(MENAFN - Arab News) Yokogawa Saudi Arabia and Saudi Aramco signed this week a Corporate Procurement Agreement (CPA) that encompasses all the services Yokogawa provides to Saudi Aramco.
A press conference held this week at Dhahran Techno Valley office, emphasizing the strong commitment of Yokogawa Saudi Arabia to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia paves way to signing of strategic agreement with Saudi Aramco.
Shuzo Kaihori, president and CEO of Yokogawa Electric Corporation, said: "The true and sincere support of the Saudi government, customers, and academia, Yokogawa Saudi Arabia has successfully executed many process automation projects in the region."
He added that, "Yokogawa has doubled the size of its facilities in the Dhahran Techno-Valley. In addition to engineering and project execution capabilities, the expanded facilities allow Yokogawa to manufacture specific components of its control systems and to strengthen its research and development activities."
Pierre DeVuyst, senior executive vice president, said the total investment of the Yokogawa Saudi Arabia in the kingdom is about 15 million.
Akira Ogawa, president and CEO of Yokogawa Saudi Arabia, said, "The CPA with Saudi Aramco covers equipment supply, project management, engineering, spare parts, and maintenance services. It greatly simplifies the process by which Saudi Aramco purchases process automation equipment from Yokogawa. Yokogawa is the first automation vendor to sign such an agreement with Saudi Aramco."
Regarding the Saudi employment and training at YSA, Ahmed Al-Abdrabbuh, senior executive vice president, said that Yokogawa Saudi Arabia has trained nearly 130 Saudi trainees. The trainees also have benefited from these programs, which have included visit to Yokogawa global engineering centers in Japan, Singapore, and the Netherlands.
Al-Abdrabbuh added that under the Saudi government's Nitaqat program, Yokogawa is in the top Platinum Saudization tier. The current workforce of 300 at Yokogawa Saudi Arabia includes a large female engineering team.
"Through these projects, Yokogawa has developed the capabilities of many Saudi engineers and technicians by deploying and fully involving them in every facet of project execution, and will remain in the Kingdom with a workforce that has the knowledge and expertise to support its installed base throughout its lifecycle," said Kaihori.
