has been done by fabricating the
sensor from a single silicon crystal and
positioning it inside a vacuum chamber.
By eliminating the need for periodic
zero adjustments and the use of valves
in this procedure, and by lengthening
the calibration interval, we have made it
possible for our customers to dramatically
reduce their maintenance costs. And with
a single DPharp transmitter, users can
perform multiple types of measurements,
eliminating the need for multiple
transmitter types. All this is made possible
by micro electro mechanical systems
(MEMS) technology, which is another
major weapon in Yokogawa’s armory.
A winner of the Okochi Memorial
Technology Prize, our confocal scanner
unit product has successfully resolved
the issue of how to continuously capture
images of live cells in real time at
speeds approaching a thousand times
per second. This relies both on optical
measurement technology, a Yokogawa
strength, and mechatronics technology.
The high imaging speed is accomplished
through the use of a laser beam that
passes through a microlens attached
to a disk with up to 20,000 pinholes to
illuminate a specimen. This enables the
dynamic movements of living cells and
their organelle to be captured, making
a great contribution in a wide range of
fields, from basic biology through to
the development of new drugs. Our
development of other products such as
vortex flowmeters has also been based
on such basic theories and principles.
Through our rigorous approach to
research and development and our
13
CENTUM: Non-stop performance that always adds value
collaboration with our customers,
including major global companies,
we have succeeded in producing
and refining technologies that other
companies cannot easily imitate.
instruments are subject to vibrations.
In other words, they must be both
incredibly sensitive and tough. DPharp
transmitters accomplish this by having
silicon resonant sensors that are
vacuum-enclosed and highly stable.
These factors are even more important
The Value of Non-stop
for the CENTUM integrated production
control system, Yokogawa’s flagship
Performance
product. The CENTUM control system
connects countless sensors that are
Other technical advantages of all
located throughout a plant, using the
Yokogawa measurement and control
data obtained to automatically control
products that have earned us worldwide
the plant’s operations. It is absolutely
recognition are long-term stability, high
essential for a system like CENTUM to
reliability, and environmental resistance.
remain operational at all times. Since
While our custmers expect our sensors
releasing CENTUM in 1975, we have
and control systems to be highly
continually upgraded its capabilities
accurate, they must also be capable
by, for example, introducing the use
of operating without interruption in
of dual redundant processor and
challenging environments, such as an
main memory modules. CENTUM
outdoors location where temperatures
CS, released in 1992, features a pair
vary considerably or in a factory where
of micro-processor units
(MPUs) in each processor
module that perform
the same computations
and continuously check
for transient errors. For
advanced stability, it
employs Pair & Spare,
a superb method that
achieves high reliability by
automatically switching
control to a standby
processor module in the
event of a system failure.
1975 release of CENTUM, the world’s first distributed control system
Through such advances,
Yokogawa has achieved 99.99999%
availability ([1-duration of breakdown/
duration of operation] x 100).
Yokogawa has quickly sought to
develop standards based on these
technologies. The company has actively
engaged in developing new and highly
reliable communications technologies
such as FOUNDATION™ fieldbus and
ISA100 Wireless, and has sought to
promote the development of related
international standards and improve
compatibility between production
control systems and the enterprise
resource planning (ERP) and other types
of systems that act as the brain for
businesses.
Speaking of stability, another of
Yokogawa’s strengths is product
continuity. Since the 1990s, there
have been numerous mergers and
acquisitions of companies in the
measurement and control field. Leading
global companies have been particularly
active on this front, expanding and
strengthening their businesses by
purchasing other market players.
Numerous changes to software and
other kinds of products have been made
as a result, and this has led to difficulties
for users in obtaining necessary parts
for the upgrade or repair of equipment.
In contrast, Yokogawa has always
sought when offering new measurement
and control products and systems to
maintain backwards compatibility with
existing products. Also with CENTUM,
the aim has been to prioritize human
needs by, for example, designing the
interface so that it has the same intuitive
ease of use as an analog meter. And
even in cases where it would be easier
from a cost, performance, or efficiency
perspective to completely change the
control system, we have always put
the priority on maintaining backwards
compatibility when seeking to strengthen
functionality. This is one of the reasons
why CENTUM is so highly regarded.
in mass production and has sales
systems in place to handle unit totals
ranging from the hundreds of thousands
to the millions, Yokogawa’s methods
varied by individual product. For this
reason, there was strong opposition
to NPS at various work sites, but it
was seen as a major step needed for
employees to begin the transition from
long-held concepts and approaches.
Later, Yokogawa introduced its
own New Yokogawa Production
System (NYPS). While staying true
to basic NPS concepts on human
needs and the elimination of waste,
this proprietary NYPS model sought
to standardize production volumes by
strictly managing order information.
Furthermore, it refined the mixed
production method by integrating the
management of information and parts
for production lines, and completely
removed waste from the product
supply process by coordinating preand post-production processes such
as development, logistics, and sales.
Following this change in approach,
steady improvements were made that,
for example, substantially reduced lead
times for products that traditionally had
been held to have a six-month lead time.
In addition, production facilities were
expanded outside Japan with the aim
of improving production efficiency and
allowing the modification of products to
suit local market needs. There are now
19 production facilities outside Japan.
Most of these are in Asia, and a few are
located in Europe and the Americas.
The role of the head factory in Kofu has
gradually changed to the production
of core products, the development of
production technology, and the provision
of support to these facilities outside
Japan. By such means, the NYPS
model has stayed true to our emphasis
on considering human needs and has
strengthened manufacturing by better
motivating individuals and making
greater use of their abilities.
The technological capabilities and
the product strengths that Yokogawa
has cultivated since its founding are
the driving force behind our efforts
to develop solutions. Our research,
development, and production of
reasonably-priced products and systems
with the functions and quality required
in this era of globalization sets us apart
from our competitors. Now more than
ever, Yokogawa is taking the high road
in manufacturing.
High-quality Products at a
Reasonable Price—Improved
Production Technology
In order to offer products and systems
that achieve high levels of precision
and stability, Yokogawa is continually
seeking to optimize operations at its
plants, which produce a great variety
of products in small lots. Until the
1970s, Yokogawa followed a typical
plan-based production model and
kept large inventories of parts and
finished products. However, as a
result of the saturation of the domestic
market, increased overseas expansion,
increased competition, and other
factors, Yokogawa decided to reduce
its production costs by introducing the
New Production System (NPS) in 1981.
Based on the Toyota production system,
this was an order-based production
model. Unlike Toyota, which is engaged
Production lines at Yokogawa Manufacturing’s Kofu factory
14
15
Professional and Honest:
the Yokogawa Approach to
Delivering Solutions, from
Solution Proposal to Project
Execution
Yokogawa’s People Keep Their
Promises—Yokogawa’s People
Honor Their Commitments
Staying on schedule and on budget
while catering to the needs of a
customer is a basic for any business,
but it is not always easy. With longerterm projects where there is more that
can go wrong, Yokogawa’s people do
everything in their power to stay on time
and on budget.
In October 2005, Yokogawa hosted a
symposium and technology innovation
fair to celebrate its 90th anniversary.
The company invited Simon Lam, an
executive of the oil & gas supermajor
Royal Dutch Shell and the CEO of
CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals
Company Ltd., as a guest speaker. In
his appraisal of our company, Mr. Lam
noted three key characteristics:
• We keep our promises.
• We don’t turn our backs on
difficulties, but confront them head
on and see our work through to
completion.
• We provide high-quality and reliable
solutions based on the latest
technologies.
While Mr. Lam addressed his words to
the entire company, they resonated most
deeply with the sales engineers and
project leaders who have direct contact
with our customers, and made them
want to say, “That is exactly how I feel.”
In 1997, Yokogawa introduced its
16
with customers and other companies
such as equipment suppliers that is
altogether different from the type of
communication required to simply
sell systems or individual pieces of
equipment. Whatever the difficulties
that we face, we must honor our
commitments and, without fear of failure,
follow projects through to completion.
This may initially appear quite simple
and straightforward to some, but it is not
necessarily so. Mr. Lam stated that, from
the customer’s perspective, Yokogawa
is in these respects an outstanding
company. It was, therefore, only natural
that the system engineers and project
leaders who face such challenges were
delighted with his words.
Yokogawa’s transformation into a
solutions provider was initiated with the
introduction of ETS, and this continued
with the launch of VigilantPlant. We are,
indeed, in the process of further evolving
our business, aiming in Japan to become
a solutions provider that offers a highadded value business consulting service
for companies engaged in businesses
other than manufacturing. Namely, we
will analyze problems and then suggest
and execute solutions for the operation
of factories and other facilities in which
control systems will play an essential
role. We will continue to evaluate the
results of these solutions and use
the insights gained to suggest further
improvements.
In the global market, we will continue
to pursue growth as a provider of total
instrumentation solutions, primarily
in the capacity of a main automation
contractor (MAC).
Overview of the ETS business, our first step in becoming a solutions provider
Enterprise Technology Solutions (ETS)
concept and stated its intention to seek
growth by providing solutions in the
Japan industrial automation and control
market, which had by then reached
maturity and offered few prospects for
new projects. The company aimed to
become a solutions provider that not
only utilizes cutting-edge equipment
and systems to optimize control
systems at the factory level, but also
optimizes all aspects of the operation
of such facilities – including even the
business management level – over the
entire plant lifecycle.
Furthermore, in the global industrial
automation and control market, we
understood that the ability to provide
solutions from a business management
perspective would become necessary
as large-scale projects entered the
planning phase.
This type of solutions business
requires high-level communication
Our VigilantPlant concept for realizing the ideal
plant by achieving excellence in four areas
Networks,
infrastructure
Enterprise resource planning
Business planning,
treasury management,
logistics
Operation management
Production resource management,
inventory control, logistics,
quality control, traceability,
operation improvement
Advanced operation assistance
Process control
Continuous, batch,
discreet
Business
continuity
planning
Environment and
resource improvement
Environmental protection,
energy management
Data mining
Risk and
safety management
Information security,
invasion monitoring,
safety instrumented
systems
Facility management
Condition management,
maintenance management,
diagnosis
Big data
Data on operations, quality,
device management, etc.
Field networks,
field wireless products
Field instruments
Sensors, actuators,
analyzers, drives
Comprehensive consulting services offered by Yokogawa Solution Service covering everything from field
instrumentation to enterprise resource planning
Our Customer Approach
Our value-added solutions will vary
depending on whether they are for a
new or existing facility. In either case,
however, it will be important for us to
evaluate the current situation and identify
issues that will need to be addressed.
With an existing facility, we will
start by either responding to already
identified problems and needs or by
conducting a survey to identify such
problems and needs. These needs
could include the desire to enhance
capabilities without upgrading
equipment, improve production and
reduce the size of the workforce,
integrate and visualize information in
coordination with central control and
upper-level management information
systems, improve security and safety,
reduce energy consumption, outsource
maintenance services, or support a
business operation in another country.
With a new facility, we seek when
preparing our proposal to meet the
customer’s cost and delivery schedule
requirements while providing a solution
that both adds value and performs the
requested functions.
Here, our global network of project
leaders and system engineers
demonstrate their strengths. As will
be discussed in greater detail later
on, project leaders have every type
of standard manual and a full range
of Yokogawa package solutions and
products at their disposal, and are
called on to oversee and motivate
large numbers of personnel, engage in
demanding negotiations with customers
and partners, and create solutions. And
even after submitting their proposals for
large-scale projects, they must respond
in a very timely fashion to countless
inquiries from their customers.
It is here also that Yokogawa’s resolve
to keep its promises shines through.
For plant upgrade projects in Japan,
we have professionals covering each
industry who are intimately familiar with
every detail at our customer sites and
who work tenaciously together with the
customer to identify problems and come
up with solutions. And with large-scale
projects outside Japan where deadlines
are extremely tight, our employees work
around the clock, if need be, to draw up
and submit proposals on time.
What motivates Yokogawa’s people
to work in this way? The answer to this
question varies depending on which
systems engineer or project leader
you ask. One replied that it was only
natural to want to meet the needs of
17
Evolution of Business Models
Advanced
Innovate by identifying needs that customers
are not aware of and presenting solutions.
(Fulill dreams)
Applied
Provide optimized solutions that
meet specific customer needs.
(Create solutions)
Foundation
Supply superior products that
meet basic customer need.
(Sell things)
Announced in May 2015, an evolution of our business model that aims to identify and meet latent customer
needs through value co-creation
Global response centers that provide an extensive range of after-sales support services.
Ready at all times to respond to customer requests
customers who have placed their trust
in Yokogawa and come to depend on
us. Another answered that our honest
and sincere approach gave us a leg up
in the competition with companies that
are both bigger and more experienced
in carrying out projects outside Japan.
Where they all agree is that, no matter
how difficult the challenge, all of us
at Yokogawa must first and foremost
consider what we can do for our
customers. As a result our customers
develop a strong sense that Yokogawa
is a company that keeps its promises.
Challenges Keep Coming Even
After a Project Order Is Booked
Don’t expect smooth sailing once an
order is booked and a project gets
underway – challenges can and will
come from every direction: disconnects
between the worksite and management,
partner organizations that do things
differently, almost daily changes to
specifications, problems with the
recording of expenses…
Even when faced with a succession of
such problems, however, Yokogawa’s
18
solution teams confront them head
on. If management and personnel at
the worksite don’t see eye to eye, we
analyze the data gathered by CENTUM
and other systems, draw up proposals
based on concrete figures, and work to
bring both sides to an agreement. What
makes the difference is our wide ranging
measurement and control experience
in every type of industry and our ability
to utilize this knowhow to improve
operations at the worksite. To cite
just one example, at a worksite where
productivity had not improved for over
10 years we analyzed data to identify
problems and proposed solutions that
ended up reducing costs by hundreds
of millions of yen. Such cases are
commonplace here at Yokogawa, thanks
to outstanding employees with long
track records of success.
When asked to make changes
to specifications, we do not refuse
even if this is inconvenient for cost or
Yokogawa’s Engineering Organization
Sigapore
Bangarore
CEC HQ
CEC
Wuxi
Tokyo
CEC
Know-how,
infomation
Work process,
document
CEC
Engineering
office
Engineering
office
Manira
CEC
CEC
Bucharest
Project
participation
Engineering
office
CEC
Central engineering centers play a central role in strengthening our engineering capabilities by gathering and
sharing engineering know-how around the world
scheduling reasons. Our first priority is
to deliver a plant solution that fully meets
a customer’s needs. Once a facility is
fully operational, we expect that our
customer will recognize the value of
what Yokogawa has provided, and only
then do we ask for payment in full.
This is made possible by having the
necessary systems and structures in
place. On an internal company basis,
this is accomplished by maintaining
certification systems and sharing
information on successful approaches;
internationally, this is done through
the development of global engineering
standards and continually striving to
make systematic improvements.
Comprehensive Solutions
Backed by a Wealth of Expertise
in Production Operations
A key factor that enables Yokogawa
to come through and honor its project
commitments to its customers is
that we are a provider of a truly
comprehensive set of solutions for
plant operations. As stated earlier,
we base our proposals on an analysis
of the problems that our customers
need to address. Our implementation
of solutions draws on field sensors of
every type, and Yokogawa’s flagship
product, the CENTUM control system.
We are able to deploy personnel who
are specialized in control technologies
and in the manufacturing execution
systems (MES) that link production
operations with the management layer,
and provide consulting services for the
post implementation phase.
To provide enhanced support
services to our customers, we position
solution service centers near their
sites. We are one of exceptionally
few companies with the wide range
of expertise in production operations
needed to develop and offer rich and
versatile manufacturing execution
and management package solutions.
