Japan-based Yokogawa Electric Corporation has completed the acquisition of Soteica Visual Mesa (SVM), a leading energy management technology provider, further delivering on a number of key objectives of its Transformation 2017 mid-term business plan.

Yokogawa’s Transformation 2017 mid-term business plan mainly includes expansion of its advanced solution business, focusing on customers and creating new value, said a statement from the company.

This announcement marks completion of the SVM acquisition as a wholly-owned subsidiary and initiation of the integration of SVM and the cloud-based Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) provider Industrial Knowledge (IK) into KBC Advanced Technologies (KBC), which was acquired by Yokogawa in April 2016, it said.

The IK business unit was established to enhance the cloud-based advanced solution business based on the technology of Industrial Evolution (IE), which was acquired by Yokogawa in December 2015. A pioneer in the use of cloud-based solutions in the process industries, IE developed a market-leading real-time DaaS solution that is deployed at many of the world’s major energy and chemical companies, it added.

Yokogawa’s acquisition of SVM follows an earlier minority equity investment in SVM made in December 2012. SVM has a solid track record in the energy management solutions (EMS) field, and provides production accounting and scheduling solutions to the refining industry.

After acquiring KBC, Yokogawa formed a post-merger integration team that has been charged with the task of identifying various measures and setups that will create synergy and derive maximum benefit from the integration of the companies’ operations, and thereby enhance our ability to offer new value to our customers.

As a result of their deliberations, Yokogawa has decided to integrate the operations of Soteica, a leading company in the EMS field, and Industrial Knowledge, a business unit with expertise in advanced cloud solutions, with those of KBC, it added.

By leveraging KBC’s premier energy consulting and Visual Mesa, SVM’s best-in-class real-time energy optimisation technology, it is anticipated that the combined entity will be able to expand its position in the rapidly growing EMS market in the process industries.

In the immediate term, SVM’s advanced Visual Mesa utility optimisation software combined with KBC’s premium energy consultancy will provide comprehensive and best-in-class energy management solutions, underpinned by leading technologies and human performance improvement. Over the longer term, this acquisition supports KBC’s vision of seamlessly integrating utility system and supply chain optimisation into KBC’s industry-leading process simulation platform for hydrocarbon processing facilities, Petro-SIMTM, it stated.

KBC, SVM, and IK will be led by KBC chief executive officer, Andy Howell, and will be integrated under the KBC brand. This will significantly enhance KBC’s solutions portfolio and the energy management solutions business, enhance KBC’s ability to develop new cloud-based services, and accelerate the company’s efforts to create and sustain new value for customers.

Satoru Kurosu, executive vice president and head of Yokogawa’s solutions service business headquarters, said: “Key strategic objectives of our plan are to expand the solution service business, focus on customers, and co-create new value with customers through innovative technologies and services.”

“By integrating SVM and IK with KBC, we will bring together deep and rich business, process, and operational domain knowledge across the energy and chemicals sectors, and will connect this with the cloud-based, real-time representation of plant, business, and supply chain operations to identify and implement solutions that will sustain and continuously improve performance. The benefit to our customers is unprecedented,” Kurosu added.

Oscar Santollani, founder of SVM, said: “We are delighted to have been acquired by Yokogawa and in doing so, unite our Visual Mesa real-time energy optimisation and production accounting and scheduling technologies with KBC’s industry-leading energy and supply chain consulting practices.”

“Furthermore, the progressive DaaS capabilities of IK enhance our offerings and enable us to be more innovative, disruptive, and agile by leveraging the cloud in delivery of solutions and sustainability services. This is the future,” he concluded. – TradeArabia News Service