199: Leveraging the Data You Already Have to Solve Your Manufacturing Challenges with Yushiro Kato, Founder & CEO of CADDi
Yushiro Kato, Founder and CEO of CADDi, explains how his background at McKinsey & Company and a previous clinical trial recruitment business led him to identify inefficiencies in manufacturing procurement. He details how CADDi’s software, including the product Drawer, uses AI and OCR to extract data from historical CAD drawings, allowing engineers and procurement teams to search by shape or material rather than arbitrary part numbers. Kato highlights that this democratization of historical data solves the 'knowledge drain' problem as baby boomers retire, while simultaneously driving immediate cost savings by identifying pricing inconsistencies across similar parts. He also discusses the operational challenges of leading a multicontinental company with established operations in Japan and a scaling presence in the U.S., noting cultural differences in job specialization and employee tenure.