Indeed, this is one of the main reasons
why many major IT vendors and
information system integrators seek to
collaborate with Yokogawa.
To better promote Yokogawa’s
comprehensive solutions in the
international marketplace, we came
up with the VigilantPlant vision for
systems that, even when unseen
events unfold, vigilantly maintain
control over entire production facilities
while also gathering, analyzing, and
sharing information. VigilantPlant
embodies the Yokogawa approach
of steadfastly going the extra mile
for its customers in response to their
challenges and needs.
Looking beyond Our Role as a
Main Automation Contractor
(MAC)
A little over 20 years have passed since
Yokogawa’s solutions business began
to flourish. With a corporate history that
stretches back 100 years, this might well
be considered a recent development. An
effort is now underway to take this to the
next level.
As a MAC, Yokogawa plays a central
project role, with overall responsibility
for measurement and control solutions.
Not limiting ourselves to project
implementation, we will focus on
providing support over the entire
lifecycle of a production facility, toward
which end we will be engaged during
the design and construction phases
in the preparation of proposals for the
long-term maintenance of facilities.
This will make it possible for our
customers to operate their plants more
efficiently, and will allow Yokogawa to
work with its customers over the long
term to add value in a greater variety
of ways.
In addition to helping companies
improve the efficiency of their
production operations, Yokogawa is
keen to work with enterprises engaged
in infrastructure-related and other
non-manufacturing lines of business
by offering solutions that address a
wider variety of needs in areas such as
technology development, procurement,
logistics, and services.
Yokogawa will work with its
customers to provide solutions that
create a brighter future. With this
strategy, the trust that our customers
place in us is indispensable.
19
High Quality Solutions for
Global Customers
—the International
Development of Yokogawa
quickly into other international markets,
establishing offices and other facilities in
Europe, Southeast Asia, South America,
and the Middle East, and capitalizing
on the development of industry in each
region. The company also took a step
that was ahead of its time for a Japanese
company, launching knockdown
production in China in 1980.
Business Expansion Targeting the
Global Market
Transitioning from Indirect
Exports to Direct Sales
Following the announcement of the
One Global YOKOGAWA initiative in
the 2000s, Yokogawa sought to make
itself into a global solutions and service
company by restructuring its businesses
and training its personnel.
Yokogawa was always intent on
developing an international presence. In
1919, not long after its establishment,
Yokogawa began exporting products
through a trading company. As its
business continued to grow, the
company exhibited its products at an
international exposition that was held in
Belgium in 1930, and its representatives
20
traveled throughout Europe to
gather information about the latest
technologies. Such efforts continued in
Europe and North America immediately
after the war, and provided the company
an opportunity to refocus on industrial
instruments: a tie-up with
the Foxboro Company, a
major US manufacturer
of control equipment,
helped Yokogawa refine its
technologies and products,
and set the company on a
path that would eventually
lead it into the industrial
automation field.
Starting with the opening
of an office in New York in
1957, Yokogawa moved
After the merger with Hokushin Electric
Works in 1983, the development of
our international business entered a
new stage. Hokushin Electric had both
personnel who were well versed in the
market and a wealth of technologies,
was strong in the oil and steel
industries, and dealt in products such
as control systems and equipment
including industrial computers, aircraft
instruments, and professional-use
film projectors. By using the strengths
of both companies, the plan was to
expand our global business and open
offices in Australia, India, and other
markets. The importance of these
moves increased as the Japan market
matured and Japanese manufacturers
began offshoring their operations.
However, as Yokogawa was not as
well known internationally as it was in its
home market, our international business
had to withstand hardships until the
time was right. Throughout the 1980s
and 1990s, Yokogawa endeavored to
increase orders by emphasizing the
formation of long-term trust-based
relationships with major companies in
the oil industry and other fields. The
company focused its energies on making
its products and technical strengths
more appealing and on building a
stronger customer base in the global
market. These steady efforts have
resulted in the rapid expansion of sales
outside Japan since the year 2000.
Growth was also spurred on by the
Vigilance marketing campaign launched
for our control business in 2003 and
the VigilantPlant initiative announced
in 2005. These strategies, which draw
attention to Yokogawa’s emphasis on
high product reliability and continuous
attentiveness to the operations at
its customers’ plants, made a great
contribution to increasing market
recognition of the Yokogawa brand,
and were applauded by employees of
our Group companies outside Japan for
their emphasis on pride and unity. This
also smoothed the way in our efforts to
localize our operations outside Japan.
With the establishment of Yokogawa
Electric International Pte. Ltd. in
Singapore in April 2005 to oversee our
global control business, Yokogawa
showed its desire to move on to the next
stage of globalization. At this time 20%
to 30% of our sales were coming from
outside Japan, and by 2006 this had
passed the 50% mark.
Aiming to Be the Global No. 1 in
the Control Business
By the 2010s, over one half of our
employees were based outside Japan.
With the aim of becoming the global No.
1 control company, Yokogawa has been
carrying out a growth strategy centering
on the control business and carrying
out structural reforms to increase its
global competitiveness. Our efforts at
localizing our international operations
have been successful because they
have been rooted in a desire to act in the
best interests of the people there, and
our next step is to construct optimized
systems for the entire Yokogawa
Group that make maximum use of each
region’s strengths.
Our knowhow and expertise in the
oil & gas, power, chemical, and other
industries is being shared and put to use
on a global scale. Yokogawa has also
established Central Engineering Centers
(CECs) at various locations around the
world that bring together expertise in
engineering and project execution,
thereby enabling us to provide highquality and responsive engineering
services to our customers wherever
they may be. Regarding product
development, while much of this function
is still centered in Japan, our offices in
other countries are playing a role now in
developing highly specialized products
and software in those areas that are their
strengths, and this is resulting in the
creation of globally competitive products
and solutions.
Our manufacturing operations
continue to focus on high-variety, smalllot production, and our production of
control and measurement products
is centered mainly in Japan, China,
Singapore, Indonesia, and Korea. In
cooperation with Group companies
that are engaged in the knockdown
production of products customized
for local markets, the company is
constructing systems that will enable
it to promptly deliver high-quality
products to its customers around the
world. Wherever we do business, we
emphasize putting quality first and
ensuring customer satisfaction by
providing products that are globally
uniform in quality and reliability.
These systems have been highly
effective, enabling Yokogawa to provide
the same high-quality solution services
all over the world. As a result, we are
undeniably the top control business in
Japan. We also hold the top position
throughout Asia, and are targeting the
global No. 1 position in the medium to
long term.
21
China
Yokogawa Europe（The Netherlands）
Europe
Yokogawa opened a representative office in West
Germany in 1966. In order to expand its business
in the highly competitive European market, the
company established Yokogawa Electric (Europe)
B.V. in the Netherlands in 1974. Yokogawa’s next
major move came with the acquisition in 1982 of
Electrofact, a renowned Dutch manufacturer of pH
and conductivity analyzers that held the top share
in several major West European markets, and the
handing over of its European industrial instruments
business to this company. This acquisition had a
great impact in terms of giving Yokogawa access
to the Electrofact network, which extended
throughout all major European markets. Rather than
manufacturing Yokogawa products, Electrofact
promoted its own line of analytical instruments until
1984, when it was integrated into the Yokogawa
Electric (Europe) business. In 1990 this company
was renamed Yokogawa Europe B.V.
In the same year, Yokogawa bought a stake
in ROTA, a globally well-known manufacturer of
variable area flowmeters. Yokogawa eventually
acquired a controlling interest in this company and
based some of its flowmeter production there.
In 1992 Yokogawa strengthened its customer
base by acquiring the DCS business division of
CEGELEC, a French engineering company, and
establishing it as Yokogawa Contrôle Bailey S.A.
(This company was later integrated into Yokogawa
France S.A.S.) In addition to capitalizing on these
companies’ regional relationships to develop its
business in Europe, Yokogawa also benefited from
their strengths that extend beyond Europe to the
global market.
Yokogawa China（China）
Yokogawa started exporting to China in the
1950s and established a service center in Beijing
in 1979. That same year the company signed a
knockdown production contract for analog meters
with Xian Instruments Factory, and began a
process of transferring recorder, flowmeter, single
loop controller, and other product technologies
to companies throughout China. Yokogawa also
helped establish a measurement engineering
department at a university in Xian. The business
with Xian Instruments Factory expanded to the
point where Xiyi Yokogawa Co., Ltd., China’s
first control systems engineering company, was
established in 1985. Expansion of our business
in China continued with the establishment of joint
ventures for sales, service, and production with
partner companies suited for each industry and
product. The Suzhou Yokogawa Meter Company
was established in 1988 to produce meters, and
today it supplies meters to our customers all
over the world. Established in 1994 and 1995,
respectively, Yokogawa Shanghai Instrumentation
produces flowmeters and Yokogawa Sichuan
Instrument produces transmitters. In 2000,
Yokogawa Shanghai Trading was established to
expand the measuring instrument business. In
2002, Yokogawa established Yokogawa Electric
China Co., Ltd., its first wholly owned subsidiary
in China, and this company launched production
of recorders in the following year. In 2008, three
sales subsidiaries in China were merged to form
Yokogawa China Co., Ltd., which functioned as
the head office for all of Yokogawa’s subsidiaries
in China. Currently, Yokogawa China is working to
expand its business in cooperation with Yokogawa
China Investment Co., Ltd., which was established
in 2012 to function as the regional headquarters.
North America
In 1957, Yokogawa established Yokogawa Electric
Works, Inc. in New York. This was a major step
forward for the company as it was Yokogawa’s first
subsidiary outside Japan, and it was entering the
technologically advanced U.S. market.
Yokogawa worked to establish its presence in this
market by, for example, exhibiting its products at
the ISA Show in 1958. This was the company’s first
time at this globally renowned measurement and
control event. In 1968, Yokogawa Electric Works
was renamed YEWTEC Corporation in order to
strengthen the impression that it was a technology
company, and in 1975 it became Yokogawa
Corporation of America in order to emphasize its
status as a subsidiary. In addition to helping to
increase our sales and strengthen our services in
the U.S. market, the company launched knockdown
production of flowmeters and recorders at a plant in
the Atlanta suburbs in 1980.
While these products were gaining acceptance
in this market, the conclusion was reached that a
strong partner would be needed in order to fully
develop the systems product business in North
America, which was the home of the automation
business and a stronghold of veteran control
businesses. In 1989, Yokogawa established a
North American industrial automation joint venture
with Johnson Controls, an influential automation
company in the commercial air conditioning field.
However, this joint venture was dissolved in 1997
due to differences in management policies and
corporate cultures and Yokogawa was once
again working on its own to advance in the North
American market.
With the growing market recognition of the
Yokogawa name thanks to the company’s
achievements with major oil companies, Yokogawa
Corporation of America established an engineering
center in the energy hub of Houston in 2002, and
moved its headquarters there in 2010. Currently, the
company has subsidiaries in Canada and Mexico,
and is planning to expand its business by targeting
opportunities in areas such as offshore and shale oil
and gas field development.
Yokogawa Electric International
Yokogawa Engineering Asia
（Singapore）
Southeast Asia
Yokogawa Corporation of America（U.S.）
Japan
In 1974, Yokogawa established its first
manufacturing company outside Japan,
Yokogawa Electric Singapore Pte. Ltd., and began
manufacturing meters there the following year. This
company’s factory received great praise throughout
the region due to its excellent quality control and
manufacturing technology, and it was referred to
as a model factory by the Singapore Economic
Development Board. Operations were expanded
there in 1975 with the establishment of a sales
and service company, and the establishment of
an engineering company in 1986. In 1988, these
two companies merged, and this organization was
then integrated with the manufacturing operations
of Yokogawa Electric Singapore in 1990 to form
Yokogawa Electric Asia Pte. Ltd., thereby bringing
manufacturing, order processing, engineering, and
services under the same roof. In 1997, Yokogawa
Electric Asia’s sales, engineering, and service
functions were transferred to the newly established
Yokogawa Engineering Asia Pte. Ltd. Functioning
as the ASEAN headquarters, Yokogawa
Engineering Asia oversaw the establishment of
sales and service offices and the development of
Yokogawa’s business throughout this region. In
2004, certain of Yokogawa Electric’s development
functions were transferred to the Singapore
Development Center, which had been established
to develop control system application software.
Yokogawa’s Singapore operations went on to play
an even more central role in 2005 when Yokogawa
Electric International Pte. Ltd. was established to
oversee the entire non-Japan control business.
Yokogawa Electric Asia subsequently established
production operations in Indonesia, and today plays
an important role in the production of Yokogawa’s
core products, including the flagship CENTUM
integrated production control system.
Yokogawa Middle East & Africa（Bahrain）
Middle East
A representative office was established in Iran in
1976, but was subsequently closed. In 1981, the
Yokogawa Middle East Engineering & Service
Center was opened in Kuwait to prepare for the fullscale development of our business in the Middle
East. In 1990, in order to strengthen our sales and
service systems, Yokogawa Middle East E.C. was
opened in Bahrain, which is a transportation hub
in the Middle East and has relatively few religious
restrictions.
The Middle East is a major market, and many
plants are being constructed there due to that
region’s abundance of natural resources and great
wealth, yet it differs from the European and North
American markets in that there is relatively little
competition from local companies. Yokogawa
has expanded its business there by building
strong customer relationships based on trust and
by acquiring a solid track record with influential
customers, such as state-run businesses.
Control systems engineering subsidiaries were
established in Bahrain in 2005 and in the United
Arab Emirates in 2006, and a sales subsidiary
22
was established in Saudi Arabia in 2006, followed
by a service company in 2007. Yokogawa has
maintained a stance in which it works closely with
its counterparts in the region by, for example,
providing training support for measurement
and control personnel in cooperation with local
universities in Saudi Arabia, and by employing both
male and female local pensonnel. Such initiatives
have helped Yokogawa establish a strong presence
in the Middle East, and this is now one of our most
important markets. And in line with the growing
global interest in the African market, Yokogawa
Middle East E.C. elected in 2013 to change its
name to Yokogawa Middle East & Africa B.S.C.(c),
and is presently expanding its efforts to develop its
business throughout the African continent.
Brazil
Korea
Yokogawa Eletrica do Brasil Industria e Com. Ltda.
started business in 1973 as a sales company.
In the latter half of the 1970s, stronger import
restrictions were put in place by the government
of Brazil to protect the local electronic equipment
industry, so in 1983 Yokogawa transferred its
technology to the Brazilian company ECIL S.A.
so that the production of distributed control
systems could continue. With the discontinuation
of these protectionist policies in 1992, Yokogawa
immediately acquired a stake in ECIL P&D. In the
following year, Yokogawa became this company’s
majority shareholder and renamed it Yokogawa
America do Sul Ltda. In 1998, Yokogawa Eletrica
do Brasil was merged into this company, and
Yokogawa America do Sul went on to open
branch offices and establish subsidiaries in
Chile, Argentina, Columbia, and Peru. Today,
this company continues to play an important role
in developing Yokogawa’s business in this key
South American market that has good prospects
for growth.
In cooperation with Woojin Instruments, a top
manufacturer of industrial instruments, Yokogawa
launched the knockdown production of industrial
instruments in Korea in 1977. In 1978, the
two companies formed the Woojin Yokogawa
Engineering joint venture. This was renamed
Yokogawa Electric Korea in 1983 and became a
wholly owned subsidiary of Yokogawa in April 1998.
