Yokogawa dedicates Houston sales, service complex

Yokogawa dedicated its 100,000-sq-ft sales and service complex in Sugar Land, TX, on March 8, with top management and other officials participating in a "spiritually refreshing" sake ceremony, offering blessings, happiness, and good business to assembled employees, customers, partners, other guests, and their families.

By Control Engineering Staff April 20, 2006

Yokogawa dedicated its new100,000-sq-ft sales and service complex (front entrance shown) in Sugar Land, TX, last month. (Photo by Mark T. Hoske.)

Yokogawa dedicated its 100,000-sq-ft sales and service complex in Sugar Land, TX, on March 8, with top management and other officials participating in a “spiritually refreshing” sake ceremony, offering blessings, happiness, and good business to assembled employees, customers, partners, other guests, and their families. The building, on a 20-acre site, opened in September 2005 and has a customer care center, presentation room, three demo rooms, global response center, transmitter regional modification and distribution center (RMDC), analytical lab, conference rooms, training rooms, and areas for engineering, sales, staging, and shipping. In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, part of the building served as a staging area for equipment and supplies for afflicted industries.

David Johnson, Yokogawa ‘s first U.S.-born president and COO, says the facility ideally suits customers and will provide a stronger local presence for Yokogawa in the heart of the energy and petrochemical industries. “North America offers the most competitive dynamic market for process control, with a wealth of customers, management, and talent in the Houston area,” Johnson says. His comments were made just prior to participating in a ritual using wooden mallets to break open a barrel of rice wine. Traditional method of drinking is from a cup-sized wooden box, but glasses were available; the boxes were offered upon departure.

The site offers room for expansion, including, possibly, manufacturing. Within a month of the facility opening, Yokogawa received an Excellence in Construction award from the North Texas Chapter of the Associated Builders & Contractors and received local and international media praise for the complex. The design of the building came from several key management personnel and was constructed by Kajima Construction Services. Tony Sethi, systems business unit vice president, did most of the interior design.

Click here to read a more detailed, first-hand account of the dedication.

—Mark T. Hoske, editor in chief, Control Engineering, MHoske@cfemedia.com