Yaskawa

About Yaskawa

With annual sales of 556.0 billion yen (approximately 3.53 billion euro, for the business year ending on February 28, 2023), Yaskawa is a global technology supplier in the area of robotics and drive and control technology. Founded in Japan in 1915, Yaskawa has practiced the same philosophy for over 100 years, namely to deliver products of the highest quality, and in doing so has established itself at the top of the global market. Yaskawa has evolved from a motor producer to an automation provider and finally, with its Industry 4.0 concept i3-Mechatronics, to a solution provider.

Yaskawa’s business activities comprise the areas of drives (GA700 inverter drives), motion control (Sigma-7 servo drives, servo motors, machine controllers), robotics (Motoman industrial robots, robot systems), system engineering (generators and converters) and information technology (software-based products). Yaskawa’s portfolio has grown to encompass control technology, visualization systems and chip solutions from the former VIPA GmbH in Herzogenaurach, and includes PLC controllers, I/O systems and visualization systems. The Profichip brand has become a separate product division at Yaskawa known as “Profichip Embedded Solutions.” This makes Yaskawa one of the few companies in the world that is able to offer components, systems and solutions for virtually all sectors from one single source.

Thanks to substantial investments into research and development, the company has produced a large number of inventions, patents and innovations. This technological expertise has allowed the company divisions to achieve a leading market position in a wide range of industries, including: mechanical engineering and plant construction (pumps/compressors, cranes and hoists, the elevator industry, systems for semi-conductor and battery production, packaging machines, textile machines, digital printing machines, systems for extracting and processing wood, glass, metal and stone/soil), vehicle construction and assembly and handling applications. The industrial robots of the Motoman brand are used, for example, for robot welding, laboratory automation, for packaging and handling applications as well as in the field of automated painting.
Based in Hattersheim near Frankfurt in Germany, Yaskawa Europe GmbH comprises the Drives Motion Controls (automation, drive and control technology) and Robotics (industrial robots, systems) business units, and services the markets of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the states of the former Soviet Union.

Yaskawa and PLCnext Technology

Yaskawa has partnered with Phoenix Contact to utilize PLCnext Technology. This collaboration aims to develop the next generation of machine control and control platforms. Yaskawa is integrating PLCnext Technology into its i³-Mechatronics solution concept to create an open and future-proof ecosystem for industrial automation.

This partnership will enable Yaskawa to further expand and develop its machine control offering.

„Even larger companies can hardly keep up with the range of technologies in even shorter times on their own. There is a paradigm-shift on the manufacturer side: potential competitors are becoming cooperation partners.“

Tobias Unger
General Manager European Technology Center
Yaskawa