In 2012, Yokogawa Instruments Korea, a measuring
instrument sales company that had been established
in 1991 through the acquisition of a Yokogawa
distributor, was merged into Yokogawa Electric
Korea. The company’s operations have grown to the
point where it is able to take on large-scale projects.
In 2002, it spun off its production operations to form
Yokogawa Electronics Manufacturing Korea Co., Ltd.,
which presently functions as Yokogawa’s central
production organization in Korea for temperature
controllers, PLCs, and other types of products.
CIS
In the 1960s, Yokogawa started doing business
in Russia via a trading company and a plant
manufacturer. Following the dissolution of the Soviet
Union and the formation of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS), Yokogawa’s interest in
this expanding market continued to grow. In 1993,
the company opened a representative office in
Moscow, and in 1997 Yokogawa Electric Limited
was established to handle sales, engineering, and
services. Reflecting the importance of this market,
which continues to grow due to the abundance
of natural resources, the letters CIS were added
to the company name in 2005. Subsidiaries were
established in Kazakhstan and the Ukraine, branch
offices and technical centers were established in
various CIS countries, and strong relationships have
been built up with leading global energy companies.
India
Yokogawa launched manufacturing operations
through the formation of Yokogawa Keonics Ltd.,
a joint venture with the Yokogawa distributor Blue
Star and the Karnataka state-owned company
Keonics in 1987. One year following the dissolution
of this joint venture in 2003, Yokogawa India Ltd.
was established with the aim of building strong
relationships with customers in core industries such
as oil, petrochemicals, and electric power. In 1994,
an engineering center was established, and this is
playing a key role in supplying the Yokogawa Group
with engineering resources.
Australia
Yokogawa and a distributor jointly established the
sales company Yokogawa Parameters Pty. Ltd. in
1987. In 1989, Yokogawa set up Yokogawa Australia
Pty. Ltd. as a wholly owned subsidiary. In 1998,
Yokogawa acquired another company’s business
division that develops training simulators for the
power industry. (This would later be merged into
Yokogawa Australia.) Presently, Yokogawa Australia
has a large share of the control market in Australia,
including in the electric power sector.
Taiwan
Yokogawa established the Yokogawa Taiwan
Corporation joint venture in 1989 to strengthen its
industrial instrument sales and engineering functions
in Taiwan. As the joint venture partner was dissolved
at the time of the establishment of this company, all
of that company’s employees, offices, and service
capabilities were transferred to Yokogawa, which
continues its operations in this market today.
23
project to a successful conclusion?
The required methodology, approach,
innovativeness, values, and knowledge
have been handed down through
generations of Yokogawa employees,
and this capability to effectively execute
projects, along with our technologies
and products, are Yokogawa strengths.
Excellent Execution
of Megaprojects, as
Demonstrated in the
Petro Rabigh Project
Doing What’s Best for the
Customer
Yokogawa’s strong reputation in the
global marketplace is the result of its
advanced technologies, the high quality
and reliability of its products, and its
ability to consistently provide solutions
that put the customer first, all of which
are facilitated by a super-efficient
project engineering support system
and organization. No two projects that
the company is engaged in are alike,
differing even within the same industry in
terms of scale, specifications, site type,
schedule, and the manner in which endusers, contractors, and their personnel
go about their tasks. In the case of an
international project, this is compounded
by differences in culture, customs, and
business practices.
Yokogawa Selected as MAC for
Global Megaproject
The accumulated experience and
know-how as well as the project
management tools that Yokogawa
employees have at their disposal serve
as strengths, but in the end, the results
that they achieve depend in good part
on their individual capabilities. What
should be done for the benefit of the
customer, and how can individual staff
members and teams of employees
put their skills into practice to bring a
This ability to get things done has
been displayed in a megaproject that
is being conducted by Rabigh Refining
and Petrochemical Company (Petro
Rabigh), a joint venture between the
Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi
Aramco)—a state-owned oil company—
and Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. The
project involves the construction of one
of the world’s largest oil refining and
petrochemical complexes1 on the Red
Sea coast of the Arabian Peninsula.
Eight leading plant design and
construction contractors from Italy,
View of the Petro Rabigh complex
A cross-company meeting for the Rabigh I project
Spain, the United Kingdom, and
Japan participated in phase I of
the project (Rabigh I), a $9.8 billion
(approximately 1 trillion yen) undertaking
that was launched at the end of 2005.
Yokogawa’s selection as the main
automation contractor (MAC), in which
capacity it oversaw all automationrelated supply, engineering, and
commissioning activities including
the simultaneous execution of 10
engineering, procurement and
construction (EPC) packages, was based
on the client’s wish to assign project
execution to a single entity and thereby
standardize equipment and system
specifications that normally vary greatly
among different plant contractors,
reduce operating burdens, and cut both
materials procurement and maintenance
costs. Yokogawa’s selection as a
MAC for such a complex project was a
manifestation of the trust and confidence
that it earned through years of
meticulous effort and high performance.
From the onset of the project, a major
challenge was the need to manage
the multiple industry-leading plant
contractors in geographically dispersed
locations who had been entrusted
with different parts of the project.
Yokogawa’s values and tradition of
putting the customer’s interests first
earned it the trust of both Saudi Aramco,
which demanded the very highest levels
of quality, and Sumitomo Chemical,
which staked its future prospects in
Saudi Arabia on the project. Close
collaboration and high-level synergy
in contractual and technical matters
with the contractors reinforced the
customer’s trust and confirmed the
soundness of the decision to select
Yokogawa for this project.
1 The 25 km2 site includes a 400,000 barrel/day
oil refinery that is integrated with petrochemical
production facilities capable of producing an
annual total of 1.3 million tons of ethylene,
700,000 tons of propylene, 200,000 tons of
propylene oxide, 900,000 tons of polyethylene,
and 600,000 tons of mono ethylene glycol.
Petro Rabigh II facility (under construction)
24
25
Think Ahead,
Be Prepared
Within Yokogawa, eight project
managers and more than 150 technical
staff were engaged in the project. The
project director carefully examined
the contractual requirements and the
customer’s requests, projected what
issues would need to be addressed,
and prepared possible countermeasures
based on the fundamental idea of
“Think Ahead, Be Prepared.” The eight
project managers signed agreements
with the project director committing
themselves to the achievement of
specific project goals. As a result,
the tasks that fell within Yokogawa’s
areas of responsibility proceeded so
smoothly that the customer commended
Yokogawa by proclaiming, “You’re
always on schedule.”
To ensure on-time delivery of
1,150 cabinets for the production
control system that was at the heart
of operations at the Rabigh complex,
Yokogawa gave its production
subsidiary advance notice of this order
so that it could allocate sufficient
production capacity. The company set
up operations on three floors in two
office buildings in Singapore, and linked
them by running a fiber optic cable
between the buildings. These were just
a few of the innovative practices that
were firsts for Yokogawa in this project.
To ensure smooth and timely execution
Yokogawa Saudi Arabia’s headquarters
Petro Rabigh II factory acceptance test at Yokogawa Saudi Arabia
of all project work, personnel were
brought in from Singapore, India, and
the Philippines. And as each milestone
was cleared, the various teams engaged
in this project were given opportunity
to celebrate their interim achievements,
building morale and promoting a friendly
and healthy rivalry.
The proactive identification and
effective resolution of challenges and
problems allowed project managers to
maintain tight control over the project
as a whole so that any new problems
could be nipped in the bud. As a result,
the execution of this project went very
smoothly, and the Rabigh I facilities
commenced operations on schedule in
April 2009.
Petro Rabigh II –The Challenge
of Providing Local Content
A team building bowling event for Rabigh I project
Yokogawa was highly praised by the
customer for its work on Rabigh I, and
was once again selected to serve as
the MAC for the phase II project (Petro
Rabigh II), a feasibility study for which
was started in 2009. The Petro Rabigh
II project involves the construction of a
complex that will produce high added
value petrochemical products. While
much of Yokogawa’s work for Rabigh I
was carried out in Singapore, Yokogawa
has committed to executing all the work
for the Petro Rabigh II project in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to hire
local personnel, including technical staff,
for this undertaking. This commitment
is consistent with a Yokogawa principle
that emphasizes the local development
of human resources wherever it operates
and is in alignment with a program of
the Saudi Arabian government that
seeks to promote the development of a
knowledge-based economy.
The total investment in Petro Rabigh
II is approximately $8 billion.2 Five plant
contractors from Saudi Arabia, Italy,
and South Korea will install a total of
nine EPC packages, and Yokogawa
has been tasked with overseeing all
instrumentation related aspects of
the project as MAC. For this project,
Yokogawa has been asked to meet
a 50% localization target for all
procurement and manufacturing, and for
Saudi nationals to make up at least 20%
of its workforce.
2 The expansion of an existing ethane cracker and
construction of a new aromatics complex will
enable an additional 30 million standard cubic
feet of ethane to be processed daily. That and
the approximately 3 million tons of naphtha
produced annually will serve as the main
feedstocks for the production of a variety of high
value-added petrochemical products.
Advancing Together through the
Development of Saudi Human
Resources
The experience gained on the Rabigh
I project has positioned us well for
subsequent project activities that
include the hiring and training of local
engineers; the development of strong
manufacturing traditions through the
local procurement of products; working
with local project staff whose customs
and practices differ considerably from
those of Japan, other Asian countries,
and the West; and coordinating the
activities of teams made up of staff from
other countries such as the Philippines
and India.
To meet these challenges, Yokogawa
has promoted to a senior position a
Saudi national who was involved in the
Rabigh I project, hired a former intern
from a local university to serve as a
project manager, and established a
women-only Saudi work team that has
been placed in charge of the preparation
of computer graphics and planning
documents. Yokogawa has prepared
a plan to ramp up the project over an
11-month period, covering not only
work but also the leisure activities of the
project personnel. This has promoted
a unified teamwork approach with the
customer and emphasized Yokogawa’s
principles of taking the customer’s
perspective to address issues and
honoring all commitments based on
the motto “A commitment made is
a commitment kept.” Through such
efforts on the Petro Rabigh II project
to meet localization requirements that
it has never faced before, Yokogawa
is demonstrating its ability to carry out
projects successfully.
Yokogawa Saudi Arabia is stepping
up its CSR programs by developing
human resources in collaboration with
eight universities and sponsoring events
to promote greater social engagement
by women. Yokogawa’s development
of its Saudi engineering workforce will
ensure that the high quality work needed
to achieve highly efficient and stable
operations at this complex is performed,
and will also achieve the human resource
development goals set out by the Saudi
Arabian government. Yokogawa’s
Saudi engineers will continue to add to
their skills and abilities by carrying out
projects in Saudi Arabia.
Yokogawa has demonstrated its
capabilities by carrying out projects all
around the world in such markets as
North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle
East, Africa, and South America. The
company will continue to work to break
down barriers to international and intercompany cooperation, and will foster
the development of a workforce that
is willing and able to meet challenges,
overcome difficulties, and bring projects
to a successful conclusion.
Rabigh I facility in operation
26
27
CSR Initiatives
Good Citizenship
Contributing to Society, People,
and the Earth
of support services that ensure the
correct, safe, and reliable operation
and management of entire production
facilities, the improvement of operational
efficiency, and the safe suspension of
operations when errors occur. Today,
Yokogawa is engaged in providing
control equipment and systems for
renewable energy applications, including
wind, solar, and geothermal power
generation, and is achieving significant
growth in those fields.
The Relationship between
Business and Society
The basic concept for CSR at Yokogawa
is building a sustainable society through
broad-ranging activities in the areas of
measurement, control, and information.
This concept is based on the ideas of
our founder and it underlies everything
Yokogawa has accomplished with its
business up to this point.
With his founding principles of putting
quality first, having a pioneering spirit,
and contributing to society, our founder
Tamisuke Yokogawa made clear that
the relationship between business and
society is to be taken seriously.
These ideas and the essential nature
of our business, which involves the use
of measurement and control for the
development of industry, determine
the path that the company will take to
support both companies and society.
In 1988, a Yokogawa corporate
philosophy was formulated that
reconfirmed the company’s mission.
These ideas have gained Groupwide
acceptance.
The contributions made by Yokogawa
have evolved over the years to include
everything from the provision of product
solutions that add value to the offering
1915
Good Citizenship
Based on the idea incorporated in our
corporate philosophy that Yokogawa’s
people are to be good citizens, the
company has sought throughout its
100 year history to be engaged at the
local community level. While always
placing the top priority on compliance,
Yokogawa has continually striven to be
sincere and cooperative in its dealings
with people around the world, which
has given rise to initiatives such as the
sponsoring of events and volunteer
activities. This includes activities such as
the Yokogawa summer festival, initiatives
through special subsidiaries that aim to
help disabled people lead independent
lifestyles, and the training of personnel in
other countries.
Yokogawa takes its global
responsibilities seriously, and has shown
its intent to work toward the realization
of a sustainable society by participating
in the UN Global Compact. Dedicated to
its ten principles on human rights, labor,
the environment, and anti-corruption,
the entire Group is seeking to maintain
compliance with regional regulations and
international standards, and is engaged
in dialogue with its stakeholders on
these topics.
At Yokogawa, our CSR efforts can be
described as creating new value with
customers and engaging in a Business
to Business to Community (B to B to
C) model that seeks to pave the way
to a brighter future for our customers,
industry, and the Earth. The aim is to
supply products and solution services
that take into account not only the
needs of our customers but also the
communities that we live in and the Earth
that we all call home. The words of our
founder, who exhorted us to “become
known by all people in the world and
make products beneficial to them,”
continue to resonate with us today.
Quality first Pioneering spirit Contribution to society
Donations
Charity activities
Anti-pollution measures
Energy saving activities
Philanthropic activities
Support in education and
employing people with disabitities
Entering the environment
business
Acquisition of ISO14001 certification
Green procurement
Products and solutions that
are good for the environment
The present
Environment
Governance
Compliance
Construction of occupational health
Supply chain
and safety management systems
CSR guidelines
Employment of persons
with disabilities
Regional disaster
Contributing through
Fairness
(Establishment of
prevention activities
regional volunteer activities
special subsidiaries)
Forest conservation
Promotion of diversity
Safety
activities
Labor
Local communities
Human rights
Human resources
Achieving a sustainable society through business-based CSR activities and complying with international standards*
* UN Global Compact and ISO26000
28
Yokogawa supplies products and solution services that support efficient, safe, and secure production and help to address major issues
of global importance, such as the need to reduce energy consumption and use clean energy sources. The company helps its customers
increase their competitiveness by providing products and solution services that can accurately ascertain their operational status and
environmental load, optimize the control of operations, and adapt to any unexpected situation. Yokogawa also supplies the measuring
instruments that are referred to in the industry as “mother tools,” and supports the development and production of superior products.
(1) Ensuring safety
(2) R educing energy consumption and
increasing efficiency
(3) Promoting the use of clean energy
As the main automation contractor (MAC)
for the Map Ta Phut Olefins petrochemical
industrial complex project in Thailand,
Yokogawa helped reduce maintenance
and engineering costs by maintaining
consistency in the control system equipment
specifications. The company also enhanced
safety and efficiency by integrating this
facility’s production control and safety
instrumented systems.
Yokogawa supplied control system solutions
that reduced both the environmental burden
and cost of operating two boilers and four
sets of turbine generators at one of Kaneka
Corporation’s main chemical plants. In
addition to achieving a 1,000 ton reduction
in CO2 emissions, alarm situations were
reduced 85%.
