We as Yokogawa have been present in the region for over 45 years, with an affiliate in Argentina since 2007. Of Japanese origin, with a presence and factories all over the world, we began our presence in Argentina by selling instrumentation. In recent years, we have landed in the country with our entire product line of instrumentation, analytical, control systems, safety systems, information management systems, and other various types of services. To market our entire product line, we built a technical sales and support team, in addition to developing a channel of distributors in the different regions and a channel of over fifteen authorized system integrators. In Buenos Aires, as well as our commercial offices, we have a second establishment with a showroom, training center, engineering department, workshop for manufacturing and testing cabinets, testing laboratory, repair workshop, and warehouse, among other facilities. This deployment has allowed us to become a strategic technological partner for the main operators that are developing their assets in Vaca Muerta.
Argentina also has the pride of being the cradle of Soteica/KBC, a Yokogawa Group company that exports technology to the world, especially for the Downstream.
We offer, for production and exploration in large scale projects like Vaca Muerta, solutions with simple and robust technologies to the most complex and modern technologies aimed at maximizing the production in a safe and reliable environment.
The solution pyramid and NOCs
Also in our portfolio are measurement instruments at the primary points where the operation begins, with characteristics of accuracy, stability, and safety unique in the world, which it delivers to the market as standard, and which are essential for the challenge that Vaca Muerta is.
To further ease the restrictions of the NOCs environment regarding power supply and infrastructure, we as Yokogawa offer the Wireless ISA100 technology, which enables quick and simple installation of field measurement variables, such as pressure, temperature and flow rate for liquids and gases, without the need of local power supply or wiring for obtaining signals with the production information. In addition, this technology is under an information security framework and complies with all the required security standards for the environment.
Going one step higher in complexity in the solutions pyramid, we can find the Stardom PLC/RTU, flexible and adaptable for simple installations of few points, up to batteries, EPF (Early Production Facilities), plants, etc. One same PLC/RTU line could cover all the needs, which reduces the costs of maintenance, training, licenses, etc. Its wide working temperature ranges from minus forty to seventy degrees centigrade (-40 a +70 °C) and its very low power consumption are characteristics specifically designed for the demanding environment of NOCs. This solution also provides high speed for control, communications, edge logic execution, and diversity communication protocols.
One of the areas in which we pay special attention is safety, and for this reason, today we are proud to be the world leader in instrumented safety systems, making available a safe and reliable solution in a simple manner and in accordance with the investment, which clients need.
In terms of logistics for Upstream, we provide pipeline leak detection through technology with distributed temperature measurement by means of optical fiber, for early leak detection, safety, and asset care. In addition, it includes a complete pipeline management system for measurement, control, batch tracking, line pack, inventory management, etc.
On a higher level in the solution pyramid, we find the Fast Tools SCADA (F/T) which provides solutions for a wide range of control and supervision applications, with the capacity of integration with third parties, independent of the means of communication, secure in terms of unauthorized access, flexibility in the development of architectures and simple and effective management of alarms and event management. F/T also provides alarm management according to EEMUA 191 and ISA 18.2 integrated into the same platform and can work on any existing operating system or hardware, as it is completely web-based, including its development environment.
In the software solutions palette, Yokogawa incorporates in its suite of packages a plant resource manager (PRM) that can monitor the KPIs of devices throughout the plant, such as field instrumentation, flow meters, valves, motors, etc.
For consulting and engineering services, Yokogawa Argentina currently has MAC contracts with top-level companies, to which it provides technical and application assistance, supervision activities, project execution, and customized solutions.
Currently, we also have clients in the Vaca Muerta area that have selected our company for the totality of their NOCs developments, from the ISA100 wireless instrumentation, the monitoring and control RTU, the F/T SCADA system and specialized services in MAC contract modality. This confirms that Yokogawa’s portfolio of products and services truly adds value to the complex development of NOCs.
The new digital era
Thanks to the advent of Big Data, Cloud Computing, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Industry 4.0, and Artificial Intelligence, a digital transformation is taking place that is changing all the facets of how businesses operate.
Staff change is another important challenge facing the development of NOCs. As an older generation of qualified and knowledgeable workers is retiring, the need to transmit that knowledge and experience to a younger generation of “digital natives” represents a necessity for the continuity and sustainability of companies. Yokogawa offers IIoT solutions that address these challenges by the “synaptic ” connection of the operating technology (OT) and the information technology (IT) infrastructure of a plant.
It is about a world connected in a lateral way between devices and vertical interconnection, from the device to the company. The development and search for standards, new concepts, ideas, etc.; the implementations change rapidly. However, Yokogawa is focused on covering the most popular standards regarding connectivity, which is why it incorporates OPC UA, MQTT, and LORA. Several success stories exist today, among the most outstanding – in Japan with surprising results obtained – are predictive maintenance applications in engines, using wireless vibration and temperature sensors with LORA technology. Surely, this type of technology will soon contribute to the development of NOCs, where a large volume of information, at low cost and hand in hand with data science, could reduce the knowledge gap given by the unpredictability of these processes.
Welcome to Argentina
When visiting Argentina in the post-pandemic time, we recommend sightseeing in its extensive pampas, visiting the historic Buenos Aires, or its beautiful natural resources such as Iguazú Falls, the Perito Moreno Glacier, whale watching, or Aconcagua, the highest mountain in América. We also recommend trying the mate and dulce de leche, and those in the industry, you cannot miss the Vaca Muerta area to see this impressive development that has taken place in recent years.
