The first-ever Yokogawa Technology Innovations Fair in the Middle East was held in Dahran, Saudi Arabia on March 4 and 5. The event was held in conjunction with the grand inauguration ceremony for the new facilities of Yokogawa Saudi Arabia.

Yokogawa has been active in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for more than 30 years. Through global synergy and local partnerships, Yokogawa Middle East built up the strength to execute both mega- and turnkey projects. The company offers sales and engineering services that include project management, supply, site services, maintenance, and training in integrated process automation systems, process control instruments, and test and measuring instruments. In 2005, it was designated Yokogawa’s regional headquarters for the Middle East.

With its expanding business in the Middle East and in particular Saudi Arabia, Yokogawa decided to build a facility in Kingdom that would carry out engineering and R&D activities to promote Saudization and contribute to Saudi Arabian industry and society by developing jobs and treasured human assets.

The technology fair was a huge success and generated a lot of enthusiasm among many Yokogawa customers. The event space was broadly divided into two zones that were dedicated to the present and the future, and showcased our products, engineering capabilities, and vision.

The present zone:
A walkthrough exhibit was created that presented Yokogawa’s history, engineering capability, development of human assets, and the VigilantPlant concept. A command center demonstrated the integration of production control and the full range of Yokogawa’s Asset Excellence, Production Excellence, and SCADA solutions. The concept of SEE, KNOW & ACT was truly evident. There also was an exhibit showing the actual integration of HART, Profibus, FOUNDATION™ fieldbus, and wireless solutions with the Plant Resource Manager (PRM) asset management system (PRM). Through these exhibits, customers gained the insight that Yokogawa is not only an automation vendor and learned of its expertise and solutions in such areas as life science, avionics, and test equipment.

The future zone:
The technology fair was an excellent forum for sharing Yokogawa’s vision for the future and the cutting-edge technologies that it is developing. The following key technologies were demonstrated:
• Field-ubiquitous computing, including an IP field network and tracking simulator
• Microtechnology (semiconductors)
• Photonics

The technology fair was a huge success and was highlighted by the attendance of 30 top executives from Saudi Aramco, SABIC, and other companies. A total of 600 people visited the technology fair.