As a MAC, Yokogawa was involved from
the early stages in planning the control
solutions for a second-generation bioethanol
production facility for the Brazilian company
GranBio Investimentos. Obtained from nonfood organic sources such as wood chips
and straw, bioethanol is often mentioned as
a clean energy source that can replace fossil
fuels. By optimizing the control systems
and field instruments at these facilities,
Yokogawa is helping to increase productivity
and reduce operator and engineer workload
over the entire plant lifecycle.
2. Being a Good Neighbor
As part of its efforts to be a good corporate citizen, Yokogawa is promoting initiatives that are helping to create a brighter future for
people around the world.
(1) Training of technical personnel
Founding principles
Environmentally harmonious
product development
1. Contributing to Society through Our Business
Yokogawa’s expanding CSR activities
In addition to expanding the technical
centers that it operates at 10 plants
in Russia and other countries in the
Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS), Yokogawa has established an
automation training program at the Kazan
National Research Technological University
in the Republic of Tatarstan. In China,
Yokogawa has donated 500,000 dollars
to the Yokogawa Foundation of Training
of Human Resources for Instrumentation
in Commemoration of Su Tian, who was
an influential figure in China’s measuring
instrument industry, and has provided
training in the measurement, control, and
information fields to Chinese personnel.
(2) Employment of persons with disabilities
Since the passing of the Disabled Person
Employment Promotion Act in Japan in
1960, Yokogawa has made a proactive
effort to meet or exceed the mandated
targets for the employment of persons with
mental and developmental disabilities. For
this purpose, Yokogawa established the
subsidiary Yokogawa Foundry in September
1999. We are highly regarded for our efforts
to motivate, provide opportunities to, and
utilize the capabilities of disabled individuals
based on the principle of “the right person
for the right job” and the implementation of
skills training.
(3) Youth workshops
In 2006, Yokogawa began offering science
workshops that give elementary school
students in the fifth and sixth grades the
opportunity to work on projects such
as building crystal radios and radiation
thermometers. In addition to allowing these
children to experience the joy of making
something, these workshops help them
develop an appreciation for how important
science is and how rewarding it can be.
areas. This has helped to raise awareness
of the importance of maintaining sustainable
environmental practices.
(5) Cultural and scientific support
In addition to being a top architect,
company founder Tamisuke Yokogawa
was a collector of antique china. Following
in his steps, the company has actively
supported efforts to preserve traditional
culture. This includes the funding of the
creation of artistic works such as the ceiling
paintings at Kenchoji temple in Kamakura
and Kenninji temple in Kyoto (2000 and
2002, respectively), and the sliding door
paintings at Nara’s Todaiji temple (2006), a
designated World Heritage site.
(4) Global environmental conservation
In conjunction with local governments and
NPOs, personnel from Yokogawa offices
in Tokyo, Kanagawa, and elsewhere have
participated in forest coservation and other
environmental activities in nearby rural
29
Raman P. Pradeep
From Yokogawa around the Globe
Yoichi Matsunami
Meidan Jin
Taiji
Miyamoto
Ric
Andrew
Arinduque
Jimmy Pootemans
To continue to be a company in the next 100
years that passes down technology and provides
products imbibed with the spirit of measurement.
Indah Permatasari
To make Yokogawa a
company that motivates
employees and brings
happiness.
QinXi Xu
Alwyn Misquith
Harsha A P
Happy 100th anniversary! I want to
make Yokogawa a company that can
contribute towards improving the
environment in China.
Fredson
Fernandes
de Sousa
The dream
company
Things go better Yokogawa. Let's be
our customers’ partner-of-choice.
Happy 100th anniversary to a
cheerful and interesting company
that enriches people's lives.
Let's make the jump
into new fields with the
pride of Yokogawa
inside us.
Jan Rodenhuis
Miho Saitou
Jochen
Freudenthaler
Matthijs Spaak
Let's be big, fabulous, and famous!
Unafraid of change, pursuing
progress, towards the next
100 years!
Alicia Hui Rong
From Japan’s Number
One to the world’s
Number One.
Makara Long
Youichi Nomura
Be customer, employee and
knowledge centric.
Tu Rong
Masayuki Kawashima
Tooru Yamamoto
Ashwini Sugumaran
Rain or shine, to put our strengths together into
overcoming adversity. Growing together,
persevering together, to attain brilliant
achievements again.
Azman Baharudin
Happy 100th
anniversary!
Gratitude, heritage,
progress - for our
customers’ satisfaction.
Be a truly global company that
embraces a global mindset and
management practices but acts locally.
Congratulations on 100 years of sucess.
I wish Yokogawa a bright future.
Lim Khiaw
Wah
Niwat Weeragul
Looking ahead to
our next 100 years.
Takashi Nakayama
Sander Sprenger
Happy 100th
anniversary!
Our challenge - always
striving to get better.
Ma Ling
Abel Tan Zi Hao
Yuji Natori
To be the global
No.1 manufacturer
Urszla Nietubyc
Sonny Markus
30
Soobin Lee
Fahad
O. Al-Jahdali
Celebrating 100 years of
global excellence.
Aiming to transform Saudi
industries as global leaders
through world class
services.
31
Thamer
Kamal
Wanli Sun
Oleg Nekrasov
Kevin Wang
Steve Poole
Erika Motti
Gentarou Fukano
In our second century, let's
keep this a cool company that
is appreciated by its customers.
Teamwork
I wish for Yokogawa to continue
pioneering and leading the
development of control
& measurement systems
technology.
Keep going
Yokogawa! I am
working hard too!
May growth and advancement
accompany you!
A splendid company both
for its employees and
society - Yokogawa
Karen Ling
Kae Lim
Sakeena
AlAwami
May we continue to meet and
exceed our customers' expectations.
I want to see Yokogawa’s leaders
create more visionary plans and
drive them to completion.
Gerhard Post
Natheer
Al-Nasr
Miho Kokubo
To be recognized not only by customers for
its excellent products but also by the entire
society for its desire to make the world a
better place.
Ingo Pichler
Kang Sung
Myung
Yu Jiajia
To be a
company that
contributes to
society through
technology.
Damilola Adebayo
Asami
Fujiwara
32
Innovation & Win-Win
R. Mahalakshmi
Yuuki Shimizu
Masako Okui
He Shanshan
Andy Bloodworth
Celebrating Yokogawa’s 100th anniversary.
Aiming for further progress to be an even more
magnificent company.
Yokogawa, doing its best for
customers with great passion
and vision.
Lisa Kendall
Yinka Sayomi
May you achieve your targets!
Fun company - Able to invest in
development - Able to produce good
products - Satisfied customers - Profitable
Alberto Hideki Nabeshima
Nguyen Thi Huong
Eileen Samson
Happy 100th anniversary! A company
that continues to be sought after by
society and enriches people's lives.
Yokogawa- every customer
is our top priority.
Victor Guevara
Maria Segovia
Jifu Wang
To be a stable, flexible, successful and
innovative company that contributes to
the development of my country.
33
Yokogawa’s History
Our past 100 years
Yokogawa’s History —— Chapter 1
From Company Founding to
Postwar Reconstruction
(1915–1947)
The Electric Meter Research Institute
and Tamisuke Yokogawa
Yokogawa originated from an electric meter research institute
that was set up in Shibuya, Tokyo on September 1, 1915.
The small factory had only four staff: Ichiro Yokogawa (29,
later the first president), Shin Aoki (26, later the first chief
engineer), and two others. Even after the institute was
renamed Yokogawa Electric Works in the spring of 1916,
their main focus was on analyzing imported instruments and
studying how to make similar ones. Yokogawa literally
started from scratch.
Tamisuke Yokogawa (1864–1945), founder of Yokogawa,
was a pioneer of modern Japanese architecture. He was
born in Hyogo to the west of Osaka and graduated from the
Department of Architecture, College of Engineering, Imperial
University (currently, the Department of Architecture, Faculty
of Engineering, University of Tokyo). He designed major
buildings, including Japan’s first steel-frame structure for the
Mitsui Main Building, the Yurakuza Theater, the Imperial
Theatre, the Mitsukoshi Main Store in Nihonbashi, Tokyo,
and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
His modus operandi, which reveals his magnanimity as an
architect, was not to draw designs himself but to instruct key
points to his subordinates and let them get on with the
designing. He produced architectural masterpieces mainly by
utilizing the latest knowledge acquired by visiting Western
countries and relying on an artistic sensibility that had been
cultivated by studying and collecting Asian ceramics. He
served as the president of the Architectural Institute of Japan
(1925–1927).
He was a man of wide horizons, too. His business talents
were acclaimed by business dignitaries of those days, such
as Sanji Muto, then president of Kanegafuchi Spinning K.K.
When Yokogawa was founded, Tamisuke had already set up
such companies as Yokogawa Komusho (currently,
Yokogawa Architects & Engineers, inc.) and Yokogawa
Bridge Works (currently, Yokogawa Bridge Corp.). He even
translated publications on Taylorism, a system of modern
factory-management, to introduce it to Japan.
Tamisuke also considered starting businesses related to
electricity, which was beginning to be widely used in Japan
and was closely related with the field of architecture. He was
advised that the electric meter business was promising
because it could be started with relatively little capital and
there were few competitors in Japan. He sent his nephew,
Ichiro Yokogawa, who was working at the Ministry of
Communications’ laboratory, to Germany to study electric
meters. Moreover, he met Shin Aoki just before Aoki went to
England, and promised him financial aid. Aoki was also
working at the laboratory. With the support of Tamisuke, the
two young engineers visited Western electric meter factories
and returned home after procuring the equipment needed to
start an electric meter research institute in Japan.
Becoming the Top Electric Meter
Maker in Japan
Following Western countries, Japan began to use electric
lights in the 1880s. By 1912, light bulbs were in use
throughout central Tokyo and a few railway lines had been
electrified. However, electric meters were still all imports and
the outbreak of World War I in 1914 made it difficult to import
them from Western countries. There also was a movement to
shift for the supply of electricity from flat-rate to tiered-rate
plans, and so there was an urgent need to produce electric
meters for Japanese industry.
After preparations were finished for the start up of factory
operations, the electric meter research institute was
renamed Yokogawa Electric Works. While planning for the
mass-production of watt-hour meters, Yokogawa employees
continued developing the industrial electric indicating meters
that would prove indispensable in the safe and accurate
control of electricity. In 1917, Yokogawa succeeded in
developing prototypes that received high acclaim from
universities and research institutions, and went on to release
AC/DC ammeters, voltmeters, and other prototypes for
portable and switchboard use. Yokogawa also created the
industry’s first product catalog.
Yokogawa’s uncompromising pursuit of excellence, with
executives themselves visiting customers to hear their
opinions on Yokogawa products, earned it the cooperation
of such entities as the Ministry of Communications, whose
laboratory Ichiro Yokogawa and Shin Aoki once worked in.
As a result, Yokogawa products came to have a high
reputation. The timing for the establishment of Yokogawa
was perfect, since electricity was providing over 50% of the
energy required to run plants in Japan in 1917. Aoki played a
central role in setting standards for electric indicating
meters, which also demonstrated Yokogawa’s technological
capabilities.
In 1918, Yokogawa constructed a two-story wooden
factory building, and began strictly following a policy of
“quality first.” Management pushed so hard that they often
won orders for products that were still in development.
Nevertheless, these pushy tactics enabled Yokogawa to
master technologies quickly, and eventually to begin
exporting products via a trading company in 1919.
With the number of employees reaching 110 in 1919,
Yokogawa actively trained them through technology
seminars and other means. The employee training led to an
acceleration of the company’s research efforts and the
development of an industry-leading production system. This
featured division of labor, mass production, downsizing of
instruments, and addition of high value. As a result,
Yokogawa built a solid foundation for its business.
In 1920, having grown into a leading manufacturer in
Japan in terms of product range and number of employees,
Yokogawa was incorporated to modernize its management.
Oscillograph: an Early Main Product of
Yokogawa
After the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, plants in Japan
came to rely even more on electricity as an energy source,
and the electricity billing system shifted completely to tieredrate plans. While terminating the manufacturing of watt-hour
meters that were less competitive in price, Yokogawa
completed development of Japan’s first portable
electromagnetic oscillograph in 1924, and it became a great
hit. In addition to its low price (about half the price of
imported models), the device had a number of improved
features. This product won an honorary award at the 1926
Peace Exhibition in Ueno, Tokyo, a first for the measuring
instrument industry. The oscillograph helped boost
Yokogawa’s profile as a technology company, and continued
to be a major source of income until the advent of Brauntype cathode-ray tube oscillographs after World War II.
Beginning in 1927, Japan was hit by a succession of
economic crises. Yokogawa, however, weathered them by
increasing the sales of oscillographs and releasing groups of
products that incorporated Yokogawa technologies based
on its many years of R&D. These products included DC watthour meters and portable high-frequency meters. A
prototype of a cathode-ray oscillograph that can monitor
micro-second level electric changes was completed in 1929
thanks to much hard work by staff as well as advice from
many academics and electrotechnical laboratories, and soon
dominated the market after its successful release.
As Yokogawa came to be known more widely, a trademark
to clearly identify the brand became necessary. In 1927,
Yokogawa registered YEW (Yokogawa Electric Works) as its
trademark. In 1930, Yokogawa exhibited its precision
measuring instruments, including cathode-ray oscillographs,
at an overseas exhibition and won an honorary award, and
thus Yokogawa products and YEW came to be known
outside Japan.
Mitsui Main Building
Tamisuke Yokogawa
Ichiro Yokogawa
Shin Aoki
Electric meter for
switchboards
Portable ammeter
Portable oscillograph
Imperial Theatre
Scale marking
Shibuya factory in 1930
36
YEW trademark registered in 1927
At the company's 10th anniversary
37
Relocation to Kichijoji and
Development of Control Devices
Development of Aircraft Instruments
and Wartime Operations
As the number of employees increased to 300, the Shibuya
factory became crowded, but there was no room to expand at
this location. So, considering the need for a clean environment
and accessibility, Yokogawa decided to move to Kichijoji and
build a new factory there. This western suburb of Tokyo is
where Yokogawa is currently headquartered. In the spring of
1930, a new two-story white factory building made of reinforced
concrete was completed.
The new factory building had five laboratories (each of
which was named after its manager), a design office, and
manufacturing floors. Each laboratory conducted highly
independent R&D of the type often seen in universities.
These laboratories developed, for example, switchboard
meters that could withstand rough long-distance
transportation and graphic meters that could continuously
record values for electric current, voltage, and power on
band-like recording paper, a Japan first.
In 1932, Yokogawa started to develop gas analyzers and other
industrial instruments, and in the following year, began working in
automatic flow, temperature, and pressure controllers. Receiving
patents for high-frequency power meters, pneumatic automatic
equalizers, and other instruments in 1937, Yokogawa laid the
foundation for entering the control business. These
developments reflected the rise of the electrochemical industry
in the 1930s, which increased demand for electricity and
revitalized power resource development. This supplied added
momentum for electricity-related companies like Yokogawa.
Yokogawa entered the aircraft instrument field in the early
1930s. In 1930, Shin Aoki toured Europe and realized the
potential of the aircraft instruments business. In 1933
Yokogawa started R&D of magnetos, spark plugs,
tachometers, and other components for aviation use. In the
same year, expansion of the Kichijoji factory started. The
functions of the Shibuya factory were relocated to Kichijoji,
and the headquarters function followed in 1935. Another tour
of Western countries was made in 1936, and the
development of aircraft instruments gathered speed.
