OREANDA-NEWS. April 01, 2015. Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces the conclusion of a business transfer agreement with Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.(OKI). Under this agreement, Yokogawa will transfer the Ome Factory of Yokogawa Manufacturing Corporation, Yokogawa's manufacturing subsidiary, to Oki Printed Circuits Co., Ltd., an OKI group company, on April 1. As the Ome plant of Oki Printed Circuits, this facility will continue the manufacturing and assembly of printed circuit boards for Yokogawa products.

In addition, Yokogawa Manufacturing and OKI have concluded an outsourcing contract, under which Yokogawa Manufacturing will consign the assembly of all printed circuit boards and certain other products at its Kofu Factory to OKI.

In 1969, Yokogawa started to manufacture printed circuit boards for use in its own control and measuring instruments that require a high level of reliability, and much of these Japan manufacturing operations have taken place at the Ome Factory. However, technologies in this field quickly become obsolete, and thus continuous investment is essential. Therefore, after examining this business in light of ongoing structural reforms, Yokogawa concluded that OKI was well positioned to continue and improve the manufacturing and assembly of printed circuit boards for Yokogawa products, and thereby would be able to continue employing the workers who are currently at the Ome Factory. The main reasons for this conclusion are as follows:

- OKI's electronic manufacturing service (EMS) business has good prospects for continued growth.

- OKI has the excellent technologies needed to produce highly reliable products and a solid track record in producing multiple types of products.

According to its 2016 mid-term business plan (announced on November 12, 2013), OKI sees the high-end EMS business as a growth area. In this business, OKI can make full use of its excellent manufacturing technologies and quality assurance. OKI has been in the printed circuit board business since 1965, and its large and super-multilayer printed circuit board technologies are highly respected. OKI was the first company to succeed in the design and mass production of 102-layer printed circuit boards. To grow the EMS business, OKI needs to expand its printed circuit board business and strengthen its integrated production of printed circuit boards and assembly of finished products.

For these reasons, both parties have decided to sign the agreement.