Yokogawa Electric Corporation was first established in Japan in September 1915 by Tamisuke Yokogawa, a graduate with a doctorate in Architectural engineering, to produce electrical measuring instruments.
Since 1955 Yokogawa has successfully pursued a global growth and diversification strategy in association with a number of leading multinational corporations such as Hewlett Packard, General Electric Company as well as other industry leaders in chosen specialist markets throughout the world.

The company developed and launched the world’s first distributed control system (DCS) in 1975 and continues to lead the way in the global production control systems industry.

Yokogawa first entered the South African market in 1978 when a local company, Delta Controls, was appointed as the sole distributor for Yokogawa process control instrumentation. In 1995 Delta Controls was acquired by Babcock Africa Contracting (Pty) Limited and in 1997 became a wholly owned subsidiary of Yokogawa Europe BV.

Yokogawa’s global operations are based on four manufacturing plants and 40 affiliated companies in Japan, 14 factories in nine other countries and 63 affiliates in 27 countries. The corporation employs more than 19,000 people around the world and in the financial year ended March 2004 reported a turnover of US$3.519-billion.

Industry leading products and services are provided through four operationally focused business units:

• Industrial automation and control business
• Test and measurement business
• Information systems business
• Aviation and support business

All business units are supported by Yokogawa’s worldwide commitment to the provision of optimum solutions and the highest possible levels of technical and professional services that address every area of a customer’s operations – from management through to production.

The Yokogawa Enterprise Technology Solutions (ETS) business concept generates maximum value for each customer’s operation while minimising their lifecycle cost of ownership. ETS is a service company providing optimum solutions that use the latest and most appropriate technologies to help the customer improve managerial efficiency.

Yokogawa commits 6 percent of annual revenue to research and development and has secured more than 4500 worldwide patents.

The corporation subscribes to the highest possible standards of quality assurance and to this end has implemented ISO 9001/2000 compliance standards throughout it operations across the world. Yokogawa South Africa is fully certified by Lloyds as ISO 9001/2000 compliant.

Yokogawa South Africa is focused on the parent corporation’s core business – the provision and support of electronic process control and instrumentation equipment that is manufactured by group companies in state-of-the-art facilities around the world.

The Yokogawa product portfolio directly sold and supported in South Africa includes:

• Production control systems based on the world-leading CENTUM and STARDOM brands.
• Field instruments used to measure and transmit data across a wide range of parameters such as pressure, temperature and flow rates as well as liquid and gas analysis.
• Production support solutions encompassing a range of software packages that optimise production and help to reduce total cost of ownership.

Although it is a wholly owned subsidiary, Yokogawa SA maintained historical relationships with the manufacturers of complementary product ranges. These include Barksdale (pressure and level switches), American Meter (gas meters and filters for the gas industry), Dresser (gas meters) and Kinetrol (quarter turn actuators).

A major contributor to Yokogawa’s success in South Africa is the local company’s commitment to service excellence and technical support. More than 50 percent of staff in South Africa are committed to the provision of services with the engineering team boasting a total of more than 65 years of experience with Yokogawa control products.

The Yokogawa South Africa technical services and support portfolio includes:

Contract support - A wide range of support programmes is available to support different customer needs. Extensive 24 hour, 365 day capabilities include telephone and on-site support, preventative maintenance, calibration, spares holding, emergency assistance, together with a structured international escalation and extended warranty service.

Engineering Support - Technical service engineers provide engineering support for Yokogawa and third-party equipment, including validation, calibration, application and software support, engineering consultancy, startup services, upgrades and commissioning.

Training - In-house and on-site training facilities are available for instrumentation, control and safety systems and field bus technologies, varying from half-day workshops to comprehensive training programmes. Bespoke training courses are also available for both Yokogawa and other suppliers’ products.

Repair service - A repair service is available for economical, fast turn-around repairs which, combined with an advanced replacement service, ensures that downtime is kept to a minimum.

Calibration - Calibration is available for Yokogawa and third party instruments, providing traceable certification to international standards. Instruments can be leased to enable rotational calibration.

Spares - Yokogawa provides a comprehensive critical spares holding (bonded) service. These strategic spares can be held on or off site depending on customer preferences.

Other services offered by Yokogawa South Africa include system design, system configuration, commissioning (both cold and hot commissioning), documentation, project management and system simulation.

With the first Yokogawa DCS having been installed in South Africa in 1983, the company has successfully built a large base of blue-clip customers across a diverse range of industrial sectors.

Yokogawa SA enjoys an enviable reputation as a turnkey supplier of high performance, high quality process control and field instrumentation systems and services in the South African chemical, petrochemical, mining, pulp and paper, sugar, power generation and iron and steel industries.

The company operates on behalf of Yokogawa Electric Corporation in other countries in Africa through a network of certified and fully authorised distribution agents. Markets addressed in the rest of Africa by Yokogawa SA include Ghana, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Mauritius.

Yokogawa South Africa operates from Roodepoort, Johannesburg.

Yokogawa is committed to operations that are based on the principle of resource recycling with the goal of achieving zero emissions. The group has assigned a high priority to the efficient, waste-free use of the resources, material and energy required for production activities throughout its global operations.

While carrying out normal business activities, all employees are also actively involved in initiatives that aim to protect the global environment. This is an ongoing effort that seeks to build a sustainable society that is grounded in sound environmental management practices through the provision to our customers of environmentally friendly products and solutions.

As a global company focused on industrial automation and control, test and measurement and information systems, Yokogawa’s mission is to combine the courage to innovate with a dedication to quality, service and individual market needs, as well as a concern for the environment and good citizenship.

As a wholly owned subsidiary of this global corporation, Yokogawa South Africa is committed to the supply of world-leading products that are backed by the provision of engineering and technical support services that guarantee customer satisfaction.

Contact Yokogawa South Africa:

Yokogawa South Africa (Pty) Limited
Block A, Constantia Ridge Office Park
764 Golf Club Terrace, Constantia Kloof
Roodepoort
Johannesburg
South Africa