The road to operational excellence

Yokogawa, the Japanese giant of industrial automation, renowned as the world first provider of Distribute Control System (DCS) back in 1975, released CENTUM VP to the Middle East market in June, 2008. O&G asked Yokogawa Middle East (YME) about the implication.

O&G. What does the launch of CENTUM VP represent?
YME. In a quickly changing industry , it's not only about technology , but more importantly, it's about helping people get their jobs done right. As the originators of the first DCS, known as CENTUM, Yokogawa have spent more than 30 years paying careful attention to what plant managers, engineers, and control room operators have been saying. Yokogawa are service providers for right operation of plants, in particular in the Middle East, for Oil and Gas. CENTUM VP gives the best environment for the needs.

O&G. What is the difference from past CENTUMs?
YME . VP changes the d e fi ni tion of DCS from just a control s y st e m to a total information system based on a real time plant database. The database is not an add-on station, but a native feature of CENTUM itself. Process and asset data and operation history are integrated for a more reliable and cost-effective operation.

O&G. Why should companies adopt VP?
YME. It is the latest and most advanced control system available today with a clear direction and road map for the future, and full backward compatibility into the past generations of our control systems now widely used by the Middle East customers in oil and gas industry. We have the determination to continue to evolve the CENTUM system into future, thereby providing users with peace of mind that their investment will continue to be state-of-the art throughout the life of their plant.

O&G.What do you see CENTUM VP evolving in the future?
YME. Digital field network and an integrated database. In the past you had individual operators working independently in various area of the plant. Now we can combine the production database and asset database so that operators sharing the information can work together as a team.

O&G. What happens after CENTUM VP?
YME. We need to work on further optimization of production and business with our customers who require high-level solutions for their own unique needs. On top of the already well-organized engineering services we have been providing, we would like to further strengthen value-added services after installation and throughout customer’s plant lifecycle.

O&G. For “services” you have been emphasizing, do you have enough human resources?
YME. Yokogawa has three initiatives: One Global Yokogawa, Customer Centric Solutions and Leading-edge Technology. For customers, there should be only One Global Yokogawa. Within One Global Yokogawa unit, we have been flexibly mobilizing skilled people from Japan and other Yokogawa affiliates.

O&G.Do you find that being a Japanese company as an advantage?
YME. Japan’s image is about high quality and that is always a good help. At the CENTUM VP launch meeting recently held in Bahrain, one customer said, “We have never bought any spare parts for maintenance for more than 10 years since the installation of the Yokogawa control system because it has been so robust.” We are very much proud of it indeed and of our people’s reliability as well. It is Japanese and our company’s culture that we promise, we finish and we deliver what we have promised. YME have a work force of more than 20 different nationals. Yet this corporate culture has been maintained here for customers’ satisfaction.