Rota Yokogawa will be celebrating the first century of its successful company history in October 2009. Rota Yokogawa, which since 1995 has been part of the Tokyo-based Yokogawa Group, produces high-quality flowmeters for industrial applications.
In 1909, the “Deutsche Rotawerke” was founded in Aachen, focusing on the recently invented Rotameter. The measuring principle of this device is based on a rotating float – hence the name “Rota”. The brand name Rotameter is now often used as a synonym for the float-based flowmeters of any manufacturer.
Production was relocated to the town of Wehr in South Baden in 1940. Rota introduced the first Rotamass in 1993, a flowmeter using the Coriolis principle. The existing cooperation with the Yokogawa Group was given a new basis in 1995 when Rota became a subsidiary of Yokogawa Europe. Today, Rota Yokogawa is the Flow Centre of Excellence, responsible throughout the global Yokogawa Group for measurement technologies, such as mass flow measurement using the Coriolis principle and the Rotameter.
Just in time for the 100-year anniversary, manufacturing floor space has been increased by 40% thanks to the inauguration of a new production hall. The hall is one of the most modern and innovative of its kind – flexibility is the key element here: the production facilities can be reorganised in a short space of time, without the costly installation of new utility lines, in order to respond rapidly to changing requirements. In the same way, the new crane system can be very quickly adapted to new needs.
This expansion is accompanied by an increased automation of production. The company is investing in production equipment, robots and automated test rigs.
Andreas Dobratz, managing director of Rota Yokogawa, comments: “The increase in efficiency associated with the expansion of our production area will secure our leading position in the field of flow measurement and pave the way for further profitable growth.”
Over the next few years, further investment of tens of millions of euros is planned in buildings and plants.
Today Rota Yokogawa develops and manufactures high-quality flowmeters based on five measuring principles: floats, magnetic-inductive, vortex flowmeters, Coriolis and differential head. The best-selling products are the Coriolis flowmeters of the Rotamass 3 series developed in Wehr. These high-tech measuring devices record the mass flow directly, while simultaneously providing an exact measurement of volume flow and of the density and temperature of the measured medium. In this way, it is possible, at the same time as measuring the flow, to also determine the concentration (for example, of sugar in water). Calibrations are carried out in the company’s own DKD-certified facility, which also provides a calibration service to other companies.
With outstanding products and an excellent business performance in recent years, Rota Yokogawa is in good shape for the future. The continuous development of new and existing measuring devices will ensure that customers around the world are supplied with top-quality products made in Germany.
Rota Yokogawa is a subsidiary of the global Yokogawa Group and also a German centre of technology rich in tradition. The company was founded in 1909 and took its name from the “Rotameter”, which is still widely used today and continues to be manufactured in Wehr.