Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) announces that it has renewed a strategic global agreement with Air Liquide Engineering (Champigny, France) to remain their global supplier of Process Control Systems for their Air Separation Units, HYCO and co-generation plants. This agreement can be used by all Air Liquide Engineering affiliates. The Yokogawa products and services covered by this new agreement include the CENTUM CS/CS1000/CS3000 integrated production control system, software solutions and system integration, engineering and maintenance services.

"For the past 3 years, Yokogawa's experienced professionals have delivered control solutions including system integration, engineering and maintenance services. Working together with Air Liquide engineers, they contributed to a standardized project execution methodology that provided significant benefits to the reduction of their TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and helped Air Liquide remain globally competitive", said Akira Kohzuki, senior general manager, Yokogawa's International Solutions Division. "We will continue to provide solutions & strategies that exactly align with those of our strategic partner, Air Liquide".

"Our selection of Yokogawa as our strategic global preferred control system vendor is the result of an intensive yearlong technical and commercial evaluation process. The success of the former alliance agreement greatly contributed to this selection. We intend to build the strongest possible business partnership with Yokogawa based on this new agreement." said Thierry Bardon, vice president, Air Liquide Engineering's procurement.

One of Air Liquide's basic strategies behind this agreement involves the need to maintain their global competitiveness. Yokogawa's global support organization, recognized reputation for superior product quality and a proven track record to consistently deliver high-quality engineering services all contribute to the achievement of Air Liquide's strategies.

Since 1998, Air Liquide and Yokogawa have maintained a very productive strategic business alliance. This alliance defined a business methodology that encompassed business activities starting with project sales and ultimately concluding with project acceptance. It was this initial relationship that formed the basis for this new strategic business agreement.

About Air Liquide S.A.
Air Liquide is a global provider of industrial and medical gases and related services. By staying at the vanguard of technological leadership, Air Liquide provides its customers all over the world with new products, services and solutions. Founded in 1902, Air Liquide has 125 subsidiaries in 60 countries and employs more than 30,300 people. Total sales in 2000 totaled 8.1 billion euros with sales outside of France accounting for 77%. Air Liquide is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, is a member of the CAC 40 and the EuroStoxx 50 indexes (Euroclear 12 007).