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A Car Still Takes 4 Years to Build: CADDi CEO Yushiro Kato on Physical Limits
Originally published on The MFG Connector
Summary
In the first episode of Leadership Decisions in Manufacturing, a six-part series from The MFG Connector produced in partnership with CADDi, host Jim Mayer sits down with CADDi co-founder and CEO Yushiro Kato at IMTS 2026 in Chicago. Kato discusses his essay, Materialization: Making Things in the Age of AI, and CADDi's 10-year vision to accelerate physical innovation tenfold. He explains why a car still takes about four years to build, why roughly 118 manufacturing processes run in series instead of in parallel, and how the CADDi AI Data Platform gives engineering and procurement teams one shared source of truth, so people and AI agents work from the same context. He also covers what leaders still own as AI agents take on more of the work, why general AI needs manufacturing-specific models for drawings and 3D CAD, how CADDi keeps each customer's data separate, and what the $114 million Series D will fund.
Key takeaways
- Intelligence is not the bottleneck. AI getting smarter and the physical world changing are separate events. To change the physical world, someone has to build something, and Kato sees physical limits as the next wall for humanity.
- The 10x goal is literal. A car takes about four years to build, the same as 30 years ago. CADDi's vision is to cut that to one tenth within 10 years, or about four to five months for a car.
- Three causes of delay. Kato groups manufacturing into about 118 processes. Each one takes time, they run in series so teams wait on each other, and rework sends work backward. A shared, company-specific operating system lets people and AI agents work in parallel from one source of truth.
- People still own the outcome. Humans set the target and requirements, own the last mile of quality, and lead the change. Kato says change management is about half of the value CADDi delivers to customers.
- Manufacturing needs its own AI. General LLMs are weak at spatial recognition, so CADDi built a proprietary AI model for drawings and 3D CAD, connected by a semantic layer that helps engineering and procurement teams stop reinventing the wheel.
Chapters
- 00:00 Welcome and the Series D news
- 02:02 The essay and who Yushiro Kato is
- 03:16 Why smarter AI doesn’t change the physical world
- 05:26 Fourteen physical limits and why now
- 07:59 What 10x means and the four-year car
- 10:36 Built from the shop floor
- 14:32 Why 118 processes run in a line
- 18:58 What leaders still own
- 23:11 Why general AI needs manufacturing-specific AI
- 26:00 Ending the reinvention of the wheel
- 28:29 Keeping customer data separate
- 29:25 What the Series D funds
- 30:58 Closing thoughts
FAQ
What is CADDi's 10-year vision? To accelerate physical innovation tenfold. CADDi CEO Yushiro Kato says the 10x goal is literal: a car that takes about four years to build today would take four to five months, and an aircraft about one year.
Why does it still take about four years to build a car? Kato names three causes. Each of about 118 processes takes time, the processes run in series so teams wait on one another, and rework sends work backward when problems surface late, for example in quality assurance.
What do leaders still own when AI agents do more of the work? Setting the target and requirements, giving the company its own direction, owning the last mile of quality, and leading change management. Kato estimates change management is about half of the total value CADDi delivers to customers.
Why can't general-purpose AI handle manufacturing data on its own? Kato explains that LLMs are language models, while physical products call for spatial recognition. CADDi built a proprietary AI model that reads drawings and 3D CAD, plus a semantic layer that links data by meaning, so AI agents can connect past incidents to current designs.
What will CADDi's $114 million Series D fund? Product development, including CADDi's proprietary AI model, go-to-market, and global expansion. Kato notes that CADDi has customers in 22 countries, no European offices yet, and plans continued investment in the US.
Related links
- CADDi AI Data Platform
- CADDi Design Review
- Materialization: Making Things in the Age of AI (essay)
- CADDi Series D announcement
- Mapping the Future of AI in Manufacturing with CADDi CEO Yushiro Kato
- More CADDi news
About CADDi
CADDi is a global manufacturing technology company driven by the vision to accelerate physical innovation tenfold. Headquartered in Chicago and Tokyo, the company was founded in 2017 by industry veterans Yushiro Kato and Aki Kobashi, formerly of McKinsey and Apple, respectively. CADDi currently serves manufacturing businesses in more than 20 countries, including many of the largest publicly traded companies in Japan and the United States. To learn more, visit caddi.com.