“In Japanese culture, the term omotenashi describes a service that is delivered above and beyond expectations,” explains Yokogawa South Africa managing director, Johan Louw. “It is the cornerstone that underpins Japanese hospitality and very much describes our attitude to business here at Yokogawa.”
It all began in 1915 when Tamisuke Yokogawa, a doctor of architectural engineering, established an electric meter research institute in Tokyo together with Ichiro Yokogawa and Shin Aoki. In 1917 the company became the first to produce and sell electric meters in Japan and in 1920 it was incorporated as Yokogawa Electric Works. Since then the organisation has become renowned as a global leader in automation innovation with a rich history of technology patents and world firsts, perhaps the most memorable being the pioneering work that culminated with the introduction of the Centum series DCS in 1975.
Today, the company is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as Yokogawa Electric Corporation and it employs some 20 000 people in 86 affiliate offices in 56 countries around the world. Yokogawa first entered the South African market in 1978, when a local company was appointed as distributor for Yokogawa process control instrumentation. In 1997 Yokogawa South Africa was established, which subsequently became a wholly owned subsidiary of Yokogawa Europe. In 2013, Yokogawa South Africa migrated to Yokogawa Middle East & Africa, a move that Louw sees as strategically important since Africa forms a critical growth region in the business development plan. North and east Africa is managed out of Dubai and the southern African region from South Africa. Yokogawa SA’s head office is located in Johannesburg and it is supported by satellite offices in Sasolburg, Cape Town and Durban. Today Yokogawa South Africa is a Level 3 BBBEE contributor, with 25.03% held by a Black Women Group, Identity Capital Partners.
Louw highlights another important milestone as the 2013 establishment of a focused automation solutions business. “The significance of this is that Yokogawa no longer sees itself as purely a products company, but rather as a fully integrated solutions provider supported by world-leading technology and product capabilities,” he says.
“It is the next evolutionary step in an idea the organisation pioneered back in 2000,” explains Yokogawa SA sales and marketing director, Vinesh Maharaj. “That is when we first introduced the concept of a main automation contractor (MAC) to our customers. The market embraced the initiative immediately, and it has now become one of the fundamental ideas that underpin our growth and business development philosophies.”
“This is the thinking that will drive our performance in the twenty-first century,” adds Louw. “We are one hundred years old this year, so we have proved that we are always prepared to take the long term view. The vision from here is that we no longer see ourselves as simply selling products to our customers, rather we see ourselves as becoming an integral part of their business through the complete lifecycle of a facility from concept right through to decommissioning.”
The model is simple: The MAC owns responsibility for all of the automation related aspects over the entire lifecycle of a project. “With new legislation around emissions and energy efficiency, as well as a global shortage of suitably skilled automation engineers, the need for a MAC has never been more important,” says Maharaj. “The MAC is more a partner in the project than it is a contractor, as the MAC role includes a combination of technology, training and long-term support over a wide range of technologies and systems.”
The power of the concept has brought Yokogawa closer to its customers through early engagement at the concept phase and the close working relationships that persist over the entire lifetime of the facility. This connectedness to customers is also what hones the company’s thinking in terms of new product and technology investment – 6 to 9% of turnover is put back into R&D.
Four areas that Louw highlights in an overview of new product development are the evolution of the Centum VP DCS offering, industrial wireless as a platform for process automation, simulation both for process optimisation and operator training, and a unique new hot-spot monitoring solution based on optical fibre sensing.
The DTSX range of temperature monitoring solutions is designed for temperature profiling over long distances with extremely accurate resolution. For instance, the DTSX 3000 can measure the distributed temperature profiles across fibre optic cables up to 50 km in length, with a resolution of 0,03°C at 1 m or smaller intervals. Originally designed for use in oil and gas wells, this distributed temperature sensor can in fact easily be routed along the course of any object that requires monitoring – for instance, a power line.
The new Centum VP R6 is due to be launched locally later this year. Louw says that the focus here has been on reduced human reliance and a more efficient engineering environment through design and lifecycle management. Some exciting new safety and reliability functionality has also been incorporated in R6, the hardware housing the world’s first Hybrid Smart Configurable IO.
“While much of our new product development is focused on customer related problems in our traditional markets like oil and gas, the recent drop in the oil price caused us to broaden our focus as there are many other industries for which this technology is applicable,” explains Louw.
“Our product basket has historically been top-end aimed at the oil and gas market,” adds Maharaj. “But now, due to the dip in the oil price, we are repositioning our offerings to make sure we have the diversification we need to take advantage of opportunities in other industries as they arise.”
“Locally, we see opportunities opening up in the power, water and sugar industries,” says Louw, “and, when you get right down to it, our technology has all the required features, track record and credentials to make us a serious competitor here as well.”
“In order for us to capitalise though, we need to create more awareness in the marketplace,” comments Maharaj. “If you want to be number one, then you need to be top-of-mind with the key decision makers in the industries you target. In terms of our growth targets, one of the most important themes that I will be driving this year is more interaction with our customers.
“We need to change the perception that the only cost in an automation project that needs to be considered is the up-front purchase price of an instrument or system. The power of modern technology has taken us way beyond this, so today, if you want to get full value out of your investment, you need advice on how best to implement, manage and maintain your automation and information assets through the entire lifecycle of your plant”
“Absolutely,” agrees Louw. “That is why we are so committed to the MAC ideals and the added value they bring to our customers.”
“You asked us where the growth was going to come from in the twenty-first century,” concludes Maharaj. “We believe it will only come if we are able to address the four universal customer concerns of efficiency, human reliability, safety and availability. The ideas behind the MAC philosophy are the implementation platform and the diversity of our technology offering and experience gives us the necessary key competitive advantages to tackle opportunities in key African markets that we have not yet fully explored.”
Yokogawa South Africa will be showing much of the new technology discussed in this article at the upcoming Africa Automation Fair @ The Dome in Northgate from 5-7 May. Why not pay them a visit and experience the technology omotenashi first-hand.
For more information contact Christie Cronje, Yokogawa, +27 (0)11 831 6300, [email protected], www.yokogawa.com/za
| Tel: | +27 11 831 6300 |
| Fax: | +27 11 86 411 8144 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.yokogawa.com/za |
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