“Opening Up the Future of Steel Manufacturing”: Korenaga Shokai Takes On Fully Automated Design Quotation with WOGO's Advanced Technology

Korenaga Shokai Co., Ltd. (hereafter Korenaga Shokai), a long-established steel distributor and primary processor, is taking a new step forward, drawing on the experience and networks it has built up to rewrite the conventions of the steel industry. The partner it chose for that journey is WOGO, which uses advanced technology to transform manufacturing processes. Together the two companies aim to achieve fully automated design quotation and to clear a bottleneck that runs through Japanese manufacturing.

Based on an interview with Naohiro Korenaga, Senior Managing Director of Korenaga Shokai, this article sets out the full picture of the project with WOGO, from how the company saw its challenges through to where it is heading next.

1. The challenge – where the journey began

Korenaga Shokai began in steel distribution and has since built a distinctive position built on primary processing. As it set its sights higher, though, it ran into a problem: the upstream work of design and quotation depended heavily on individual expertise and was highly inefficient.
“What we are aiming for is a world in which the manufacturing floor can be more creative. But reading a drawing and working out a quotation inevitably comes down to individual judgement, and it takes time and effort. Unless we solved that, I felt there was no prospect of real progress.”
Work that depends on individuals becomes a bottleneck, making it hard to shorten lead times or reduce costs. It is a serious problem shared not only across the steel industry but on manufacturing floors everywhere.

2. Choosing WOGO – the search for the right partner

To solve this, Korenaga Shokai looked at technologies and services around the world. Finding a partner likely to deliver beyond expectations, however, proved difficult.
“What we wanted was not a subcontractor but a companion climbing the same mountain. We looked at a great many options, including overseas, and often the vision and values simply did not match. Then we met WOGO, and in those first meetings I had an instinct that here, perhaps, was a partner we could climb with.”
What decided it was WOGO’s ability to think about the business model and the technology together, and a shared vision at the deepest level: the desire to change the world of manufacturing from the ground up.

3. Early results – a strong start

The project has only just kicked off, so it is too early for results in numbers. Even so, Korenaga says he is already feeling the value of creating something together with WOGO.
“For us it feels as though we have climbed only to the first station on the mountain. Even so, the care they take over the engineering and system development gives us real confidence. Having a partner who will map out with us how to digitalise the know-how we have built up as a manufacturer is extremely valuable.”
His impression at this point is that working with a partner who shares your outlook brings more speed and more flexibility than expected.

4. The project with WOGO – a co-creation approach

The project uses a solution called domain modeling to pursue the full automation of the design quotation process in steel manufacturing. We interview the people doing the work and organise the knowledge and judgement criteria of experienced engineers into structured data. By feeding that into AI and algorithms, the plan is to build a mechanism that produces accurate quotations and design specifications in a short time.

– Making the process visible and defining requirements: organising drawing information, processing know-how, cost structures and more
– Building the database and designing the algorithms: turning veterans’ instinct and experience into numbers and logic
– System development and phased rollout: implementing the design and quotation stages first, verifying as we go

By taking these steps in a spirit of co-creation, the aim is a fundamental transformation of the business process, not merely the introduction of software.

5. Expected quantitative effects and impact – the road to success

Concrete figures are still to come, but Korenaga Shokai expects the following outcomes.

– Shorter lead times: automating much of the design quotation process so that even tight-deadline orders can be handled quickly
– Lower costs: reducing human error and duplicated work, and raising productivity
– Innovation: digitalising processes that depended on individuals, opening the way to new manufacturing and sales models beyond the existing framework

“Even if unexpected obstacles appear from here, I am certain we will reach the summit. And when we do, I am convinced the impact will be large enough to transform how steel manufacturing is understood.”

6. Looking ahead – a roadmap for changing the industry

Finally, Korenaga describes the future this project points towards.

“Not only in steel – Japanese manufacturing still has a great deal of room to grow. Through this project we aim to clear the bottlenecks across the industry and build a creative manufacturing culture. Ultimately I want to digitalise every process, not just design quotation, and create an environment where people can concentrate on what they genuinely want to do.”

The real results of the project are still ahead, but the strength of the partnership between Korenaga Shokai and WOGO holds the potential to change what is taken for granted in steel manufacturing. Their effort should offer a new point of reference not only for their own industry but for manufacturing more widely.