In May 1937, Yokogawa built the Koganei factory to massproduce spark plugs and magnetos for aircraft. In July of the
same year, however, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke
out and the economy was placed under tight control. As a
result, the Koganei factory was designated by the army and
the navy to supply products to them. The factory continued
expanding, tripling both in floor space and number of
employees, and production increasing more than seven-fold
by 1941. Then, the Kichijoji factory was also ordered to
mass-produce these two products. Both the Kichijoji and
Koganei factories came under military control immediately
before the outbreak of World War II, and Yokogawa could no
longer run both factories as it liked.
In March 1938, Ichiro Yokogawa became the first president
(a new position) and Shin Aoki became executive vice
president. However, Ichiro died in June and Aoki in July, a
huge loss to Yokogawa amid intensifying economic control.
The Kichijoji factory in the 1930s
The Tomota laboratory
Aerial photo of the Kichijoji factory
High-accuracy resistor
reflecting the downside of war-time management.
In 1945, the government issued evacuation orders and
Yokogawa had to leave Tokyo and head to distant places,
including the foot of Mt. Fuji, where it rented buildings and
continued operations.
In June 1945, company founder Tamisuke Yokogawa died
aged 80, and in less than two months, the war ended.
Yasushi Togo
Tokisuke Yokogawa
Yasushi Togo, the second president, tried to change
Yokogawa’s job classifications and office organizations based
on his experience at a large company, but just 18 months later
he ceded his work to Tokisuke Yokogawa (Tamisuke’s eldest
son) and Tokisuke officially became the president in 1940.
Although orders for aircraft instruments and spark plugs
increased dramatically and accounted for nearly 60% of total
production volume, Yokogawa’s profitability dropped because
of the shortage of materials and labor as well as controlled
prices.
Yokogawa during the Wartime
In December 1941, Japan went to war against the US and
Britain. In the following year, an industry association was
formed by law to centrally control electric equipment makers.
The production and distribution of goods and raw materials,
as well as labor were strictly controlled. At the government’s
request, Yokogawa started the expansion of the Kichijoji and
Koganei factories in 1942 while raising funds from outside,
and built three new factories in Okubo (Tokyo), Kawagoe
(Saitama), and Tsujido (Kanagawa) in 1943. Although
Yokogawa continued to develop new technologies and kept
manufacturing industrial instruments on a small scale, work
for the military took up almost all of Yokogawa’s resources.
The number of regular employees was about 12,000 (16,000
including student labor). Sales for fiscal year 1944 exceeded
75 million yen, but loans soared to nearly 70 million yen,
Workshop at the Kichijoji factory
Yokogawa Starts Afresh with One
Tenth the Number of Employees
In September 1945, the management drew up a
reconstruction plan to cut the number of employees to 1,200,
newly hire 400, and restart operations at the Kichijoji and
Koganei factories. While many companies struggled to
survive by making other basic products such as pots and
pans, Yokogawa stuck to a policy of not making second-rate
products, and transferred equipment and materials from the
evacuation sites back to rebuild itself. Meanwhile, in line with
the postwar democracy, Yokogawa embraced the movement
to form a labor union. A labor union was organized in
Yokogawa in January 1946, confirming the bond between
labor and management.
However, Yokogawa was losing about 2 million yen a
month after the war, and was burdened with severance
payments to employees who had left Yokogawa, the cost of
bringing back materials from the evacuation sites, and other
expenditures. Moreover, about three quarters of receivables
from the military were nullified. Yokogawa overcame this
financial crisis mainly by collecting other receivables,
slashing expenditures, and selling the Tsujido factory.
In April 1946, Yokogawa managed to restart manufacturing
measuring instruments. Everyone worked hard with
determination to help reconstruct Japan by making
measuring instruments, a “mother tool” for industry.
Yokogawa’s labor union also staged a campaign to increase
production. In 1947, while going ahead with screening and
standardizing parts to enhance efficiency and profitability,
Yokogawa held an exhibition of its measuring instruments at
the Matsuzakaya department store in Ginza, Tokyo to
publicize its quality and technology. Thus, Yokogawa
embarked on its postwar growth.
Indicator for the navy
Electric differential pressure flowmeter
Advertisement in October 1928 magazine
38
Test of pivots at the Kichijoji factory
39
From Postwar Recovery to
Rapid Economic Growth
and Oil Crisis
(1948–1974)
From Reconstruction to Recovery
Yokogawa managed to rebuild its business after the war and
initially focused on telecommunications infrastructure for the
Ministry of Communication (predecessor of Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, and today’s
NTT Group) and electric power companies, which were
carrying out many projects for the reconstruction of Japan.
The year after the war ended, Yokogawa won a line tester
order from the Ministry of Communication, which was
working hard to rebuild and improve
the telephone and telegraph
networks. After two years of R&Ds,
Yokogawa shipped the first line
tester in 1948.
The line tester is an instrument that
monitors and measures
transmissions between relay stations
and terminal stations for longdistance telecommunications. It is
composed of an audio CR oscillator
(the first such product in Japan),1 a
power controller, and a level meter,
which are all mounted on an iron
stand. Yokogawa’s line tester was
highly acclaimed and several
hundred sets were shipped for use in
relay stations across Japan. This line
tester was Yokogawa’s main product
in those days.
At the same time, the number of
orders from electric power
companies increased, and thus
Yokogawa continued to grow.
By selling its Koganei and
Kawagoe factories, Yokogawa
Line tester
increased its capital and was
able to go public in November
1948 (listed in May 1949), thus
setting the stage for further
growth.
In 1949, sales fell sharply as
a result of the Dodge recession,
and Yokogawa introduced
technical conferences where
employees could freely discuss
research and development
Wide-angle instrument
40
trends and new products, and set up a committee for
proposing efficiency improvements. In 1950, a planning
department and planning committee were set up for
strengthening management. Meanwhile, wartime price
controls were lifted and corporate investment improved as a
result of a surge in procurement for the Korean War, both of
which benefited Yokogawa’s business.
1 An oscillator generates fixed-amplitude, -frequency pulses using a DC
power source without external inputs. "CR" stands for condenser and
resistor. CR oscillators are mainly for low frequencies and can be
downsized.
An Overseas Visit and the Decision to
Develop ER Instruments
Around that time, two crucial events laid the foundation for
Yokogawa’s subsequent growth. One was a visit by Senior
Vice President Miyaji Tomota to the US and the other was the
decision to develop electronic instruments for industrial use.
In December 1950, shortly after the ban on overseas travel
was lifted, Mr. Tomota took a three-month trip to the US. He
visited companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Bendix
Aviation, both of which would form technical partnerships
with Yokogawa, and discussed various matters with their
staff. Exposure to these companies’ leading-edge
technologies stimulated Yokogawa’s product development
efforts. This tour and subsequent business communications
with the US companies led Yokogawa to introduce advanced
management tools such as IBM computers and to launch
the mass-production of general-purpose items by small
manufacturing subsidiaries (the division system, started in
1953). Through such means, Yokogawa was able to boldly
consolidate products and specifications and thus overcome
the sharp rise in raw material prices caused by the special
procurement boom during the Korean War.
The trip also gave Yokogawa confidence in developing
industrial instruments. A few years earlier, around 1948, there
had been heated debate within Yokogawa on which business
to focus on: industrial instruments, for which demand was
expected to increase on the back of the growing oil and
chemical industries, or measuring instruments for
communications and aviation, in which Yokogawa had a solid
track record. Yokogawa subsequently decided to focus on
industrial instruments, with an eye on expanding automation
in the US and Europe, and this business trip supported that
decision.
Yokogawa started to
develop electron tube
(vacuum tube) type
automatic control devices
that were superior to the
mechanical devices
manufactured by various
leading companies.
After great effort,
Yokogawa shipped the
first product, an electrontube-type self-balancing
ER electron-tube-type self-balancing
recorder, or electronic
recorder
recorder (ER), in
September 1951. Although many problems were found with
the product after delivery and some people became
pessimistic about the future of the company, Yokogawa was
convinced it was on the right track and continued to make
improvements. This firm commitment led to the development
of various ER instruments for measuring frequency,
temperature, flow rate, liquid level, pH, gas analysis, and
sulfuric acid concentration.
Yokogawa stopped manufacturing large-sized shouldered
tubes (ST) in 1952 and replaced them with the latest
miniature tubes (MT). Yokogawa also introduced new
specifications for chart paper, including 180 mm width paper
and folded forms, and these were adopted by its US
competitors.
The development of ER instruments was significant in
three ways for Yokogawa. First, research and development
by a team (cross-organizational project) was found to be
advantageous. Second, Yokogawa became the first
company in the industry to use electron tubes for industrial
instruments, overtaking its competitors. And third, it helped
Yokogawa take a leading position in the subsequent
automation era and achieve significant growth.
Tie-ups with Two US Companies
The focus on industrial instruments helped to meet the
needs of Japanese companies that were shifting from
reconstruction to modernization. However, Yokogawa did
not have sufficient technological knowledge and experience
to respond to all these companies’ requirements, and its
major competitors were expected to catch up soon.
Therefore, in 1955, Yokogawa and Foxboro, then one of the
four major industrial instrument manufacturers in the US,
signed a technical assistance and Japan exclusive
distribution agreenment. In the same year Yokogawa signed
a technology and sales agreement with Bendix for aviation
products such as the Ultra-Viscoson viscometer, magnetos,
harnesses, and ignition devices.
The tie-up with Foxboro was not ideal for Yokogawa as it
did not allow us to modify any of the specifications for that
company’s products. Despite this disadvantage, it helped us
meet our customers’ needs for a broader lineup of
mechanical (pneumatic) instruments and improve our
machining skills. Thanks to this tie-up, Yokogawa was also
able to produce an electron-tube-type automatic recording
controller (ERZ electronic recorder) that combined our ER
with Foxboro’s pneumatic controlling mechanism. This
recorder sold well.
Rapid Economic Growth Era in Japan
In the 1950s, Yokogawa not only delivered industrial
instruments to customers but also got involved in
instrumentation projects at steel, chemical, and electric
power companies. Japan’s economy continued to grow
rapidly during three consecutive, unprecedented economic
booms, and capital investment by companies continued to
increase steadily. Yokogawa also expanded its business in
this period. For example, in 1956, we completed
development of an analogue computer for the measurement
and analysis of the voltage, current, and power conditions of
electricity distribution grids, and also founded Yokogawa
Aviation Co., Ltd. to manufacture aviation devices. During
this period, Yokogawa also rebuilt its main factory and
started entering the US, Taiwan, and other overseas markets.
Yokogawa developed the ECS series of electronic control
systems in 1959, which fueled the company’s dramatic
growth. The ECS was compact thanks to the use of
transistors and diodes. All measurement values were
converted into unified voltage signals of 0–10 mV for
communication, ensuring compatibility with other
instruments and facilitating modularization and massproduction. With the ECS for large plants and the pneumatic
control system for small plants, Yokogawa received
increasing numbers of instrumentation orders to automate
factories and water facilities. Sales surged from 1.7 billion
yen in 1955 to 7.3 billion yen in 1960. In the same year, Iwao
Yamasaki became the president and steered Yokogawa
through Japan’s further economic growth and open
economy policy.
Iwao Yamasaki
The Foxboro headquarters
ECS
41
Intensified Competition
In the 1960s, major electric companies such as Hitachi,
Toshiba, Mitsubishi Electric, and Fuji Electric entered the
measuring and industrial instrument fields.
Although Yokogawa had an approximately 30% share of
the measuring instrument market in Japan at that time,
President Yamasaki worked hard to strengthen Yokogawa’s
position by streamlining operations and constructing a new
R&D center (completed in July 1962). Following the set up of
a US office in 1957, he also tried to expand exports by
exploring communist bloc markets and signing agreements
with distributors in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia,
and Central and South America. In 1962, Yokogawa and
Voltron Products Inc. (US) set up a joint venture, Acrohm
Electronics, for manufacturing electric instruments in the US.
Regarding products, Yokogawa developed the COM-21
network analyzer for electric power companies in 1961, and
a measuring instrument that was selected by NASA for use
in ionosphere rocket experiments. A significant decision was
made at this time to start developing digital control
technology. Although Yokogawa was leading the automation
market thanks to its ER and ECS products and
instrumentation work, the company believed that the core
technology of the future would be digital computers rather
than analog devices, and so decided to devote human
resources to such projects, ahead of the competition. The
first result was a computer control system (CCS) released in
1962 that performed centralized monitoring and control of
plants and revolutionized central control room operations.
Ionosphere measuring instrument
mounted inside a NASA rocket
Setting Up of Yokogawa-HewlettPackard
AC network analyzer
Yokogawa sought a technical tie-up with Hewlett-Packard
(HP) in the US to acquire expertise in high-frequency and
microwave technologies that were becoming increasingly
important in the electronics field.
The negotiations had a rough start because HP’s policy
prohibited the provision of technology to anyone other than
its wholly-owned subsidiaries. In April 1963, both parties
finally agreed to set up a joint venture in Japan, and
Yokogawa-Hewlett-Packard (YHP, the current HewlettPackard Japan) started operations in October of that year,
with the main factory in Hachioji, Tokyo. (Of 500 million yen
in capital, 51% was held by Yokogawa and 49% by HP.) YHP
received certain technologies and components from HP, and
manufactured high-frequency and microwave measuring
instruments. The manufacturing of high-frequency
measuring instruments was partly transferred from
Yokogawa to YHP. In addition, Yokogawa formed tie-ups with
other companies in order to expand its business, including Mitaka
Kogyo K.K. for analyzers, CHINO Works (the current CHINO) for
temperature controllers, Asahi Kohsan for instrumentation work,
Hokushin Electric Works for recording paper, and IBM for
computers.
End of the Rapid Economic Growth Era
Leaving the high-frequency measuring instruments business
to YHP, Yokogawa focused on growing its general measuring
instruments, industrial instruments, and instrumentation
systems businesses. When the stock market took a turn for
the worse in 1965, sales declined for both Yokogawa and
YHP. In 1966, Miyaji Tomota took over as Yokogawa’s
president and sought to strengthen Yokogawa’s business by
reducing the number of product models and overhauling the
company’s administrative functions. Business conditions in
Japan started to pick up again in November 1965 and
remained strong until July 1970.
In terms of products, the launch of the CCS in 1962 was
followed by the release of the YODIC-500, Japan’s first
double CPU direct digital control (DDC) system, and the
EBS, electronic control system, in 1966; and the YODIC-600,
a fully duplex DDC system, in 1970. These products
employed some of the same highly reliable technologies,
that would later be used to develop the CENTUM integrated
production control system.
Yokogawa also entered the process analysis instruments
business. Starting with the release in 1966 of its first process
gas chromatograph, which featured an ER for added value,
Yokogawa continued to develop various technologies and by
the 1980s had captured a 90% share of this market in Japan.
In 1969 the company released a B/M meter (for use in paper
mills to measure basis weight and moisture), and in 1970 the
company came out with a sulfur content meter that would
later be used to enter the US market.
To boost sales by strengthening relations with customers,
YODIC-500
Miyaji Tomota
R&D center
42
Signing ceremony to form YHP
the Tokyo branch office was relocated to Yaesu in central
Tokyo. Administrative work efficiency was also improved
greatly by introducing an IBM360 computer. And in the
company’s manufacturing facilities, productivity started to
rise with the introduction of leading-edge equipment and
quality control activities.
