Today, Yokogawa Electric Corporation celebrates the 50th anniversary of the announcement of its flagship product, CENTUM, a pioneering distributed control system (DCS) that has enabled a new era of automation and control of a wide range of plants and industrial processes.
Credit: CENTUM
Now in its 10th generation, CENTUM was announced as the world’s first DCS in June 1975 and forever changed the way the industry does plant control management. As one of the first control systems to adopt the use of microprocessors and a non-analog CRT interface, CENTUM has continued to reinvent itself over the generations, shrinking in physical size while increasing in functionality, and has gained the ability to integrate all production-related functions and information. CENTUM’s scalable and interoperable architecture enabled it to support very large and complex plants. Together with the company’s unique pair & spare dual redundant design, CENTUM continues to maintain its legacy of extraordinarily high system availability, while expanding its scope of monitoring and control by seamlessly connecting to and managing the latest equipment and devices in the digital era.
Kunimasa Shigeno, President and CEO of Yokogawa, said, “Industries around the world are undergoing a major transformation to build a more sustainable society. Expectations for control technology are higher than ever, ranging from the ever-present need for enhancements to safety and efficiency and for progress to be made in digitalization and decarbonization. CENTUM is now evolving beyond the boundaries of a traditional DCS and growing into a versatile solution that addresses diverse business needs. We remain committed to delivering both safety and reliability while providing value in new ways that will drive transformation and support the future of industry every step of the way.”
CENTUM has continued to evolve as a core monitoring and control system, delivering reliability, stability, and compatibility while driving productivity improvements in plants worldwide. Looking ahead, Yokogawa remains committed to preserving this legacy while pursuing sustainability and engaging in continuous innovation, delivering technologies for the industries of tomorrow, with the goal of autonomous operations.