OREANDA-NEWS. October 9, 2012. Yokogawa Saudi Arabia and Saudi Aramco signed a Corporate Procurement Agreement (CPA) that encompasses all the services Yokogawa provides to Saudi Aramco. This agreement is a testimony to Yokogawa’s strong presence in Saudi Arabia. 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.

Following through on its commitment to its customers in the Kingdom, 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.

Under the Saudi government’s Nitaqat Program, Yokogawa is in the top Platinum Saudization tier, and will firmly remain at this level in the future. The current workforce of 300 at Yokogawa Saudi Arabia includes a large female engineering team. This team supports not only Saudi projects but also projects in other GCC countries.

“With 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,” said Shuzo Kaihori, President and CEO of Yokogawa Electric Corporation.

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.

Since April 2007, Yokogawa has been providing a one-year Graduate Engineer Training Program and shorter internship programs that are specially tailored to the needs of the Saudi job market, targeting recent graduates and students of Saudi universities and colleges such as King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), Jubail Industrial College (JIC), and Yanbu Industrial College (YIC). So far nearly 130 Saudi trainees have benefited from these programs, which have included visits to Yokogawa global engineering centers in Japan, Singapore, and the Netherlands.

Mr. Kaihori appreciates the contributions made by the Saudi engineers, saying, “I am not exaggerating when I say that Yokogawa Saudi Arabia’s operation owes much of its success to the central role played by these Saudi personnel.”