Kuken Industries searches 70 years of drawings in minutes

Kuken Industries, a leading Japanese manufacturer of cooling towers and ventilation equipment, has digitized 70 years of engineering drawings but faced challenges for newer engineers in locating the right drawings for replacement parts. Partnering with AI startup Recursive and using OpenAI models, Kuken built a search system and field app that allows engineers to search by part number, drawing number, or even a screenshot of a parts list. The app returns possible matches, including similar designs, and engineers verify against tower specifications. Kuken expects the tool to cut drawing search time by about 90% annually. Experienced engineers use saved time to mentor colleagues, while newer engineers handle more jobs independently and spend more time studying drawings for design improvements. Kuken is also developing an AI tool to review partner drawings, with prototype testing 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)