— Kumaraswamy M.L., Deputy General Manager, TMI & Communications Products Division, Yokogawa India Ltd

Since 1915, Japan-headquartered Yokogawa has been offering reliable solutions in core technologies such as measurement, control and information. Yokogawa has been serving the Indian market for nearly 25 years and has pioneered many T&M offerings in the power sector. Kumaraswamy M.L. takes us through Yokogawa's operations in India and asserts that massive investment in the power sector can be a good boost to the T&M sector. An interview by Venugopal Pillai.

To begin with, please tell us about the various test & measurement instruments offered by Yokogawa India in the power transmission & distribution sector.
Yokogawa is pioneers in offering the T&M solutions to power sector. Yokogawa offers power analyzers, data acquisition systems, multi-isolated channel scopecorders, multimeters, clamp on testers, calibrators, insulation testers, standard decade resistance box and earth testers for the various testing needs.

In a scenario of high envisaged investment in the power sector how do you gauge business prospects in the medium term?
We understand that power is a very important growth sector for the Indian government. Lots of investments are already happening in this sector and many new projects are in the pipeline. In totality we envisage very good growth in power sector and this in turn act as a catalyst for the T&M business. We see year-onyear growth of 25 to 30 per cent growth in our T&M offerings.

Tell us more on the "Vigilant Plant" solution for continuous monitoring of power generation plants.
The plant alert approach to operations, maintenance and information is obvious. Operators are calm and in control! Managers are well informed, but never overwhelmed with data. All facilities are under control, ready to unleash their full potential for occasional peak load. At the same time, potential problems are anticipated before they happen. All this is the life of a vigilant operation.

Our distributed control system "CENTUM CS3000 VNET IP" is specially designed for power plants applications. Power utility NTPC is amongst the major users of this product.

India is increasingly getting conscious of efficient power consumption, for instance insistence of high power factor in electricity consumption by industrial units. In such a scenario, how do you the prospects for Yokogawa's "power monitors"?
Yokogawa power monitors have many innovative functions which will help in improving the measurement efficiency in motor, inverter, lighting, battery and power conditioners. Our power monitors possess high accuracy in measurement and more bandwidth makes these instruments as de facto standards in power industry

Through R-APDRP (Part A), India is aiming at empowering state power distribution utilities with SCADA and other IT-enabled measures. Does this appeal to Yokogawa's offering of SCADAbased solutions?
Yes. For instance, by using our STARDOM SCADA system all the power distribution substations can be monitored.

India is seeing the emergence of EHV and UHVAC power transmission infrastructure. Does Yokogawa have products specifically for testing of high voltage equipment?
Yes, our oscilloscope product range possesses high sampling speed and high vertical resolutions which is the key to understand the components behavior in high voltage environment.

In terms of acceptance of sophisticated and advance T&M equipment, how does India compare with other emerging economies?
Things were not very conducive probably 10 to 15 years back. But things have changed drastically in recent years. There is good demand for the high quality and high performance T&M. Most of the electrical equipment manufacturers have our power analyzers and other T&M instruments. Power calibration and certifying agencies too opt for YOKOGAWA when it comes to meeting the need of accurate measurement of power.

Please summarize the major business drivers for Yokogawa in India, with respect to the power sector.
Power analyzer's business is the key product range for Power sectors. Apart from power analyzers, scopecorders, data acquisition systems, recorders and other handheld products are key product ranges which are very well established in this segment.

Yokogawa has been in India since 1987, initially through a tieup with Blue Star. How has the 25-year journey been so far and how do the coming years look to you?
We have grown our business considerably in the last 25 years. We expect further growth in the coming years. Government's decision on the electronic manufacturing policy will further boost T&M business. Other traditional sectors like automotive, electrical appliance, telecom and education will further boost the T&M business in coming year and we are very well equipped to cater to these requirements in future.