September 25, 2006 – Brooks Automation Inc. and Yaskawa Electric have officially opened their joint venture, Yaskawa Brooks Automation, a $100 million tool automation company (based on trailing 12-month sales) located in Shin-Yokohama, Japan.

Back in May, the two companies announced their intent to form the JV as an exclusive channel for sales, marketing, and support in Japan of Yaskawa’s semiconductor robotics products and Brooks’ automation hardware products. Excluded from the JV are Yaskawa’s robots used for flat-panel display manufacturing and its motion control products, as well as Brooks’ software products and technology from recently acquired Helix Technology.

Edward Grady, president and CEO of Brooks Automation, called the JV “a game-changing partnership that we believe will significantly improve our ability to address the automation needs of the Japanese OEM market,” giving the company “an unprecedented presence” in the country that he called the 2nd-largest world market for tool automation.

By combining Brooks’ automation technology with Yaskawa’s products and strong reputation, “we believe that YBA will be able to better market, sell and support the market-leading robots, modules and systems of both companies in Japan,” stated Koki Nakamura, GM of Yaskawa Electric’s semiconductor robot business division.