However, the Japanese economy started to slow down
after the Osaka Exposition in 1970, and the Nixon shock
(dollar crisis) in 1971 caused great difficulties for most
manufacturers, including Yokogawa. In 1971, when Toshinori
Matsui became the Yokogawa president, the company had
fallen behind its competitors in sales revenues. Yokogawa
therefore acquired Nakaasa
Instruments Co., Ltd., a
meteorological instruments
manufacturer, and signed a sales
tie-up agreement with Tokyo Keiki
for marine instruments in July
1972. In the same year, the
company acquired land for a
second production facility in Kofu,
Yamanashi, where there was more
Toshinori Matsui
space for future expansion.
However, in October 1973 when
construction of the Kofu factory was just about to start, the
first oil crisis struck, and all advanced economies, relying on
oil-dependent mass-production and mass-consumption,
entered recession. The Kofu factory, which was completed
in July 1974, started operation amidst an economy that was
shrinking for the first time since the war. Japan’s rapid
economic growth ended and Yokogawa was forced to seek
new avenues for growth in a slowly-growing economy.
The Kofu factory
B/M meter
Gas chromatograph
Sulfur content meter
43
From Steady Growth to
the Bubble Economy
and Its Bursting
(1975–1990)
Overcoming Difficulties
CENTUM: the World’s First DCS
In November 1974, the year after the first oil crisis, Yokogawa
welcomed a new president, Shozo
Yokogawa, the third son of
Tamisuke Yokogawa, the founder
of Yokogawa. Shozo had been the
president of Yokogawa-HewlettPackard since its foundation in
1963, and this company had
grown quickly under his
leadership. On assuming the
presidency of Yokogawa, he
clearly stated that he would value
Shozo Yokogawa
mutual understanding between
labor and management, help everyone to enjoy work with a
sense of purpose and make full use of their abilities, and
increase our added value for the lasting growth of Yokogawa.
He also explained about measures that would be needed
to overcome challenges that the company faced and
identified that this would require everyone to think hard and
identify changes in society’s needs; regain pride and
recognize that measurement and control technologies are
indispensable to society; improve communication skills; see
things from the customer’s perspective; and share expertise
by cooporating with colleagues. He also noted that he
wanted to make Yokogawa a company where anyone could
talk with anyone else, at anytime and anywhere.
In June 1975, Yokogawa released CENTUM, the world’s first
distributed control system (DCS) and the culmination of the
company’s digital control technologies, expertise, and knowhow. With conventional, centralized control systems, any
failure in one computer affected the whole system and made
it difficult to confine risk. A DCS was needed to overcome
this problem and optimize the system configuration of a
plant, depending on its size. By using microprocessors,
Yokogawa solved a variety of technology issues and
successfully developed the new DCS.
Because Yokogawa had already developed highly reliable
technologies for duplicating control systems, it was able to
develop the DCS ahead of its competitors. Unitization of a
control system for optimal configuration, central monitoring
and control with CRT displays, excellent system
expandability, simple instrumentation setup, and integration
with computers for production control–––all these
capabilities led to the world’s first DCS.
For operators who were unfamiliar with CRTs, displays
were modeled after conventional operator panels. This style
was called a “virtual panel” and its originality and excellent
design were highly evaluated. The virtual panel won several
awards in Japan, including one from the Japan Society for
the Promotion of Machine Industry in 1976.
After the oil crisis, manufacturers were struggling to
survive by shedding manpower and saving energy; CENTUM
helped them by assuring safe, efficient, and stable
operations. In December 1985, 10 years after its first release,
Yokogawa shipped the 1,000th CENTUM system. This
proved that CENTUM was highly valued in the marketplace.
Around this time, sales were boosted by the development
of a car exhaust measuring instrument that helped assure
compliance with environmental protection requirements, and
by cooporation in the medical equipment business with
General Electric (GE). As a result, Yokogawa, which had
suffered falling sales and income in fiscal year 1975,
gradually recovered. By 1977, despite having had to furlough
employees, the company was generating record-high orders
and sales.
Ceremony to mark the shipment of the
1,000th CENTUM system
Improving Financial Strength
In those days, Yokogawa was slow to collect receivables and
was shackled with excess inventory. Various efforts
improved the collection of receivables, but reducing
inventory required the restructuring of a system involving the
manufacture of a wide variety of products in small quantities.
Yokogawa decided to improve its information system first,
and then its production lines.
In February 1975, Yokogawa installed the New Order
Processing System (NOPS), and this was followed in
December by the Production Information and Control
System (PICS), which was suited to manufacturing a wide
variety of products in small quantities. The two systems were
then optimized to work together. Drawings, parts tables, and
part numbers were systematized so that many manual
operations could then be performed online dramatically
improving speed and efficiency.
Yokogawa started overhauling production lines in 1978
and tested many things, including a just-in-time production
system. In 1980, Yokogawa set a company-wide goal of
halving production costs. In 1981, Yokogawa became a New
Production System member and introduced the New
Yokogawa Production System (NYPS) philosophy to reform
all stages of work from designing to producing parts,
assembling finished goods, and shipping, for total
optimization. Operational efficiency was improved greatly.
The spread of NYPS was helped by the introduction of
information processing systems: the COSMOS order
processing system in 1982, the COSMOS–B (measurement)
system in 1984, and the NYCE cost management system
and the NICMOS procurement management system in 1985.
Car exhaust measuring
instrument (CO/HC tester)
Entering the Medical Equipment Market
In December 1976, Yokogawa set up a CT Division and
entered the medical equipment market in September 1977
by selling GE’s computerized X-ray transaxial tomography
system (CT). Yokogawa recognized the high potential of this
field and aimed to make similar products in Japan. The
business got off to a good start, and three GE gamma
camera models and a vascular X-ray system were added to
its product lineup in 1978 and 1979, respectively.
The CT Division was renamed the Medical Equipment (ME)
Division in 1980. After adding Yokogawa’s diagnostic
ultrasound imaging system and full-body CT scanner to the
product lineup, the
ME Division achieved
growth and was spun
off in 1982 to form
Yokogawa Medical
Systems (YMS,
currently GE
Healthcare Japan), a
joint venture with GE.
Yokogawa’s full-body CT scanner
Launch of NOPS
Merger with Hokushin Electric Works
In the 1980s, Yokogawa was trying to enter new markets
outside Japan because the market for plant construction in
Japan was expected to become saturated soon. In addition,
general electrical equipment manufacturers with superior
semiconductor/computer technologies and stronger
finances were beginning to enter the industrial instrument
market. Yokogawa consequently decided to merge with
Hokushin Electric Works, the third-largest company in the
Japanese industrial instrument market.
Hokushin, which had been founded in 1919, had pioneered
the production of industrial thermometers and process
Released in 1975, the first CENTUM system
44
45
control computers in Japan. At the time of the merger, the
company, which had the top share in Japan in the differential
pressure transmitter and electromagnetic flowmeter
segments, enjoyed a high reputation for its technology and
was one of the three dedicated industrial instrument
companies in Japan, along with Yokogawa.
Both presidents decided on this merger based on mutual
trust and a shared sense of crisis. They aimed to create the
world’s top dedicated industrial instrument company, by
pulling together capable employees from the two companies
and by providing outstanding service to customers that only
such specialist companies could provide, thus overtaking
the competition.
On April 1, 1983, Yokogawa Hokushin Electric Corporation
was established. Shozo Yokogawa became president, and
Masahiro Shimizu (the former Hokushin president) vice
president. The new company started with 5,800 employees
and an annual sales target of 120 billion yen.
At the start, Shozo Yokogawa emphasized his
management philosophy: “One for all, all for one.” He urged
former Yokogawa and Hokushin employees to cooperate
closely with each other in order to make the merger a
success. As expected, harmonization was not easy at first.
Even though the stock swap ratio for the merger had been
calculated based on each company's assets and stock
price, and was favorable to Yokogawa, management
repeatedly made it clear through personnel policies and
other measures that the two companies were equally
balanced, both in terms of human resources and technology.
As a result, the new company started to come together and
its performance and market share began to rise.
Following the merger, the new company’s sales
department opened its offices in the Shinjuku Center
Building and the Shinjuku NS Building. New offices and
factory buildings were constructed one after another at the
headquarters. The Shimomaruko factory, where Hokushin
used to be headquartered, was sold off in 1985 and thus the
relocation to the new company’s headquarters was
completed.
In 1986, the company name was changed to Yokogawa
Electric Corporation to strengthen the corporate identity. The
YEW trademark was also changed to the current symbol and
brand logo, which people worldwide found easier to
understand and remember. In 1988, Yokogawa defined its
corporate philosophy, marking the final step of the merger.
Yokogawa’s resources, including technologies, increased
as a result of the merger. This advantage enabled Yokogawa
to enter new fields, release many new products, and quickly
set up several Group companies outside Japan.
Stronger Yen and Yokogawa’s
Diversification
In the early 1980s, high-performance yet low-price Japanese
products flooded Western markets and led to trade friction.
Japan came under pressure to take measures to make the
yen stronger and increase domestic demand. Though it had
suffered a high-yen recession in 1986, Japan’s economy
once again started picking up at the end of the year.
After the merger, the control business grew steadily.
Yokogawa released many products, such as the CENTUM V
system, the YEWPACK–MARK II control system, the
CENTUM–XL system, and the μXL distributed control system
for small- and medium-sized plants. Covering plants of all
sizes, the DCS business entered its prime years.
Yokogawa began to diversity its business in the 1970s. To
meet the needs of customers in the electrical and electronics
segment, which had come to the fore as a result of structural
changes in Japanese industry in the 1980s, Yokogawa
restructured its electronic measurement business and
entered the semiconductor tester and digital oscilloscope
markets. Yokogawa also utilized the development and sales
personnel who had joined as a result of the merger in order
to develop other system businesses outside the process
automation (PA) field.
Firstly, targeting control and information systems for noncontinuous processes, the factory automation (FA) business
released many new products, covering areas ranging from the
provision of products to system construction. These products
included the YEWCOM super minicomputer, the YEWMAC
manufacturing line control system, and programmable logic
controllers. YEWMAC was used as a platform not only for FA
but also for PA and building automation (BA).
Secondly, taking advantage of the boom in the
construction of intelligent buildings in the late 1980s,
Yokogawa entered the BA market, which involves the
energy-efficient automatic control of equipment such as
building air conditioners. Yokogawa also went into laboratory
analysis, office automation (OA), and laboratory automation
(LA). Throughout the 1980s, Yokogawa continued to enter
new markets, although it would later withdraw from some of
them.
YEWMAC
At this 1956 Yokogawa exhibit of automation solutions, a first for
Japan, the company also featured Hokushin products
μXL advertisement
The Yokogawa Hokushin Electric logo
After the signing ceremony, President Yokogawa (left) shaking hands with President Shimizu
46
The current symbol and brand logo
Digital oscilloscope
Developing Non-Japan Markets with
the Spirit of Mutual Benefit
Since its foundation, Yokogawa has strived to grow its
business in Japan and raise its profile outside Japan. In
1919, Yokogawa exported its instruments for the first time via
a trading company, and in 1930, first exhibited its measuring
instruments at an international exposition. In 1950, Yokogawa
representatives resumed visiting other countries and this
eventually resulted in a tie-up with Foxboro. In 1957,
Yokogawa set up its first overseas office, in New York, and in
1958, exhibited its products at the ISA Show, a US trade fair
focusing on instrumentation products and technologies.
Moreover, Yokogawa entered the Chinese market,
participating in exhibitions, exchanging technologies, and
YEWCOM9000
Analog LSI tester
FA500
exporting products. As a result, Yokogawa came to be
known widely.
In the 1960s, Yokogawa was exporting its measuring
instruments to Western Europe through agents (direct
export) and to Eastern Europe via trading companies
(indirect export). In 1966, Yokogawa set up a representative
office in Hamburg to boost sales.
In 1973, Yokogawa encountered a number of issues with
Foxboro that led it to terminate that tie-up in 1975. Yokogawa
took this crisis as an opportunity to strike out on its own and
hurriedly built its own sales and service network.
Yokogawa established a sales and service office in Brazil
in 1973; a manufacturing subsidiary in Singapore and a sales
and service office in Europe in 1974; and a sales and service
office in Singapore in 1975. In 1982, Yokogawa bought
Electrofact, a Dutch analyzer manufacturer, and made it
responsible for the sales network, technology development,
manufacturing, and after-sales services across Europe.
Meanwhile, Yokogawa built a long and amicable
relationship with China. Normalization of diplomatic relations
between Japan and China in 1972 boosted its business
there. In 1979, Yokogawa signed an agreement to transfer its
industrial instrument technologies to a state-run company in
Xian and this later led to the formation of a joint venture. In
the 1980s, another technology transfer was agreed upon
and a joint venture was set up in Chongqing.
When entering a new market, Yokogawa often introduced
competitive products featuring its proprietary technologies.
In the US, the ER recorder and the sulfur content meter were
successful, and the sales of vortex flowmeters manufactured
at a new factory in Georgia increased steadily. A pH meter
developed jointly with a Group company in Europe was a
global hit. Yokogawa gradually made its presence felt
Yokogawa Electric Singapore (founded in 1974)
47
throughout the world.
To make this dynamic strategy a success, detailed
guidelines needed to be shared among all employees. In
October 1973, Yokogawa issued an in-house newsletter
describing its policy for managing Group companies outside
Japan and urged all employees to understand and follow it.
The policy emphasized the “spirit of mutual benefit,” under
which Japanese employees helped other countries develop
and share profits locally. Other major objectives were to train
local employees and appoint them to managerial posts for
true localization. This covered processes ranging from the
machining of parts to their assembly and distribution
worldwide in order to secure high quality and add high value.
With the spirit of mutual benefit, Japanese employees both
in and outside Japan overcame many hardships in
developing business globally. As a result, Yokogawa earned
the trust of local employees and customers and Group
companies outside Japan came to operate autonomously.
In the late 1970s, Yokogawa entered the non-Japan control
market by engaging in the high value-added DCS
engineering business on a full-scale basis. However, to win
customers’ trust in the control business, it was essential to
hire capable local people who were responsible for all
operations, from sales and engineering to after-sales
services. In addition, it was necessary to establish a system
to enable non-Japan Group companies to get support from
Yokogawa Electric Corporation. This required a major
investment and was a difficult hurdle to overcome.
Nevertheless, Yokogawa established its first non-Japan
engineering subsidiary in Singapore in 1986, and then
expanded in Southeast Asia and South Asia, followed by
other areas.
In those days, Japanese engineering companies were
entering overseas markets because the Japanese market was
stagnant. By working with such
companies, Yokogawa also
expanded its own business
overseas. Moreover, the merger
with Hokushin provided many
employees who were experienced
in international business, while the
appreciation of the yen made it
easier for Yokogawa to expand
abroad. Takashi Yamanaka, who
became president of Yokogawa in
Takashi Yamanaka
1988, also strived to expand
outside Japan while strengthening sales organizations in
Japan.
Japan had enjoyed a thriving economy since 1986, but in
early 1990, stock prices began to plunge, followed by land
prices, which then hit the real economy hard. The bursting of
the bubble economy drove the Japanese economy into a
long, dark tunnel that has been called the “two lost
decades.”
Column
The History of Hokushin Electric Works
Hokushin Electric Works was established by Souhei Shimizu at Azabu, Tokyo in April 1919 to manufacture industrial
meters. “Hokushin” is the Chinese name for the North Star, which has guided travelers since ancient times.
Confucius said, “He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the North Star, which
keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.” Souhei Shimizu named his company after these words of wisdom,
hoping that the company would become a leader of Japanese industry.
Hokushin started its business manufacturing thermometers. After moving its headquarters and factory to
Shimomaruko, Tokyo, the company manufactured devices for marine vessels and aircraft. During World War II, the
company produced 70% of all aircraft instruments for the Japanese army and navy and its compass was installed in
most key warships. Hokushin thus became one of the major instrument makers in Japan.
