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Stockmark Inc. has been selected for the "AI-Ready Project" under "GENIAC," a project aimed at strengthening domestic generative AI development capabilities, conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization). In collaboration with 16 leading major domestic companies, we are implementing the "Implicit Knowledge/Internal Data AI-Ready Project for Japanese Companies."

To commemorate the launch of this project, we are sequentially releasing interviews with the top leaders of 16 major domestic companies driving AI utilization on a special website.

- Special Website: https://sat.stockmark.co.jp/top-interviews/

While we are continuously releasing a variety of interview articles on the special website, we will now introduce highlights from each industry, divided into five parts, to provide a deeper look into the latest trends in generative AI utilization within each sector and the reality of "AI BPR" (Business Process Re-engineering) that redesigns business processes themselves.

Top Interview Vol. 5: Materials, Chemicals, and Steel Edition

In this fifth installment, we focus on "Materials, Chemicals, and Steel" (NGK Corporation, Kobe Steel, Ltd., Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., Teijin Limited, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation), which are core industries of Japan and have accumulated vast technological assets and unique craftsmanship over many years. We will introduce the essence of the advanced initiatives and insights from these five companies.

1: NGK Corporation

- Title: From the "Feeling" on the Factory Floor to Data - Mr. Mori of NGK Discusses the Strengths of Manufacturing in the AI Era and the Role of People - Speaker: Jun Mori, Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer (Photo: Left) - Interviewer: Tatsu Hayashi, President and CEO, Stockmark Inc. (Photo: Right)

[Interview Highlights]

At NGK, which aims to contribute to carbon neutrality and a digital society with its unique ceramic technology, DX is positioned as a powerful driver for realizing the company's desired future state.

Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer Mr. Mori presents a vision of shifting resources and passion from improving existing operations to "creating new value" such as new businesses. He states that for this to happen, "each and every person trying to use AI" is the first step in taking ownership of the challenges in becoming AI-ready.

As a lesson learned from transformation, he points out the importance of fundamentally reorganizing work and redefining "what to give up and what to change," rather than simply replacing tasks with tools.

What he particularly expects from this project is the extraction of "implicit knowledge" deeply embedded in manufacturing sites. In areas where the causal relationships cannot be fully grasped from equipment data alone, he focuses on the difficult-to-verbalize expertise, such as the "gut feeling" of experienced visual inspectors. He challenges himself to visualize the thought process that unconsciously supplements background information in the brain to make judgments.

Mr. Mori advocates that AI should be left to derive optimal solutions, while humans should focus on the "physical domain" of the field, which is Japan's strength, and the final "decision-making." He encourages the workforce to embrace transformation by saying, "Let's use AI to its fullest and enjoy the change together," as anxieties about job displacement and distrust in AI's reliability have been significantly dispelled over the past year. This is a must-read content.

- Interview Article URL: https://sat.stockmark.co.jp/top-interviews/ngk/

2: Kobe Steel, Ltd.

- Title: How to Utilize AI in Infrastructure Where "Stability is Justice." Mr. Yoshitake of Kobe Steel Discusses the Mission and Future of the Power Business - Speaker: Kunihiko Yoshitake, Executive Officer, Power Business Division (Photo: Right) - Interviewer: Tatsu Hayashi, President and CEO, Stockmark Inc. (Photo: Left)

[Interview Highlights]

The power business division of Kobe Steel, which delivers the universal commodity of "electricity," is an organization with the "unwavering strength" of thorough safety, stable operation, and low costs.

Executive Officer Mr. Yoshitake explains that in facing the top priority mission of challenging carbon neutrality, the shortest route to introducing change into a site where stability is paramount is to present points where "stable operations become easier and more robust" without negating current work.

In this project, the challenge is to build a system that allows AI to learn the implicit knowledge of veteran engineers, enabling immediate access to troubleshooting methods for "trouble response," which young employees have almost no experience with, precisely because power plants generally do not experience problems. Furthermore, AI will be used to resolve the issue of reliance on individuals for the complex "supply-demand planning puzzle," which has over 1,000 possible combinations with infinite variables such as procurement items and formulations, aiming to advance operations.

Mr. Yoshitake advocates that AI should handle complex calculations and routines, allowing humans to focus on adapting to change and creatively thinking about "how to make things better." This is a passionate dialogue that encourages site leaders who challenge themselves without fear of failure, with pride in supporting the night view from Mt. Rokko.

- Interview Article URL: https://sat.stockmark.co.jp/top-interviews/kobelco/

3: Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.

- Title: Mr. Yamaguchi of Sumitomo Chemical Discusses "Psychological Safety" That Needs to Be Established to Accelerate DX and AI Utilization

- Speaker: Toru Yamaguchi, Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer (Photo: Right)

- Interviewer: Tatsu Hayashi, President and CEO, Stockmark Inc. (Photo: Left)

[Interview Highlights]

At Sumitomo Chemical, a comprehensive chemical manufacturer, fostering "psychological safety" is considered crucial for further accelerating DX and AI utilization.

Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer Mr. Yamaguchi is working to build a foundation of security where employees can enjoy new challenges without fear of failure, breaking away from the conventional practices of Japanese manufacturing, which tended to lean towards "defense" by maintaining existing businesses and preventing failures.

While over 30% of management-level employees are actively engaged in AI utilization, he emphasizes the importance of a casual approach to starting its use, such as "just asking the younger people who are good at it," while respecting the professionalism of the safety-first site (maintainability).

