now in use at AIKOKU ALPHA, the hand-operated crane manufacturer with the highest market share

We are pleased to announce that meviy, an AI platform for parts procurement offered by MISUMI Group Inc., has been deployed by AIKOKU ALPHA CORPORATION (headquartered in Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture; hereinafter “AIKOKU ALPHA”). AIKOKU ALPHA develops, designs and manufactures a hand-assisted manual manipulator, the "Raku-Raku Hand",  and the company has the largest market share in the hand-operated crane market. 
We will continue to provide time value to our customers in the IA (Industrial Automation) industry through improving our services and contribute to enhancing their productivity.

AIKOKU ALPHA is primarily engaged in the manufacture and machining of automotive and aerospace parts, as well as the development and sale of CAD/CAM systems. The company's own product, the "Raku-Raku Hand", is an equipment that reduces the burden on people handling "heavy objects" in manufacturing environments, and it has the leading market share in the hand-operated crane market.

The concept behind AIKOKU ALPHA's "Rakuraku Hand" is "Manu(hand)-nology", or the realization of technology that fits a wide range of work environments and user needs, from automobiles to steel, construction machinery, chemicals, and food. Because the Raku-Raku Hand is used for a wide variety of objects, it requires a high degree of customization during the design stage, which inevitably leads to an increase in the number of drawings and the amount of work required. In particular, even though the designs are created using 3D CAD, paper drawings are still required when ordering parts from outside fabricators, so they were looking for ways to reduce the man-hours required for procurement, such as creating paper drawings and analog ordering work.
To solve this problem, the procurement manager, who had learned about meviy, which allows parts to be procured using only 3D data, approached the design department, and the two departments worked together to implement meviy. As a result, it became possible to procure parts using only the 3D data that had been designed; the design department was able to reduce the amount of work involved in creating paper drawings, while the procurement department was able to smoothly procure parts using only the "model numbers" that had been ordered through meviy. By making the process from design to procurement seamless, AIKOKU ALPHA succeeded in improving productivity across the entire process, including the design and procurement departments.

Now that they can get a quote and procure parts simply by using 3D data alone, the need to create paper drawings has been eliminated and the number of man-hours has been greatly reduced.
The time created by this has allowed them to focus on their core business, such as product design, in order to meet the needs of our customers. In other words, meviy has helped to improve the added value of their products.

In the past, after the designer created the design in 3D CAD, the paper drawings were circulated to the drawing approver for approval. The procurement department would then receive the large volume of paper drawings and begin the procurement process of contacting outside fabricators using analog methods such as fax or email. By digitizing these processes, it became possible to seamlessly complete the procurement work using only the “model number,” reducing various processes and paperwork, and successfully improving productivity.

“First, we approached those who seemed likely to be open to new things and formed a team to consider the introduction of meviy. With MISUMI's support, we were able to create a working environment that was easy for designers to use and that they were satisfied with.”

“First, we let the design staff experience the ease of creating parts by simply uploading the 3D data they had designed, so they could feel the greatest benefit of meviy. I think it was good that we started this way - by making them feel that meviy makes their lives easier. I hope that meviy will continue to expand the range of shapes it can handle in the future.”

meviy enables manufacturing straight from 3D data!  
See how the designers and the procurement department collaborate to reduce man-hours (video included)
https://jp.meviy.misumi-ec.com/info/ja/case/user_case/44914/　(in Japanese)

With meviy, customers simply upload a 3D CAD model of a mechanical component, the AI automatically provides an instant quote, and our digital manufacturing system enables an order to be shipped in as little as one day. 
meviy is a platform that eliminates perceived inefficiencies in parts procurement by reducing the time customers traditionally spend procuring mechanical components by more than 90%. 
meviy received the Prime Minister's Prize at the Ninth Monodzukuri Nippon Grand Awards, achieved the No. 1 market share in Japan for three consecutive years, and is highly regarded for its contributions to improving productivity in the manufacturing industry. For our global customers, the range of services on each meviy website is expanding. meviy delivers "time value" to customers worldwide through digital transformation in component procurement. 

MISUMI sells mechanical components required on-site for factory automation, as well as tools, consumables, and other products to more than 318,000 companies (as of March 2024) worldwide. We wear two hats: a manufacturer with manufacturing functions and a distributor of other company’s branded products. 
With this unique business model, supported by a solid business foundation, MISUMI achieves "globally reliable on-time delivery" for greater customer convenience.