However, it lost 85% of manufacturing facilities during air raids and military demand vanished when the war ended.
Hokushin made a fresh start focusing on industrial meters, and then resumed manufacturing marine navigation and
aircraft instruments. Through tie-ups with Western companies, Hokushin accumulated sophisticated technologies and
gradually became competitive. The company made a success in the electronics field with the HOC series (Japan’s first
calculator for the process industry) and Japan’s first direct digital control system. With products such as a large-bore
electromagnetic flowmeter and various automation devices for marine vessels and aircraft, Hokushin became a wellknown name in the industry. At the time of the merger with Yokogawa, Hokushin was the third-largest measurement
and control company in Japan, after Yokogawa and Yamatake-Honeywell (currently, Azbil), with 2,200 employees and
sales of 38.9 billion yen (in fiscal year 1981).
The sales breakdown was as follows.
Industrial instruments:74.6% (HOC series, 900/TX series microprocessor-based instrumentation system, HOMAC
and EK series electronic control system, recorders, transmitters, electromagnetic flowmeters,
thermometers)
Aircraft instruments: 8.3% (air inlet controllers, flight directors)
Marine navigation devices: 13.4% (satellite navigation systems, gyrocompasses, autopilot systems)
Other: 3.7% (information systems)
The merger of Yokogawa and Hokushin created a major measarement and control company that was the world's
third largest manufacturer of industrial instruments.
The Hokushin logo
Formation of a joint venture in Xian, China
Yokogawa bought Electrofact, a Dutch company, in 1982
Autopilot system, a mainstay Hokushin product
Yokogawa Corporation of America
48
Yokogawa Keonics
HOMAC series electronic control system
Yokogawa Electric Asia
49
Overcoming the Post-bubble
Recession and the Beginning of
the Age of Globalization
(1991–2010)
“VECTOR 21” and Organizational
Reform
The stock market plunge in January 1990 precipitated the
collapse of Japan’s bubble economy and the start of the
“two lost decades.” Customers simultaneously revised
downward their capital investment plans and performance
forecasts. In fiscal year 1991, Yokogawa managed to
increase sales but operating income dropped significantly.
Yokogawa announced the VECTOR1 21 corporate vision in
1992, aiming to become an industrial automation (IA)
company in the years leading up to the 21st century by
unifying process automation, factory automation, and
laboratory automation, based on the company’s founding
principles and corporate philosophy. This vision was
intended to make employees aware of the drastic changes in
the business environment and urge them to work together to
overcome difficulties.
In July 1992, Yokogawa reorganized each business’s sales,
development, and manufacturing divisions into strategic
business units (SBU) in accordance with VECTOR 21.
Responsibility and authority were delegated to the individual
SBUs to enable them to respond appropriately and quickly to
changes in the market environment. All organizations were
divided clearly into cost centers and profit centers, and it was
made clear that profit centers would be evaluated based on
their profits. Thus, Yokogawa became profit-oriented.
However, both sales and profits in fiscal year 1992 fell far
below the target. The decrease in sales and the increase in
high-cost engineering were the reasons for this poor
performance.
Eiji Mikawa, who became president in June 1993, focused
on reducing the cost of existing
products, accelerating the
development of new products,
improving sales efficiency, and
streamlining headquarters
functions. He allocated more
human resources to the profitable
semiconductor tester business,
transformed the FA business into
a solution business, and entered
the information system business
Eiji Mikawa
for non-manufacturing industries.
1 Standing for value, excellence, challenges, teamwork, open-mindedness,
and responsibility, this also refers to a force that has both direction and
magnitude.
50
Developing Unique Products
In those days, Yokogawa developed many new products by
using its unique technologies. The DPharp differential
pressure/pressure transmitter released in 1991 sold strongly
because of the high accuracy and reliability achieved by
using the world’s first silicon resonant sensor. The confocal
scanner released in 1996 was also highly acclaimed in the
field of life science and adopted by research organizations in
many countries. The technologies in these products won
prestigious awards in Japan such as the National
Commendation for Invention and the Okochi Memorial
Technology Prize.
In the late 1980s, there was an increasing need to integrate
control systems for optimizing and streamlining all factory
operations. In addition, customers wanted to integrate
control systems with management systems, and consolidate
the control rooms used
for separate
production facilities.
Control systems were
also required to
support generalpurpose technologies.
To satisfy
customer’s needs for a
sophisticated control
platform that was both
flexible and open,
The Fieldbus Foundation logo
Yokogawa introduced
the CENTUM CS integrated production control system in
1992. Its CPU relied on a pair & spare architecture that
eventually enabled CENTUM series systems to achieve
seven-9s (99.99999%) availability.
Meanwhile, since the mid-1980s, several suppliers had
developed their own digital communication bus systems,
which made it difficult to interconnect field devices. For the
convenience of its customers, Yokogawa advocated the
development of a new international fieldbus standard, and
worked hard to make it happen. By leading the effort to
develop consensus among multiple standardization bodies,
Yokogawa played a key role in getting a new standard
created in 2000.
the same capabilities and open features of the latest
general-purpose computers, and the capability to support
fieldbuses, while maintaining the reliability of the DCS
platform and backwards compatibility with previous
CENTUM generations.
To expand the range of solutions, Yokogawa also jointly
developed advanced control software packages with
customers and engaged in M&A. In 1997, Yokogawa
acquired GTI-IA, a Dutch company specializing in safety
instrumented systems, and in 2005, released the ProSafeRS safety instrumented system. In the analyzer business
field, Yokogawa took a 51% stake in Measurementation, a
leading analyzer systems integrator in the US (later
integrated into Yokogawa’s US subsidiary).
To take the information business to the next level,
Yokogawa acquired Marex Technology, a British company,
to develop a common platform for manufacturing execution
systems (MES) that manage and use data collected by
DCSs. In 2000, Yokogawa added to its lineup the
Exaquantum plant information management system, which
uses Marex’s technology.
A New Long-term Corporate Strategy
for Achieving a Profitable Structure
In 1998, Yokogawa’s sales and profit dropped sharply due to
unprecedented negative economic growth in Japan and the
Asian currency crisis. Amidst these difficulties, President
Mikawa passed away in June 1999 and Isao Uchida,
executive vice president, took over.
Reforming the Control Business and
ETS
DPharp differential pressure/pressure
transmitter released in 1991
CSU10 confocal scanner unit
As technologies were becoming increasingly open,
Yokogawa noticed changes in the DCS market and started
reforming its control business accordingly.
In July 1997, Yokogawa announced a new business
concept, “Enterprise Technology Solutions (ETS).” With ETS,
Yokogawa aimed to provide optimum, cutting-edge control
technology solutions to address specific needs that its
customers faced in their business operations. Thus,
Yokogawa shifted its focus from the product business to the
solution business.
As platforms to achieve ETS, Yokogawa released
CENTUM CS 1000 for small- to medium-size processes in
1997 and CENTUM CS 3000 for large-size processes in
1998. These systems met customers’ expectations by having
CENTUM CS 1000
Ceremony to mark the first shipment of DPharp
ETS was presented at Tokyo (photo) and other locations
ProSafe-RS
51
In 2000, Yokogawa announced a new corporate strategy,
VISION-21 & ACTION-21, to adjust to structural changes in
the Japanese market and intensifying global competition.
With this strategy, Yokogawa aimed to become a sound and
profitable company and set profit targets for fiscal year 2005.
The company also aimed to expand the measurement and
information businesses, which, together with the control
business, would serve as the three main pillars for
Yokogawa.
In the measurement area,
Yokogawa formed an alliance with
Ando Electric in 2001 and then
acquired all its stock in 2002. In
2004, the company integrated all of
Ando's businesses. The
measurement business, with optical
measuring instruments and
semiconductor testers, was
reorganized into the communication
Isao Uchida
and measuring instrument business
and the advanced test equipment
(ATE) business in 2003. Sales for the ATE business increased
dramatically, making a great contribution to consolidated profits.
In the information field, Yokogawa worked on many new
business projects through tie-ups with IT firms. The staff needed
for these projects were secured by restructuring the control
business. In addition, the company actively entered promising
but challenging businesses.
Bursting of the Dotcom Bubble and
Another Structural Reform
In 2001, the situation took a turn for the worse due to
developments in the US such as the bursting of the dotcom
Spectrum analyzer, a major product of Ando Electric
bubble and the terrorist attacks of September 11. Yokogawa
made every effort to avoid losses, including slashing costs,
reducing pay, and furloughing staff. In 2002-2004, 15 of the
19 production facilities in Japan were closed, and the global
system for procurement, production, and logistics was
revamped. Under this new system, as of November 2015
there are seven plants in five countries that produce a variety
of products for the global market, seven plants in six
countries that produce control and measurement products
for the local market, and five plants in Japan that produce
products for other businesses. The Group companies in
Japan were also reduced and integrated.
At the same time, Yokogawa strengthened its financial
position. For example, it sold off Hewlett-Packard Japan (the
former Yokogawa-Hewlett-Packard) stock and converted the
preferred stock of GE Yokogawa Medical Systems (former
Yokogawa Medical Systems). Using part of these capital gains,
Yokogawa eliminated a shortfall in the reserves for retirement
pensions and compensated for an extraordinary loss
associated with the reduction and integration of subsidiaries.
Thus, Yokogawa quickly restored its financial health.
Making Engineering More Competitive
The number of Group companies outside Japan increased in
the 1980s and Yokogawa products became better known for
their excellent reliability. As a result, the number of orders for
large projects was increasing outside Japan. However,
Yokogawa’s engineering system could not effectively handle
large projects in emerging and resource-rich countries.
Although Yokogawa’s customer-centered and quality-first
approach was highly valued, our offices in individual
countries were not up to the challenge of implementing
large-scale, long-term projects. Therefore, Yokogawa set up
the Global Engineering Solution Center (GESC) in Singapore
in 2001, to work with our engineering offices in India, China,
and the Philippines. This system reduced costs and
improved the quality of projects by sharing the expertise and
know-how available at each of these locations.
In the early 2000s, Yokogawa won an order for China’s
then-largest petrochemical complex project. This was the
first project in which Yokogawa served as the main
automation contractor (MAC). Many employees from
different countries worked together to complete the project,
which was highly praised by the customer. This was one of
the achievements of the GESC.
Transforming into a Global Company
under the Vigilance Campaign
With a growing reputation and thanks to winning preferred
supplier contracts, Yokogawa’s control business expanded
steadily, and yet cases still occurred where Yokogawa was
not included even in the first round of the tender process in
Europe and North America because of its low profile.
Recognizing the importance of branding in the control
market, Yokogawa started its Vigilance campaign, which
reflected its commitment to watching customers’ plants
around the clock, throughout the year. This message was
welcomed by our offices outside Japan as it reflected the
value that they offer to customers, and it thus helped to unify
all the Group companies. Gaining traction with our
customers, this campaign entered a new stage in 2005 with
the announcement of our VigilantPlant initiative for achieving
the ideal plant. On the same day as that announcement,
President Uchida revealed the goal of becoming the global
No. 1 in the control business. This, combined with the
release of the ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system,
attracted much attention in the industry.
In the same year, Yokogawa set up Yokogawa Electric
International in Singapore to manage all of the control business
outside Japan. Response centers were also established in
several countries to answer inquiries from customers 24/7 and
vigilantly monitor their control systems. Through these efforts,
non-Japan sales more than doubled in the five years starting in
2002, and Yokogawa gained recognition as a global player in
the control market.
In 2008, Yokogawa announced CENTUM VP as a platform
to support VigilantPlant. This integrated production control
system provides an environment that effectively integrates
the control and information systems at the production site,
and is the ultimate form of Yokogawa’s production control
system.
Roll out of Vigilance campaign affirming the company's commitment to
its control business
President Uchida with Masao Motohashi (right), the then Ando president,
announcing Yokogawa's acquisition of Ando's stock
52
Yokogawa won more orders for international large-scale projects as its
business localized
Announcing VigilantPlant, Yokogawa's vision for the ideal plant
The Second Milestone of the
VISION-21 & ACTION-21 Plan and the
Financial Crisis in 2008
In 2006,
Yokogawa
identified areas
for strategic
investment and
set numerical
targets for fiscal
year 2010 that
would serve as
the second
Kanazawa office
milestone for
VISION-21 & ACTION-21. The plan was to capitalize on the
structural reforms that had been carried out in the years leading
up to fiscal year 2005 by expanding new businesses in such
fields as measuring instruments, life sciences, and photonics,
and thereby achieve significant growth. Yokogawa established a
life science facility in Kanazawa in 2005, and started manufacturing
photonics products at the Sagamihara factory in 2007.
In April 2007, Shuzo Kaihori became president. That same
year, DRAM prices suddenly plunged and customers cut
back investments in semiconductors, putting Yokogawa’s
measuring instruments and
semiconductor tester businesses
into the red. The profitability of the
non-Japan control business also
decreased, and demand in Japan
contracted. With these
unfavorable conditions, President
Kaihori’s first year saw higher
sales but lower profits.
At this point, Yokogawa judged
that its business was at an
Shuzo Kaihori
inflection point, because its cost
structure was making it difficult to remain price competitive,
and the control business was shifting from products to
solutions. Thus Yokogawa started improving its cost
competitiveness and adding more value to engineering.
In fiscal year 2008, business conditions took a turn for the
worse as a result of the global economic crises that followed
events such as the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and the
sudden shrinking of the semiconductor market. Yokogawa’s
operating income was barely positive, and net income was
heavily in the red due to a reversal of deferred tax assets.
Faced with these financial difficulties, Yokogawa
designated the two years of fiscal years 2009–2010 as a
period of structural reform in preparation for the next stage
of growth, and started to reform its business structure and
reduce fixed costs. Yokogawa decided to withdraw from the
ATE, photonics, and advanced stage businesses as it had
determined that it had over-estimated the growth potential of
these markets, and due to the shrinking semiconductor
tester market. The company also reviewed its business
portfolio, downsizing the magnetoencephalograph business,
transferring the measuring instrument business to Yokogawa
Meters & Instruments, spinning off the medical information
system business, and setting up Yokogawa Medical
Solutions. Yokogawa was also forced to solicit applications
for a voluntary retirement program.
53
Aiming to Become the Global
No.1 in the Control Business
(2011–)
Announcing the Evolution 2015
Mid-term Business Plan
In 2011, several disasters and incidents struck the world
economy, including the Great East Japan Earthquake, severe
flooding in Thailand, and the debt crisis in Europe.
Amidst this turmoil, Yokogawa announced its mid-term
business plan, Evolution 2015, in November 2011. This plan
set business targets for fiscal year 2015 and specific
strategies to achieve them, and aimed to transform
Yokogawa into a global solutions and service company. This
plan was the first step towards the goal of becoming the
global No.1 in the control business.
The growth strategies for the control business were drawn
up from three aspects: region, industry, and product. The
regional strategy was to concentrate management resources
on resource-rich and emerging countries. The industry
strategy was to expand business in oil refining and
petrochemicals, where Yokogawa already had a large share
of the market while continuing to focus on the upstream
(exploration and production) sectors of the oil and gas
industries, and on electric power and specialty chemicals.
The product strategy was to continue to develop highly
reliable products that help customers address business
issues, to capture the global top share with highly
competitive products such as differential pressure/pressure
transmitters, and to strengthen high value-added consulting
services. Concurrently, Yokogawa built a production system
suitable for global business, and globalized its headquarters
functions.
