The President Was the Only One Who Could Create Quotes: Challenges of a System Dependent on One Person, Lacking Information Sharing and Past Data Utilization

Founded in 1954, Yatomi Seisakusho Co., Ltd. primarily processes metal parts for motors and hoists, among other components. The company has steadily grown its business by increasing the variety of parts it can process, specializing in small-lot, high-variety machining. Known for its ability to handle difficult processing requests, Yatomi Seisakusho enjoys a strong reputation for reliability. The company continues to invest in equipment upgrades, expecting further growth in the coming years.

However, Yatomi Seisakusho faced challenges in its quotation process. Daily, many drawings for estimate requests were sent by email or fax to the production management staff from customers. The president, Hideki Kakutani, was responsible for creating all quotes, so the staff forwarded all received drawings to him for processing. He alone managed deadlines and progress, which meant that if quotes were delayed, the staff had no way of knowing the status, leading to situations where customers would follow up for updates. Kakutani recognized the need to delegate the estimation work and make progress visible to all team members.

Another issue was the storage and utilization of drawings. Previously, drawings were mainly stored on paper. In recent years, to allow others besides Kakutani to issue work instructions, the company began digitizing drawings into PDF format. Over 8,000 drawings were digitized and gradually started being used. However, only drawings for completed orders were digitized; those for estimates only were left in paper form, stored in large bundles. For example, if a customer requested a new estimate by modifying a previously quoted but unordered drawing, Kakutani would have to search through the paper drawings based on his memory to find the past drawing. Similarly, when creating a new quote, if Kakutani wanted to reference past similar drawings, he had to open each PDF file individually to search for similar ones, which was time-consuming and highly inefficient.

Achieving Task Delegation and Information Sharing with CADDi Drawer: Enabling Preemptive Actions in Manufacturing

Kakutani was highly interested in business reform and efficiency improvement through digital transformation (DX). As the company continued to grow steadily and the manufacturing industry evolved, he recognized the need for change to keep up with the pace of the industry. It was in this context that CADDi introduced CADDi Drawer, a cloud-based drawing data utilization service.

Hideki Kakutani
"I often feel that the manufacturing industry relies heavily on traditional values, especially among older generations. The team at CADDi was young, fast-paced, and it was refreshing. We had many forward-looking discussions."

Yatomi Seisakusho decided to implement CADDi Drawer. After starting operation, new quote requests were saved in CADDi Drawer, with the quoted prices linked to the drawings. This allowed Kakutani to delegate the estimation work to team members. The responsible staff could now check past drawing quotes and material costs before requesting Kakutani to create a new quote.

Moreover, using CADDi Drawer, staff could check which drawings were currently under quotation and which had already been responded to, making progress visible. Kakutani could also view all incoming estimate requests at a glance. Communication in the estimation process became smoother, leading to significant efficiency improvements.

In the manufacturing process, the team could now view the drawings associated with quote requests in CADDi Drawer, allowing them to review the drawings as advance information before the final drawings arrived. This enabled the team to anticipate processing steps and prepare in advance, further improving efficiency on the manufacturing floor.

Passing on Experience and Knowledge to the Younger Generation

Hideki Kakutani
"Previously, finding drawings was a difficult task. Now that drawings and quote data are accumulating, it has become normal to use CADDi Drawer to look up past data. Moving forward, I want to expand its use further on the manufacturing floor. For some time now, we've been using another system to record and photograph the setup of jigs and the steps in processing. By linking this information to the drawings, we can use CADDi Drawer to find similar drawings and apply this know-how when similar products come in. I also want to link quality control information to CADDi Drawer and make use of it.

As we bring in more young employees, it’s essential to effectively pass on the experience and knowledge we've gained. I hope to use CADDi Drawer to share past knowledge. The younger staff learn quickly and are eager to use the system, which is very encouraging."

Yatomi Seisakusho aims to accelerate its DX initiatives with CADDi Drawer, realizing further efficiency improvements and enhanced data utilization.