Kuken Industries searches 70 years of drawings in minutes

Kuken Industries manufactures air conditioning and ventilation equipment, including cooling towers, and holds a major share of Japan's cooling tower market. When replacement parts are needed, engineers must consult a 70-year archive of drawings. Previously, finding the right drawing could take half a day, especially for newer engineers who relied on experienced colleagues. Kuken partnered with Japanese AI startup Recursive and used OpenAI's models to build a search system and field app. Engineers can search by part number or upload screenshots of parts lists. Kuken reports that the tool is expected to cut drawing search time by about 90% over a year, allowing engineers to focus on design improvements and independent work. Experienced engineers spend saved time mentoring newer colleagues. Kuken is also developing an AI tool to check partner drawings for discrepancies, with prototype testing showing about 90% of flagged issues were genuine. The initiative aims to pass engineering expertise to the next generation.

(Source：OpenAI)