Japanese Cooling Equipment Maker Kuken Cuts Drawing Search Time to 4.5 Minutes Using OpenAI API

Kuken Industries, a Japanese manufacturer of air conditioning and ventilation equipment, announced that its engineers now use a tool built on the OpenAI API to find the drawing for a replacement part in 4.5 minutes, down from nearly an hour previously. The case study was published by OpenAI on November 9, 2026.

Kuken holds a significant share of Japan's cooling tower market and maintains an archive spanning 70 years of installations. Due to varying specifications across customers and installation dates, newer engineers often relied on experienced colleagues to locate correct drawings. To address this, Kuken partnered with Recursive, a Japanese AI startup, to build a new search system using OpenAI models.

According to Kuken, the system allows engineers to enter a part number or upload a screenshot of a drawing, automatically returning potential matches. The company projects the tool will cut the hours spent searching for drawings by about 90% over a year. Additionally, Kuken is developing a tool to check discrepancies in partner-submitted drawings; prototype testing showed that about 90% of issues flagged by the AI were genuine discrepancies.