Yokogawa Electric Corporation (横河電機株式会社,
Yokogawa-denki Kabushiki-kaisha) is a Japanese multinational electrical
engineering and software company, with businesses based on its measurement,
control,
Yokogawa Electric Corporation (横河電機株式会社,
Yokogawa-denki Kabushiki-kaisha) is a Japanese multinational electrical
engineering and software company, with businesses based on its measurement,
control, and information technologies.
It has a global workforce of over 19,000 employees, 84
subsidiary and 3 affiliated companies operating in 55 countries.[3] The company
is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the Nikkei 225
stock index.[4]
Yokogawa pioneered the development of distributed control
systems and introduced its Centum series DCS in 1975.[5]
Some of Yokogawa's most recognizable products are production
control systems, test and measurement instruments, pressure transmitters, flow
meters, oxygen analyzers, fieldbus instruments, Manufacturing Execution Systems
and Advanced Process Control.
History
Yokogawa traces its roots back to 1915,[6] when Dr. Tamisuke
Yokogawa, a renowned architect, established an electric meter research
institute in Shibuya, Tokyo. After pioneering the development and production of
electric meters in Japan, this enterprise was incorporated in 1920 as Yokogawa
Electric Works Ltd.
In 1933 Yokogawa began the research and manufacture of aircraft
instruments and flow, temperature, and pressure controllers. In the years
following the war, Yokogawa went public, developed its first electronic
recorders, signed a technical assistance agreement for industrial instruments
with the U.S. firm Foxboro, and opened its first overseas sales office (New
York).
In the 1960s the company made a full-scale entry into the
industrial analyzer market and launched the development, manufacturing, and
sales of vortex flowmeters, and in the decade following established its first
manufacturing plant outside Japan (Singapore), opened a sales office in Europe,
and became one of the first companies to bring a distributed process control
system to market. In 1983 Yokogawa merged with Hokushin Electric Works and,
towards the end of the decade, entered the high-frequency measuring instrument
business. In the 1990s, Yokogawa established an office in Bahrain to oversee
its business in the Middle East and entered the confocal scanner and
biotechnology businesses.
In 2002 the firm continued its growth with the acquisition
of Ando Electric, and in 2005 set the stage for a new level of globalization in
its industrial automation business with the establishment of Yokogawa Electric
International in Singapore. In 2008 the company entered the drug discovery
support market with a new bio test system.[7]
In April 2020, Yokogawa acquired Scarborough-based Fluid
Imaging Technologies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.[8]
Businesses and main products
Yokogawa's main businesses are industrial automation and
test and measurement hardware and software.
Some of Yokogawa's main hardware products are Pressure
Transmitters, Flow meters, analysers, controllers, recorders and data
acquisition equipment.
Yokogawa products are used in different industries requiring
process control systems. Depending on the size of the project and the
requirements, Yokogawa offers various control systems: DCS, PLC, SCADA and ESD
(Emergency ShutDown). In collaboration with Shell Global Solutions, Yokogawa
also offers Advanced Process Control (APC) solutions for refineries,
petrochemical plants, and chemical plants.[9]
Centum, Yokogawa's flagship DCS, has the largest capacity
among DCSs, supporting up to 1 million device tags.
Yokogawa manufactures field instruments, test and
measurement instruments, and semi-conductor related products.
Yokogawa designs and manufactures the most advanced confocal
spinning disks used in confocal microscopy.[10][11]