Yokogawa Electric Corporation announced that it is making a ¥10 million (more than $90,000) to the Red Cross through the Japan Red Cross. The Yokogawa Corporation of America Employees Relief Fund Drive was initiated early in the week of September 6, 2005. By the morning of the 19th, the Relief Fund held $16,637.50 for our employees that were affected by the devastation. This amount includes the YCA match of $1.50 per $1 donated. A brilliant idea suggested by one of our people allowed employees to wear jeans on Friday the 16th—provided they donated $1 to the Relief Fund. $90 was collected; this received the $1.50 match as well.

Bruce [*], Regional HR Manager for YSW, is coordinating the efforts to provide relief to Yokogawa employees. "We have had status updates periodically and fortunately the damage was minimal," Bruce said. "Some trees down and shingles lost but no apparent severe damage. As of September 6 the power was still out."

Annelle [*], an Account Rep at YSW, is currently living in Texas with her husband. Their home in New Orleans was a total loss. They plan to rebuild in the Big Easy as soon as possible. Only one of our customers’ properties was heavily affected by Katrina’s aftermath. Murphy Oil’s refinery in Meraux, near New Orleans, sadly contributed to the toxic floodwaters when an 85,000-barrel tank developed a leak. All the tanks at the refinery are surrounded by a retaining wall in the event of a leak or spill, but the entire area was flooded, negating the purpose of the retaining wall. The quantity of oil that has leaked from the tank has not been determined as the area is still under quarantine. Unfortunately, the area around the refinery is still underwater, so no equipment can reach the refinery to affect cleanup and repairs. (AP—U.S. Water News Online)

Yokogawa’s Naoji [*] is in charge of the operation to help our customers restart operations. It is expected that much of the $30 million in Yokogawa equipment installed at the Murphy Oil refinery will need to be replaced. Fortunately, most of our other operations are west of New Orleans and suffered little effects from the Category 4 hurricane. At the YCA Site Trailer Facility, there was no damage to our trailers internally or externally. The trailers have power and our network is up and running.

Keith [*] was called in to the Shell Norco Plant on Sunday, September 4. He has been helping in energizing our system hardware and has noted that he has not observed any damage. Keith has also checked PRM in GO1S and has stated that all segments and instruments are up with the exception of two level transmitters (which may not be connected). Based on this, it appears that we now have no major hardware issues. There is, however, damage to the GO1S cooling tower. This will be the pivotal item to allow us to restart cutovers in GO1S. Various restart scenarios are being studied to enable preparations for when and what YCA can be working on once Shell allows work to resume.

Shell is still accounting for all their personnel. Keith estimated that only 50% of the required personnel were onsite this past weekend. It is also difficult to reach Norco as there are check points and heavy traffic to contend with going west to the plant.

An Update on Yokogawa’s Hurricane Relief Efforts

Once again, Yokogawa stands out among its competitors with outstanding support for refineries affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. According to Joe [*] (Yokogawa Shell Executive Account Manager), Keith [*] (Yokogawa IA Field Service Technician at the Shell Norco plant), went above and beyond the call of duty when he volunteered as one of the first people to service the Shell Norco plant after hurricane Katrina blasted the Gulf coastline.

Although Shell Norco did not have any flood damage, Keith [*] is regarded as a hero for going into the plant to make sure that Yokogawa’s equipment was in working condition and set up properly for when the power would be restored at the plant. Accolades to Keith [*]!

The Murphy Oil refinery in Meraux, LA did not fare as well. Not only did it flood, the refinery has been out of service since Katrina hit. Yokogawa created a "Specialist Team" capable of staying in constant communication with the plant and sent the team to perform a complete evaluation on every instrument when the plant was able to receive people after the storm. The good news is that Yokogawa equipment was positioned high above ground level so that the flooding did not cause damage; however, a low-lying Honeywell System and other instruments found in ground level control rooms had to be replaced by new Yokogawa products.

"We are in our first phase of stocking instruments for customers who have been affected by Katrina," said Pat [*] (GM of FIBU Sales). "Our Sugar Land facility has received 550 transmitters from Newnan that have been specially allocated for the hurricane relief effort." Yokogawa plans to keep a level of 550 pressure transmitters in inventory at all times as part of the relief effort. Yokogawa will have a Remote Modification and Distribution Center in place at its Sugar Land facility with the capability of changing configurations, data plates, and indicators. "We will have a team in place to support the effort."

Furthermore, Pat proudly announced plans to lease a cargo truck that will enable us to get into the sites for delivery and support. Corporate Communications is working with a vehicle wrap company to give the truck a temporary Yokogawa identity. These tragic events turned out to be a proving ground to demonstrate that Yokogawa has what it takes to provide a total solution for our customers.