Leach Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Takuya Tominaga) served as a lecturer on Generative AI at the regular meeting of the Mie Ueno Industrial Park "Hatsukakai," introduced by Director Yoshitomo Nagai of Nabel Co., Ltd. (Iga City, Mie Prefecture; President: Norio Nagai). We introduced AI utilization examples at the forefront of Factory DX and presented "new possibilities of Generative AI changing manufacturing" to the participants.
■ Background
The Ueno Industrial Park Hatsukakai is a valuable study group where factories and companies in the Ueno region of Mie Prefecture gather monthly to share the latest technology trends and issues. The theme this time was "Why does a Generative AI startup promote Factory DX?", which seemed like an unusual combination at first glance, but it became a perfect opportunity to blow a new wind into manufacturing sites feeling a sense of stagnation.
■ Event Overview
- Date: Wednesday, March 19, 2025, 18:00–20:00
- Location: Grill Stork (3076 Ueno Kodamacho, Iga City, Mie Prefecture)
- Lecture Theme: "Why does a Generative AI startup promote Factory DX? ~Possibility of AI Changing Manufacturing Sites~"
- Lecturer: Leach Inc. CEO Takuya Tominaga
■ Lecture Content
□ Self Introduction
The lecturer, CEO Takuya Tominaga, worked in software R&D at Toshiba Corporation and was seconded to the Corporate Strategy Office at Toshiba Tec, before resigning in 2024. He dared to jump out of a stable career and founded Leach Inc. to fully commit to Generative AI.
- Achievements at Toshiba
- Received numerous awards in AI engineer education and internal CTF from 2022 to 2024
- In 2023, a personally developed Generative AI service acquired over 3,500 users in a short period
- Background of Founding "I decided to resign because I thought I would regret not betting my life on Generative AI when I turned 80." In November 2024, I launched Leach Inc. under the grand mission of "Regaining Japan as No.1."
□ Reason for Chasing "Regaining Japan as No.1"
During the unemployment benefit period, I spent a lot of time thinking carefully about what I wanted to achieve by starting a business, and the mission descended upon me. It is the fact that if you try to do anything in the digital world, funds flow out overseas.
- Overseas Dependence of Digital Infrastructure
- Current situation where many core infrastructures such as OS, payment, advertising, and cloud are held by the US and China
- Urgent need to create a digital foundation for "local production for local consumption" to circulate funds within Japan
- Competing with GAFAM becomes a battle of capital. GAFAM's net profit per company is several trillion yen; one company alone cannot compete at all
- Importance of SME/Factory DX
- If Japan competes as a whole, there is a possibility of generating profits equivalent to GAFAM's net income
- 97% of Japanese companies are SMEs, and many of them have manufacturing sites such as factories
- While facing the issue of labor shortage, many companies are still centered on paper and manual work
- Emphasized that DX utilizing Generative AI is the key to supporting Japan's future industry and bringing about a further leap
- That is, "Regaining Japan as No.1"
□ Possibility of Generative AI
In the lecture, I showed that Generative AI is not just an extension of existing AI, but a revolutionary technology that "learns on its own and creates new ideas and content."
- Difference from Conventional AI
- Emergent power to produce completely new outputs, not just regression/classification
- Can automatically generate diverse data such as text, images, audio, and video
- Liberation from Labor Intensity
- Reduce the burden on field staff by automating repetitive tasks such as document creation and inventory management
- Dramatically increase productivity and added value by directing surplus time to R&D and quality improvement
□ Application Examples of Generative AI
In this lecture, I introduced several examples using slides.
- Leach EDI (Tentative)
- Developing a service that converts paper purchase orders and production instructions into arbitrary formats to streamline document work in the field
- By utilizing Generative AI's OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, recognition accuracy, which was a conventional issue, has greatly improved
- Other Examples
- Google AI Studio where AI automatically generates images and videos
- Call center automation utilizing voice recognition/synthesis
- Automatic perspective creation from CAD data and line drawings, recruitment efficiency improvement by AI interviewers, etc.
□ Summary
- Generative AI has the potential to not just streamline some operations, but to renovate the very way of manufacturing sites
□ Response to the Lecture
After the lecture ended, we received reports regarding the response from the organizers as well. We received comments such as: "Usually, the meeting proceeds quietly in a calm atmosphere, but this time, the enthusiasm and concentration of the participants were clearly different. Immediately after the start of the lecture, many people eagerly picked up the materials and listened seriously to the lecturer's story. The concentration did not break until the end of the lecture, and multiple questions were raised, which is rare, strongly feeling the high degree of interest of the participants."
■ About Nabel Co., Ltd.
Company Name: Nabel Co., Ltd.
Location: 7-2-3 Yumegaoka, Iga City, Mie Prefecture
Representative: President Norio Nagai
Establishment: October 1972
Business Content: Manufacturing and sales of bellows and all related businesses
Corporate Website: https://www.bellows.co.jp
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEJN3oWA9c8RM6jF3fRYX7w
■ About Leach Inc.
Company Name: Leach Inc.
Location: 2F Hamamatsucho Dia Building, 2-2-15 Hamamatsucho, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Representative: CEO Takuya Tominaga
Establishment: November 13, 2024
Business Content: IT consulting by full-stack engineers, contract development of Generative AI, system integration utilizing cloud and AI (planning, construction, and operation of business systems), Web service development, explosive speed PoC development, smartphone app development, website production, SNS marketing/promotion, video production, graphic design, etc.
Corporate Website: https://leach.co.jp
X: https://x.com/LeachJapan
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leachinc
Overview of Leach Inc.:
Leach was established by full-stack engineers from Toshiba Software Engineering Center (Research Institute) who acquired 12 AWS certifications in one month, and handles Web service and application development. Utilizing innovative ideas and high technical capabilities, we aim to "provide unique products that blend naturally into life."
Within a short period of 3 months since founding, we have participated in joint projects with listed companies and projects with national and public universities, and are proceeding with development in diverse fields. We reinvest the funds obtained from these contract developments into the development of new services, and contribute to the improvement of Japan's technological capabilities and market competitiveness under the mission of "Regaining Japan as No.1."
In addition, for development projects that cannot be handled by our own resources, we utilize a network of highly specialized engineers to build the right team for the right place, responding flexibly to more advanced technical requirements. We will continue to provide consistent support from development to operation and support the digital transformation of companies.
Please feel free to contact us regarding development consultations or project requests.
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