ARCRA Advances Social Implementation of AI Pearl Quality Assessment System, Targeting 50% Reduction in Initial Sorting Time

ARCRA Inc. is a software development company with strengths in image recognition, natural language processing, agent AI, and AI implementation consulting. Since last fiscal year, the company has been selected for Ehime Prefecture’s public proposal program, Triangle Ehime 2.0, and has been working to promote digital transformation in the regional industry of pearl quality assessment. Building on last year’s successful work in judging six quality criteria, this fiscal year ARCRA will promote the development and social implementation of an initial commercial version designed to reduce pearl rough sorting time by 50% through real-world operation at four businesses in Ehime Prefecture. Triangle Ehime received approximately 1,500 applications nationwide over the four years from fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2025. Following the screening of fiscal 2026 continuing projects, 16 projects, including ARCRA’s, were selected. Development Background: The Technology Transfer Barrier Facing Traditional Industries Ehime Prefecture’s pearl industry boasts one of Japan’s highest production volumes, but it faces a shortage of successors and an aging workforce of skilled artisans. Pearl quality assessment, including luster, nacre thickness, and color, depends on tacit knowledge built through many years of experience. Training a fully skilled artisan requires a significant amount of time. ARCRA is quantifying this “artisan’s eye” through AI image analysis technology. By digitizing evaluation standards that had depended on individual expertise, the company aims not only to support skill transfer, but also to reduce the burden on production sites and strengthen the competitiveness of the entire production region. Three Key Points of This Fiscal Year’s Project First, the system will evolve into AI that can be used on-site. Following the success of last year’s verification, the system will be introduced at four local businesses engaged in actual pearl farming and processing. ARCRA will optimize everything from initial setup to operational workflows for each site and build a system that can serve as an immediate asset. Second, the project aims for major efficiency gains by cutting sorting time in half. In the rough sorting process, which has traditionally relied on manual work, the project sets a concrete numerical target of reducing work time by 50%. By allowing AI to perform the first-stage sorting quickly and consistently, human workers can focus on more advanced final inspection. Third, ARCRA will establish a business model for the initial commercial version. Through field trials, the company will verify willingness for continued use and price validity. The goal is not merely to provide technology, but to improve the system’s maturity as a packaged product that can eventually be rolled out across the pearl industry. Last Year’s Results: Clearing Six Complex Evaluation Criteria In the fiscal 2025 initiative, ARCRA combined a dedicated imaging enclosure with AI and succeeded in highly accurate judgment of six complex pearl-specific indicators: size, shape, luster, nacre thickness, color, and flaws. This achievement created a path toward digitizing the expert judgment of artisans, which had previously been considered impossible for AI. Future Outlook Following this continuing selection, ARCRA will advance the sophistication of technical verification, improve dedicated mechanisms, and build systems for on-site introduction, while further strengthening collaboration with regional industries and partner companies. The company will also use this project as a starting point to expand the technology into quality assurance applications in other industries, including jewelry, agricultural and marine products, precision parts, cosmetics, and textiles. Through these efforts, ARCRA aims to provide multifaceted solutions such as improving the reliability of product evaluation, standardizing processes, reducing labor hours, and strengthening competitiveness. Comment from the Project Lead Shunsuke Katsu, Director and COO of ARCRA Inc., said that the company is honored that last year’s efforts were recognized and that the project was selected again this fiscal year. He stated that no matter how advanced AI technology may be, it is meaningless unless it creates value in the field. ARCRA aims to elevate the artisan sensibility built through Ehime’s traditions into technology that can be passed on to the next generation and contribute to revitalizing the regional economy. He also noted that the project was made possible through collaboration with development partners System LSI Co., Ltd. and the Ehime Institute of Industrial Technology. ARCRA expressed gratitude to Ehime Prefectural Government officials, the artisans who have supported the pearl industry for many years, and many others in the region, and said it will continue working to repay that support through tangible results. About Triangle Ehime This project is being carried out as a selected project under fiscal 2026 Triangle Ehime 2.0. Since fiscal 2022, Ehime Prefecture has promoted Triangle Ehime to implement digital solutions and related technologies at businesses, local governments, and other organizations in the prefecture in order to tackle regional challenges. From fiscal 2025, Triangle Ehime 2.0 began with the aim of implementing, embedding, and horizontally deploying digital technologies across industries in the prefecture, strengthening local industries’ earning power, developing talent capable of using digital tools in the field, collaborating with national co-creation hubs to solve regional challenges, attracting digital companies to the prefecture, and creating new earning power through matching implementation results.