Kuken Industries searches 70 years of drawings in minutes

Kuken Industries, a Japanese manufacturer of air conditioning and ventilation equipment, has developed an AI-powered search system to quickly locate drawings from its 70-year archive. Previously, finding replacement part drawings took hours and required experienced engineers' help. Partnering with AI startup Recursive and using OpenAI models, Kuken built a field app that lets engineers search by part number or even upload screenshots. The tool is expected to cut drawing search time by about 90%, freeing engineers to mentor others and take on more work independently. Kuken is also developing an AI tool to check partner drawings, with early tests showing about 90% of flagged issues were genuine discrepancies. The initiative helps preserve engineering knowledge for future generations.

(Source：OpenAI)