Evolution 2015, the medium term business plan put in place by Yokogawa in 2011, has run its course. During its era, the company faced many unforeseen challenges including a devastating earthquake in Japan and a fading global economy. Nevertheless, the organisation managed to exceed its FY15 sales target of ¥400 billion by ¥13 billion. But, there was a snag – profits fell short.
Evolution 2015, the medium term business plan put in place by Yokogawa in 2011, has run its course. During its era, the company faced many unforeseen challenges including a devastating earthquake in Japan and a fading global economy. Nevertheless, the organisation managed to exceed its FY15 sales target of ¥400 billion by ¥13 billion. But, there was a snag – profits fell short.
A turning point
Transformation 2017 is Yokogawa’s solution to current business challenges. It is a go-getting plan of business reforms designed to create new value. Technology is the enabler, but co-innovation is the key.
“We need to become more customer centric,” explains Yokogawa South Africa sales and marketing director, Vinesh Maharaj. “Our brief is to get much closer to our clients. We need to understand their needs exactly, and then search within our competency and technology offerings for the answers. We are no longer in the business of selling boxes. Transformation 2017 is about value creation through process co-innovation between an automation provider and its end-users. We are selling solutions.”
Yokogawa is best known for its expertise in the oil and gas industries. Now, the company plans to leverage this hard-earned knowledge in other sectors where the operating environments are also harsh. Mining, power generation and water have been identified as key global growth areas for the future.
“Mining, power and water are all vital components of Africa’s economic development agenda,” says Maharaj. “Fortunately, Yokogawa has extensive know-how in all of these areas. Now, we must transfer that proficiency to our South African office, in line with the tenets of Transformation 2017.”
In mining, Yokogawa has a substantial footprint in Australia in particular, and a strong record in providing solutions in that market. Locally in southern Africa, the company already boasts some of the biggest names in mining on its end-user list such as De Beers, for example. The De Beers application is particularly interesting. De Beers Marine has selected the Centum VP DCS as a core control platform onboard its marine diamond mining vessels.
The nucleus for co-innovation is in place. The drivers will be Yokogawa’s Exaquantum MES/MIS software suite and the seven nines (99.99999%) availability of the Centum VP control system.
“We will focus mainly on the surface operations,” says Maharaj. “Our MES/MIS offerings are ideal for applications like metal extraction and accounting systems. Also for inventory management and supply chain optimisation.”
Power to the people
Energy in Africa is a scarce commodity when compared to the developed world. It is also a crucial ingredient for the continent’s economic growth. Yokogawa believes it can make a difference through its suite of power related products, all field proven in the Middle East, Europe and South East Asia.
Here, the ICT acquisitions (Soteica Visual Mesa for one) have paid off through the advanced engineering and real-time optimisation capabilities of products like VisualMesa, Yokogawa’s Energy Management Real-Time Optimizer.
“VisualMesa is a real-time implementation and engineering model which considers plant control strategies and system reactions to changes in applications like steam generation,” explains Maharaj. “It gives operators actionable advice on how best to operate the interactive systems at a generation facility in order to minimise the operating costs. They receive guidance on how to set co-generation and steam production, water supply, steam distribution, and even how to manage real-time power sales.”
But it is more than this. The VisualMesa Energy Monitor continuously calculates key performance indicators like load factor, capacity utilisation index, station reliability factor, heat rate and stand out efficiency. Should any of these start to slide, the system will guide the operator all the way down the historian to the root cause of the problem, a valve which is not closing properly, for instance. It also allows automation engineers the luxury of a what-if simulation before making a change to the plant, such as the addition of a new PID parameter for a control loop.
In fact, the VisualMesa platform is not limited to utilities. It can be equally well applied anywhere in industry where steam energy is produced, like a sugar mill or a pulp and paper operation.
“Yokogawa is active in renewable as well,” explains Maharaj. “In 2010 we introduced SolStation, a field controller with a built-in solar position algorithm. It is specifically designed to keep a CSP (concentrated solar power) array tracking the sun throughout the day at the optimum angle for radiation collection. We have reference sites in Europe, particularly Spain, and hope to make an announcement in the near future about a local project.”
Water water everywhere
“We estimate that thirty-five to forty percent of South Africa’s treated water is currently lost through leaks, according to research by the Water Research Council” states Maharaj. “This is a horrifying statistic given the dire water shortages currently faced by the country.”
In 2005, Thailand was confronted with a similar situation in its capital city of Bangkok. The problem was solved through the installation of a real-time monitoring solution designed by Yokogawa and the provision of a water loss management system by the local water authority. Yokogawa Thailand installed Stardom controllers along with Yokogawa pressure transmitters and flowmeters at key points throughout the distribution network.
The system achieved a significant reduction in water loss. The real-time monitoring capability supports an active leakage control function which responds to losses in the water network. Abnormal conditions, particularly burst pipes, are discovered much sooner, and it is easier to pinpoint leak locations. In addition to improving the efficiency of the loss management programme, cost performance as well as employee morale have also improved. As a result, the quality of services provided has increased significantly.
African ideas
Locally, the three industry sectors that will anchor the implementation of Yokogawa’s Transformation 2017 initiative are mining, power and water.
In mining, the core technology focus is the Centum VP DCS and the Exaquantum MIS/MES Suite, and the Australian successes are hoped to be replicated locally.
In power, the core technologies are the highly reliable Centum VP DCS, VisualMesa and the SolStation field controller with its built-in solar position algorithm. The vast experience of the Middle East team will be leveraged locally.
In water, the core technologies are the Stardom controllers linked to a network of traditional field instrumentation.
“We have always had access to the best technology,” concludes Maharaj. “The difference now is that the business plan demands a far more solution focused approach from us. In the past, if a customer wanted a pressure transmitter we would sell them the one that was a best fit for the application. Now, we intend to discuss that application in much more detail with our clients, like the Thailand example. Working together with them, we must find ways to optimise their production both in terms of process and energy efficiency. This is what Transformation 2017 is all about. Our products become our solutions. Our colleagues become our mentors.”
For more information contact Christie Cronje, Yokogawa South Africa, +27 (0)11 831 6300, [email protected], www.yokogawa.com/za
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| www: | www.yokogawa.com/za |
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