Yaskawa Europe, the European subsidiary of the Japanese technology group Yaskawa Electric, has officially moved into its new corporate headquarters in Hattersheim near Frankfurt/Main.
At the inauguration of the new building on 25 April, Masahiro Ogawa, president & CEO Yaskawa Electric Corporation, Bruno Schnekenburger, chairman Yaskawa Holding, and Marcus Mead, president Yaskawa Europe GmbH, welcomed about 200 guests, including representatives of politics, customers, partners and neighbours.
Yaskawa – a global technology supplier in the business segments drives, motion and controls, robotics and solutions in the field of environmental energy – invested about 23 million euros in the new building at its new location in the Hattersheim industrial park. The construction period was, as planned, about two years. For the previous 15 years, the European headquarters of Yaskawa and European drives motion controls division had been accommodated in a leased building in nearby Eschborn. Yaskawa’s European robotics division will retain its registered office at Allershausen near Munich.
The new, four-storey structure incorporates 3.450 m² of office space for approx. 220 employees, a multi-storey car park, a 1.150 m² European training centre and a 206 m² innovation centre. Here, Yaskawa employees from the entire EMEA region will have an opportunity to invite customers and partners to work on joint projects and develop new solutions. Customers, suppliers and visitors from the field of politics, universities and schools will be able to experience Yaskawa’s latest products, technologies and innovations in a representative showroom. In practical workshops at the ‘Yaskawa Academy‘ highly-trained instructors will provide course participants with an insight into the application and programming of Motoman robots and Yaskawa drive and control technology.
The new building, planned and built by partners Feldmann Architects and Weimer Bau, was designed as an energy-efficient house in accordance with the KfW 40 standard. A high level of energy efficiency has been achieved with a wide range of measures. It features a photovoltaic system, highly energy-efficient air conditioning technology in the office space and energy-saving LED lamps. Heat is generated by an air water heat pump.
The new headquarters in Hattersheim mark a continuation of the company’s ambitious expansion strategy in Europe. Yaskawa, founded in 1915, is consciously following the trend towards building up technology know-how and production competence in Europe.