Kuken Industries searches 70 years of drawings in minutes

Kuken Industries, a major Japanese manufacturer of cooling towers and ventilation equipment, has digitized 70 years of engineering drawings. However, engineers still struggled to locate specific drawings efficiently, often relying on experienced colleagues. To solve this, Kuken partnered with Japanese AI startup Recursive and OpenAI to build an AI-powered search system. The tool allows engineers to search by part number or upload images/PDFs of drawings, and it returns possible matches. In testing, the system reportedly cuts drawing search time by about 90%, enabling newer engineers to work more independently and experienced engineers to mentor and focus on higher-level tasks. Kuken is also developing an AI tool to review partner drawings for discrepancies, with prototype testing showing about 90% of flagged issues were genuine. The company aims to use AI to preserve and pass on engineering expertise to the next generation.

(Source：OpenAI)