Yokogawa Acquires Soteica Visual Mesa

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Yokogawa Electric Corporation has announced the acquisition of Soteica Visual Mesa (SVM), a leading energy management technology provider, further delivering on a number of key objectives of Yokogawa’s Transformation 2017 mid-term business plan, namely, expansion of Yokogawa’s advanced solution business, focusing on customers and creating new value.

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.

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.

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.

By leveraging KBC’s premier energy consulting and Visual Mesa, SVM’s best-in-class real-time energy optimization 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 optimization 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 optimization into KBC’s industry-leading process simulation platform for hydrocarbon processing facilities, Petro-SIMTM.

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 KBC’s efforts to create and sustain new value for customers.

This acquisition and integration of these businesses into KBC is fully aligned with KBC’s mission to make and keep its clients world-class in terms of operational excellence and profitability through the actions of its people and the application of its technology.

These actions also materially accelerate delivery of KBC’s vision of becoming the No.1 trusted advisor in the energy and chemical industries, delivering best-in-class operating performance to its clients.

Regarding the acquisition and integration of these businesses, Satoru Kurosu, executive vice president and head of Yokogawa’s Solutions Service Business Headquarters, commented: “Key strategic objectives of Yokogawa’s Transformation 2017 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.”

Oscar Santollani, founder of SVM, commented: “We are delighted to have been acquired by Yokogawa and in doing so, unite our Visual Mesa real-time energy optimization 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.”

Simon Wright, founder of Industrial Evolution, commented: “The unique capabilities of these combined organizations and their respective offerings mean that for the first time customers can be confident that the investments they make today will pay off now and for the long term. We have provided real-time data as a cloud service for over 15 years.

“The cloud-enablement of SVM’s solutions and KBC’s energy and supply chain consulting services is a very attractive proposition for any asset owner or operator.”

Andy Howell, chief executive officer of KBC, commented: “At KBC, we holistically harness people, processes, and technology to deliver a sustainable competitive advantage to our clients. We are all about helping and empowering our clients to meet their business goals. Imagine having expertise that was previously only available on an occasional basis, continuously unleashed in an unprecedented yet very tangible way by harnessing our technologies and those of Yokogawa with a state-of-the-art yet proven cloud service model. Not only that, but new possibilities such as continuous model updating, mobile delivery, and seamless hand-off between rigorous simulation and big data analytics are also truly exciting.”