Evacuation of company employees to the athletic field at the Tokyo
headquarters following the Great East Japan earthquake
54
In December 2012, Yokogawa acquired a minority interest
in Soteica Visual MESA LLC, a US firm with advanced energy
management solutions (EMS), and began offering EMS
services as part of its service solution lineup.
The control business did well with overseas projects,
including a large LNG project in Australia and a secondphase project for a world-class oil refining and
petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia.
However, the control business in Japan faced challenging
circumstances, and new investment in plants continued to
shrink. Customers started to shift focus from installing new
equipment to increasing the added value of their existing
facilities, by means such as making more effective use of
energy by improving production efficiency, reducing costs,
and making operations safer. As a solutions and service
company, Yokogawa responded
by bringing the sales, engineering,
and service functions of the Japan
control business under the
management of Yokogawa
Solution Service, which was
established for this purpose in
April 2013. These three functions
had formerly been handled by
separate companies. In the same
year, Yokogawa ushered in a new
Takashi Nishijima
generation of leadership with the
appointment of Takashi Nishijima as president.
Control Business Responds to Structural
Changes in Market
Buoyed by energy-related demand in emerging and
resource-rich countries, the non-Japan control business
expanded, mainly in the oil, gas, and petrochemical
industries. Starting in 2014, sales also were positively
impacted by the weak yen. In line with this, orders for
systems integration, advanced control, operation assistance,
production management, security, and other types of
solutions gradually increased. At the same time, Yokogawa
focused on the development of new products to enhance its
solution capabilities and sales.
In Japan, as manufacturers accelerated their efforts to
restructure their businesses, Yokogawa strove to provide
solutions that would make its customers' businesses more
efficient, but they could not compensate for the decrease in
the conventional control businesses.
In fiscal year 2014, the non-Japan control business
accounted for 72 percent of all sales. To continue growing
globally, Yokogawa will need to be able to compete with
mega companies that are using their high profit, to
aggressively invest in their businesses. Toward that end,
Yokogawa will need to accelerate its growth strategy,
strengthen cost competitiveness, and improve efficiency
throughout the Group. As one such measure, the company
radically reviewed existing functions and operations, and
took the tough decision to rationalize human resources in
Japan. In fiscal year 2014, Yokogawa solicited applications
for voluntary retirement from employees of the three
companies engaged in the control business in Japan
(Yokogawa Electric, Yokogawa Solution Service, and
Yokogawa Manufacturing).
Innovation,’ Yokogawa creates new value with our clients for
a brighter future.” TF2017 is a three-year plan starting in
fiscal year 2015. Over the next three years, Yokogawa will lay
the foundation for the growth required to achieve the goals
of the long-term business framework. The company also
decided to focus on the following three priorities: customers,
creating new value, and becoming a highly efficient global
company.
Coincidentally, TF2017 was drawn up in 2015, which marks
the 100th anniversary of Yokogawa. A century ago,
Yokogawa started out with just four people. Currently, the
Group operates globally, with 20,000 employees and offices
around the world. The founding principles that have been
passed down through the generations – quality first,
pioneering spirit, and contribution to society – helped
Yokogawa develop highly reliable and quality products that
are the core of its business, excellent project execution
capabilities, advanced knowledge in diverse industries and
engineering capabilities, and meticulous local service.
Yokogawa will never forget this. As a brave pioneer, we will
anticipate changes, regard changes as opportunities, and
act bravely, and will continue transforming ourselves in order
to keep blazing new trails for another 100 years.
CENTUM VP R6 announced in 2014
Transformation 2017: the First Step
towards the Next 100 Years
In accordance with the Evolution 2015 mid-term business
plan, Yokogawa worked hard to improve its profitability and
finances by promoting growth strategies mainly in the
control business, and it made progress in this latter respect
thanks to the weak yen. Regarding profitability, in fiscal year
2014 Yokogawa was able to achieve the sales target for fiscal
year 2015, one year ahead of schedule, and generated a
record-high operating income. However, the increase in
sales and operating income was largely due to the weaker
yen, and the improvement in profitability was far from
satisfactory. Meanwhile, as a result of a global restructuring
of industries, Yokogawa’s business environment was
changing and new opportunities were emerging.
Accordingly, Yokogawa had to rapidly transform its
business structure, and so drew up a long-term business
framework that defines what kind of company sought
Yokogawa will need to be 10 years from now, and specifies
strategies needed to achieve that goal. At the same time,
without waiting for the completion of Evolution 2015,
Yokogawa drew up a new mid-term business plan,
Transformation 2017, (TF2017) that covers fiscal years 2015
to 2017.
In this plan’s long-term business framework, Yokogawa
defined its vision statement, “Through ‘Process Co-
President Nishijima briefing employees on Transformation 2017
55
56
75
(10)
0
(20)
Financial period
48th 1949.10.1-1950.3.31
Sales
Sales (consolidated)
Operating income
139th 2014.4.1-2015.3.31
138th 2013.4.1-2014.3.31
137th 2012.4.1-2013.3.31
136th 2011.4.1-2012.3.31
135th 2010.4.1-2011.3.31
134th 2009.4.1-2010.3.31
133th 2008.4.1-2009.3.31
132th 2007.4.1-2008.3.31
131th 2006.4.1-2007.3.31
130th 2005.4.1-2006.3.31
Sales (Billion yen)
129th 2004.4.1-2005.3.31
128th 2003.4.1-2004.3.31
127th 2002.4.1-2003.3.31
126th 2001.4.1-2002.3.31
125th 2000.4.1-2001.3.31
124th 1999.4.1-2000.3.31
123th 1998.4.1-1999.3.31
122th 1997.4.1-1998.3.31
121th 1996.4.1-1997.3.31
120th 1995.4.1-1996.3.31
119th 1994.4.1-1995.3.31
118th 1993.4.1-1994.3.31
117th 1992.4.1-1993.3.31
116th 1991.4.1-1992.3.31
115th 1990.4.1-1991.3.31
114th 1989.4.1-1990.3.31
113th 1988.4.1-1989.3.31
112th 1987.4.1-1988.3.31
111th 1986.4.1-1987.3.31
110th 1985.4.1-1986.3.31
109th 1984.4.1-1985.3.31
108th 1983.4.1-1984.3.31
107th 1982.4.1-1983.3.31
106th 1981.4.1-1982.3.31
105th 1980.4.1-1981.3.31
0
104th 1979.4.1-1980.3.31
0
103th 1978.4.1-1979.3.31
5
102th 1977.4.1-1978.3.31
10
101th 1976.4.1-1977.3.31
1.0
97th-98th 1974.4.1-1975.3.31
20
99th-100th 1975.4.1-1976.3.31
1.5
95th-96th 1973.4.1-1974.3.31
30
93th-94th 1972.4.1-1973.3.31
2.0
91th-92th 1971.4.1-1972.3.31
40
89th-90th 1970.4.1-1971.3.31
2.5
87th-88th 1969.4.1-1970.3.31
50
85th-86th 1968.4.1-1969.3.31
3.0
83th-84th 1967.4.1-1968.3.31
60
81th-82th 1966.4.1-1967.3.31
3.5
79th-80th 1965.4.1-1966.3.31
70
77th-78th 1964.4.1-1965.3.31
4.0
75th-76th 1963.4.1-1964.3.31
80
73th-74th 1962.4.1-1963.3.31
Operating income (Million yen)
4.5
71th-72th 1961.4.1-1962.3.31
69th-70th 1960.4.1-1961.3.31
67th-68th 1959.4.1-1960.3.31
65th-66th 1958.4.1-1959.3.31
63th-64th 1957.4.1-1958.3.31
61th-62th 1956.4.1-1957.3.31
59th-60th 1955.4.1-1956.3.31
57th-58th 1954.4.1-1955.3.31
55th-56th 1953.4.1-1954.3.31
53th-54th 1952.4.1-1953.3.31
51th-52th 1951.4.1-1952.3.31
49th-50th 1950.4.1-1951.3.31
90
Financial Periods 1~44
47th 1946.8.11-1949.9.30
46th 1946.4.1-1946.8.10
45th 1945.6.1-1946.3.31
43th-44th 1944.6.1-1945.5.31
41th-42th 1943.6.1-1944.5.31
39th-40th 1942.6.1-1943.5.31
37th-38th 1941.6.1-1942.5.31
35th-36th 1940.6.1-1941.5.31
33th-34th 1939.6.1-1940.5.31
31th-32th 1938.6.1-1939.5.31
29th-30th 1937.6.1-1938.5.31
Sales (Million yen)
27th-28th 1936.6.1-1937.5.31
26th 1935.6.1-1936.5.31
25th 1934.6.1-1935.5.31
24th 1933.6.1-1934.5.31
23th 1932.6.1-1933.5.31
22th 1931.6.1-1932.5.31
21th 1930.12.1-1931.5.31
19th-20th 1929.12.1-1930.11.30
17th-18th 1928.12.1-1929.11.30
15th-16th 1927.12.1-1928.11.30
13th-14th 1926.12.1-1927.11.30
t-2
3r nd
d4
5t th
h6
7t th
h9t 8th
h11 10t
th h
13 12t
th h
15 14t
th h
17 16t
th h
19 18t
th h
-2
0t
h
21
th
22
th
23
th
24
th
25
th
27 26t
th h
29 28t
th h
31 30t
th h
33 32t
th h
35 34t
th h
37 36t
th h
39 38t
th h
41 40t
th h
43 42t
th h
-4
4t
h
225
11th-12th 1925.12.1-1926.11.30
1s
300
9th-10th 1924.12.1-1925.11.30
375
7th-8th 1923.12.1-1924.11.30
5th-6th 1922.12.1-1923.11.30
3rd-4th 1921.12.1-1922.11.30
450
1st-2nd 1920.12.1-1921.11.30
Data
Trend of sales and operating income
Operating income (Billion yen)
150
40
30
20
10
0
Operating income (consolidated)
57
Data
Group companies
Trend of sales outside Japan
(%)
(Billion yen)
350
70
North America
United States
CIS
Russia
Yokogawa USA, Inc.
Yokogawa Electric Sakhalin Ltd.
Yokogawa Nuclear Solutions, LLC
Kazakhstan
Yokogawa Corporation of America
300
60
250
50
Soteica Visual Mesa, LLC
Canada
Yokogawa Canada, Inc.
200
40
Mexico
Yokogawa de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.
150
30
100
20
Yokogawa Engineering Services de
Mexico, S.A. de C.V.
South America
Brazil
Yokogawa America do Sul Ltda.
50
0
10
1990
1992
1991
1994
1993
1996
1995
1998
1997
2000
1999
2002
2001
Sales outside Japan
2004
2003
2006
2005
2008
2007
2010
2009
2012
2011
2014
2013
Yokogawa Service Ltda.
(Fiscal year)
Sales ratio outside Japan
Yokogawa GesmbH, Central East Europe
Belgium
Yokogawa Belgium N.V./S.A.
Sale for FY2014
France
Yokogawa France S.A.S.
Germany
Yokogawa Deutschland GmbH
19,601
4,058 billion yen
Rota Yokogawa GmbH & Co. KG
Hungary
as of March31,2015
Yokogawa Hungaria Kft.
Italy
88.2 %
Yokogawa Italia S.r.l.
11,590
5,140
Poland
Yokogawa Polska Sp. z o.o.
Spain
Industrial automation and control
Test and measurement
Yokogawa Electric Cprporation
Yokogawa Iberia S.A.
United Kingdom
Group companies in Japan
Yokogawa United Kingdom Limited
Yokogawa Marex Limited
Other
Group compnaies outside Japan
Saudi Arabia
Yokogawa Saudi Arabia Ltd.
Yokogawa Services Saudi Arabia Ltd.
India
Yokogawa India Ltd.
Yokogawa IA Technologies India Private
Limited
China
Yokogawa China Investment Co., Ltd.
Yokogawa China Co., Ltd.
Yokogawa Electric China Co., Ltd.
Yokogawa Sichuan Instrument Co., Ltd.
Yokogawa Process Control (Shanghai)
Co., Ltd.
Yokogawa Africa Holding B.V.
World wide
Yokogawa Engineering Bahrain SPC
Yokogawa Vietnam Company Ltd.
Africa
South Africa
Yokogawa Process Analyzers Europe B.V.
2,871
Yokogawa Middle East & Africa B.S.C. (c)
Vietnam
Europe
Netherlands
Austria
5.9 %
Middle East
Bahrain
Yokogawa (Thailand) Ltd.
Yokogawa Shanghai Instrumentation Co.,
Ltd.
Yokogawa Europe Branches B.V.
5.9 %
Yokogawa Electric Ukraine Ltd.
Thailand
Yokogawa Engineering Middle East &
Africa FZE
Yokogawa Europe Solutions B.V.
Worldwide employees
Ukraine
Yokogawa Philippines Inc.
United Arab Emirates
Yokogawa Europe B.V.
Sales by business segment
Yokogawa Electric Kazakhstan Ltd.
Philippines
Columbia
Yokogawa Colombia S.A.S.
0
Yokogawa Electric CIS Ltd.
Yokogawa South Africa (Pty) Ltd.
Yokogawa Anglophone Africa Regions
(Pty) Ltd.
Nigeria
Yokogawa Services Solutions Nigeria Ltd.
Yokogawa Nigeria Ltd.
Oceania
Australia
Yokogawa Australia Pty. Ltd.
New Zealand
Yokogawa New Zealand Ltd.
Asia
Singapore
Yokogawa Electric International Pte. Ltd.
Yokogawa Engineering Asia Pte. Ltd.
Yokogawa Electric Asia Pte. Ltd.
Plant Electrical Instrumentation Pte. Ltd.
Indonesia
P.T. Yokogawa Indonesia
P.T. Yokogawa Manufacturing Batam
Malaysia
Yokogawa Electric (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
Yokogawa Kontrol (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
Suzhou Yokogawa Meter Company
Yokogawa Shanghai Trading Co., Ltd.
Yokogawa Information Systems (Dalian)
Corporation
Yokogawa Software Engineering (WUXI)
Co., Ltd.
Yokogawa System Integration &
Procurement (WUXI) Co., Ltd.
Korea
Yokogawa Electric Korea Co., Ltd.
Yokogawa Electronics Manufacturing
Korea Co., Ltd.
Taiwan
Yokogawa Taiwan Corp.
Group companies in Japan
Yokogawa Solution Service Corporation
Yokogawa Meters & Instruments
Corporation
Omega Simulation Co., Ltd.
YDC Corporation
Yokogawa & Co., Ltd.
Yokogawa Denshikiki Co., Ltd.
Yokogawa Foundry Corporation
Yokogawa Manufacturing Corporation
Yokogawa Medical Solutions Corporation
Yokogawa Pionics Co., Ltd.
Yokogawa Rental & Lease Corporation
Yokogawa Industrial Safety Systems Sdn.
Bhd.
Yokogawa Analytical Solutions Sdn. Bhd.
As of March 31, 2015
58
59
—Yokogawa centennial booklet—
Published in November 2015
©2015 Yokogawa Electric Corporation

Always Reaching Higher

Transcription

Similar documents

SUCCESS STORY ProSafe-SLS for Statoil Troll A HIPPS

- Yokogawa

Formulating Proprietary Design Rules for Creation of

73101 Pocket Digital Multimeter

Field Digital Device Diagnostics for Effective Use of

corporate profile

certified - Wunderlich

YOKOGAWA ELECTRIC CORPORATION

CPI Duri Field - INTECH Process Automation