An article in the October 11, 1989 edition of the Milwaukee Sentinel reported on the formation of a new joint venture by Johnson Controls and the Japanese firm, Yokogawa Electric Corporation.

Headquartered in Newnan, Georgia, the co-equal joint venture, to be known as Johnson Yokogawa Corp. (JYC), was formed to manufacture and market process control instrumentation, and to integrate and service industrial automation systems for the North American market.

David Bigler, formerly Johnson Controls president of business operations for its Systems and Services Division, and president of the new corporation, stated, "This agreement complements each company's existing presence in the North American market. JYC will benefit from Yokogawa's superior line of industrial automation systems and manufacturing expertise. In addition, Johnson Controls brings a long history of leadership in project management, contracting, and application engineering. We believe that the combination of resources, talents, and experience being brought together as JYC will enable us to become a major supplier to the industrial automation market."

The new joint venture was expected to have annual sales of approximately $200 million, with 700 employees in two manufacturing and engineering centers (outside of Dallas and Atlanta) and forty regional sales and support offices across the United States. Prior to the creation of JYC, the two companies had already formed Yokogawa Johnson Controls Corporation to manufacture, install, and service facility management systems for commercial buildings in Japan.