Yushiro Kato, CEO and Co-Founder of CADDi, on CEOs You Should Know Chicago

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Summary

On CEOs You Should Know Chicago, an iHeartMedia Chicago podcast, the host talks with CADDi co-founder and CEO Yushiro Kato about the CADDi AI Data Platform and why the company put its US headquarters in Chicago. Kato explains how the platform turns scattered manufacturing data into an asset, so engineering and procurement teams can use what a company already knows instead of starting from scratch. He discusses part proliferation, why quality problems often begin in design, and his essay, Materialization: Making Things in the Age of AI, including CADDi's 10-year vision to accelerate physical innovation tenfold. He also covers why general-purpose AI is not enough for drawings and 3D CAD, how the platform helps with procurement and aftermarket work, and how putting historical knowledge in one place can change the relationship between veteran and younger engineers.

Key takeaways

1. Knowledge is the real asset. Kato says the most important asset in a manufacturing company is not machinery or factories, but knowledge in people's heads. The CADDi AI Data Platform turns past data into an asset so engineers can use it as if they had been at the company for 30 years, and so that knowledge stays when people move on.
2. Reuse beats reinventing the wheel. Many manufacturers, including in Chicago, keep creating parts that are similar or nearly identical to ones they already have. Kato calls this part proliferation, a waste of time and cost. The platform helps engineering and procurement teams reuse what they have already created.
3. Chicago was a deliberate choice. CADDi opened its US headquarters in Chicago in early 2023. Kato says many people told him to go to Silicon Valley, but he wanted the company closest to its customers. He calls Chicago the heart of manufacturing and notes that the Midwest has the largest manufacturing GDP in the United States.
4. The 10x goal is literal. AI is moving fast, but a car still takes about four years to build, the same as 30 years ago. CADDi's 10-year vision is to accelerate physical innovation tenfold, bringing that kind of cycle down to about four months, because the bottleneck is now in making physical products, not in generating ideas.
5. Manufacturing needs its own AI. Kato says general language models are strong with text, but they do not read 2D drawings or 3D CAD models. CADDi's proprietary AI model understands the shape and geometry of parts, so teams can reuse the closest past designs, reduce procurement cost, and respond to aftermarket requests in seconds.

Episode chapters

• 00:00 Welcome and what the CADDi AI Data Platform does
• 01:29 Knowledge as an asset, and ending reinvented wheels
• 03:30 Why the US headquarters is in Chicago
• 05:38 Why quality problems often start in design
• 07:22 The essay, the four-year car, and the 10x goal
• 12:06 Fourteen physical limits
• 15:42 How the platform helps engineering, procurement, and aftermarket
• 17:47 Why manufacturing needs its own AI
• 18:39 A culture change between veterans and younger engineers
• 20:28 Lessons from McKinsey, and why change is a risk
• 24:59 Why being an established company is now an advantage

Speakers

• Yushiro Kato, CEO and Co-Founder of CADDi
• Host, CEOs You Should Know Chicago (iHeartMedia Chicago)

FAQ

What is the CADDi AI Data Platform? Kato describes it as an AI data platform for manufacturing. It brings together data that is scattered across systems, value chains, and businesses, and turns that history into an asset for engineering and procurement teams.

Why is CADDi's US headquarters in Chicago? CADDi established the office in early 2023. Kato says many people told him to go to Silicon Valley, but he wanted to be closest to customers. He calls Chicago the heart of manufacturing and notes that the Midwest has the largest manufacturing GDP in the United States.

What is CADDi's 10-year vision? To accelerate physical innovation tenfold. Kato says a car still takes about four years to build, as it did 30 years ago, and the aim is to bring that kind of cycle down to about four months.

Why isn't general-purpose AI enough for manufacturing? Kato says general language models are strong at reading text and summarizing meetings, but they do not read 3D CAD models or 2D drawings. CADDi built a proprietary AI model that understands the shape and geometry of parts so teams can reuse the closest past designs and learn from earlier work.

Related links

• CADDi AI Data Platform
• Materialization: Making Things in the Age of AI (essay)
• A Car Still Takes 4 Years to Build: CADDi CEO Yushiro Kato on Physical Limits
• Yushiro Kato, CADDi, Inc | theCUBE + NYSE Wired: Mixture of Experts
• Mapping the Future of AI in Manufacturing with CADDi CEO Yushiro Kato
• caddi.com
• 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.