He expects that this project, by structuring "tacit knowledge" such as the "collective intelligence" of researchers who generate original ideas and the "skilled techniques of Japanese factories" which have remarkably few accidents globally, into a form that anyone can utilize through Stockmark's technology (AI-ready), will further enhance the competitiveness of Japanese manufacturing on a global scale.

He states that AI should handle tedious tasks, allowing humans to experience the true enjoyment of more rewarding work, and this is a must-read content that encourages leaders challenging transformation by saying, "Growth is always promised if you take on challenges."

- Interview Article URL: https://sat.stockmark.co.jp/top-interviews/sumitomo-chem/

4: Teijin Limited

- Title: Mr. Ozaki of Teijin Discusses the "Exciting" Future Aimed for with AI, and the True Value of "Human Will" That Is Now Being Tested

- Speaker: Daisuke Ozaki, Assistant to the General Manager of Technology Strategy (Photo: Right)

- Interviewer: Tatsu Hayashi, President and CEO, Stockmark Inc. (Photo: Left)

[Interview Highlights]

Teijin, with over 100 years of history, is shifting its value creation strategy from the standalone sale of excellent materials to providing solutions through the "combination" of technologies and "adjustment" tailored to customers.

Assistant to the General Manager of Technology Strategy Mr. Ozaki positions AI as a driver to accelerate this complex process and emphasizes the importance of "One Teijin," which shares data across business divisions. Drawing from his management experience in the Netherlands, he points out that transformation requires not just providing tools, but also achieving "buy-in" to the objectives.

In the project, the aim is to accelerate transformation by allowing the site to experience "overwhelming success stories," such as reducing export review times from 10 hours for veterans to 1 hour with AI, by digitizing "wisdom tied to people," such as "why did this fail," and turning it into an asset accessible to anyone, anytime, thereby eliciting voluntary ideas.

Mr. Ozaki asserts, "No matter how much AI evolves, the final decision and human will and passion will remain." This interview is packed with hints for a new way of working where the essence of technological development is the "excitement" of imagining and initiating things a few steps into the future, and where individuals openly share their opinions and the meaning of their work.

- Interview Article URL: https://sat.stockmark.co.jp/top-interviews/teijin/

5: Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation

- Title: Mitsubishi Chemical's Mr. Uramoto on the Challenge of "Connecting" Bottom-Up AI Utilization to the Entire Organization - Speaker: Naohiko Uramoto, Executive Officer, Chief Digital Officer (Photo: Right) - Interviewer: Tatsu Hayashi, President and CEO, Stockmark Inc. (Photo: Left)

[Interview Highlights]

At Mitsubishi Chemical, they are promoting the fusion of bottom-up AI utilization spontaneously arising from the field with a top-down strategy that connects it to company-wide business process re-engineering (BPR).

Executive Officer and CDO Mr. Uramoto states that in this era of significant transformation for the chemical industry, they are determined to support not only cost reduction in "defense" but also value creation in "offense" through the power of digital technology.

He points out the limitations of overcoming the "disappearance of implicit knowledge" due to the retirement of veteran employees solely through on-site ingenuity. Efforts are focused on building a RAG environment that allows for immediate utilization of data from business sites and factories, and on assetizing sales know-how that is unevenly distributed within the "connections between people" that Japanese companies value. At the site level, an advanced cycle is already underway where experts correct and retrain AI responses, and the aim is to make this mechanism a daily routine.

Furthermore, he expresses his expectation that this project will serve as an opportunity to deepen discussions on "collaboration and data utilization across companies beyond internal boundaries," not only within their own company but also within the chemical industry, where horizontal connections have been limited.

He advocates that humans should focus on the essential areas that can bring excitement, using curiosity as a weapon, within a "co-evolution" where humans and AI mutually enhance each other. This is a must-read content.

- Interview Article URL: https://sat.stockmark.co.jp/top-interviews/m-chemical/

About Stockmark's Solutions

AI utilization is an indispensable element for maintaining competitiveness. However, many companies face challenges such as "data not being properly organized," "lack of adoption at the site level," and "failure to lead to concrete results."

Using our proprietary natural language processing technology, we structure complex knowledge, including not only text but also drawings, specifications, and past decision-making logic, into a form that AI can utilize. This goes beyond mere efficiency improvements, promoting "AI BPR (Business Process Re-engineering)" that redesigns business processes themselves, allowing people to immerse themselves in "value creation" and "refinement of expertise," which they should truly focus on.

By having AI autonomously handle "simple tasks that create stagnation" and shifting humans to "high-value-added tasks," we aim to improve the competitiveness of Japanese companies by creating a state where they can "genuinely enjoy their work."

- Stockmark Solutions: https://stockmark.co.jp/solution/

About Stockmark Inc.

Stockmark Inc., with the mission of "Reinventing the Mechanism of Value Creation," supports the corporate transformation of many companies by leveraging cutting-edge generative AI technology. We operate "Aconnect," an AI agent for the manufacturing industry, and "SAT," which structures all types of data and turns it into corporate assets. Furthermore, we support the development of company-specific generative AI and the construction of proprietary systems.

Company Name: Stockmark Inc. Location: 1-12-3 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo LIFORK MINAMI AOYAMA S209 Established: November 15, 2016 Representative: Tatsu Hayashi, President and CEO Business Activities: Development and operation of services that support corporate knowledge management and the application of generative AI in business, utilizing cutting-edge generative AI technology. URL: https://stockmark.co.jp/

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