Kuken Industries searches 70 years of drawings in minutes

Kuken Industries, a major Japanese manufacturer of air conditioning and ventilation equipment, holds a large share of Japan's cooling tower market. When replacement parts are needed, engineers must consult an archive of drawings spanning 70 years of installations. Previously, finding the right drawing could take half a day and often required help from experienced colleagues. Kuken partnered with Japanese AI startup Recursive, an official OpenAI partner, to build a search system and field app using OpenAI models that accurately extract details from drawings at low cost. Engineers can search by part number or upload an image or PDF of a drawing or parts list, and the app returns possible matches, including drawings for similar designs. Kuken expects the tool to cut drawing search time by about 90% over a year, reduce printing costs, and free experienced engineers to mentor newer colleagues. Newer engineers can now handle a wider range of jobs independently. Kuken is also developing an AI tool to review drawings prepared by partners; in prototype testing, about 90% of the issues flagged were genuine discrepancies. The company aims to pass engineering experience on to the next generation.

(Source：OpenAI)