Kuken Industries searches 70 years of drawings in minutes

Kuken Industries, a leading Japanese manufacturer of air conditioning and ventilation equipment, has digitized 70 years of engineering drawings but faced challenges in making them easily searchable, especially for newer engineers. By partnering with AI startup Recursive and using OpenAI's models, Kuken developed a search system that allows engineers to find drawings by part number, image, or PDF upload. The tool is expected to reduce drawing search time by about 90%, enabling engineers to focus on design improvements and mentorship. Kuken is also developing an AI tool to check partner drawings, with prototype tests showing about 90% of flagged issues were genuine discrepancies. The company aims to use AI to pass engineering expertise to the next generation.

(Source：OpenAI)