Nippon Koei’s Digital Transformation Providing Value Beyond Conventional Construction Consulting
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INTRODUCTION
As digital transformation (DX) continues to accelerate in the construction industry, Nippon Koei established the Digital Innovation Management Department in July 2020 to actively promote DX initiatives. In this article, we interviewed Masaki Sakuraba, the General Manager of Digital Innovation Division at Nippon Koei, to discuss the company's DX strategy.
PROFILE
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General Manager, Digital Innovation Division, Business Strategy Headquarters, Nippon Koei Co., Ltd.
Specially Appointed Professor, International Research Institute for Disaster Science, Tohoku University (Visiting professors)Masaaki Sakuraba
Joined Nippon Koei in 1994 and has been engaged in the river and coast fields, including hydraulic experiments, numerical simulations, and information system design and development. He received his PhD in Engineering in March 2004 and, in July 2018, assumed the position of Director of the Center for Advanced Research and Development at the Central Research Institute. From July 2020, he has been promoting the overall DX of the Nippon Koei Group as the General Manager of the Digital Innovation Department.
- *The department name, job title, and interview content were at the time of the interview.
STORY
Nippon Koei's DX promotion keywords are "business process restructuring," "value creation," and "networking."
−−−Nippon Koei established the Digital Innovation Management Department in July 2020, and is promoting DX throughout the Group in the utilization and promotion of digital technology and productivity improvement as a framework for new business development that goes beyond the conventional concept of consulting business. In July 2022, the Digital Business Promotion Department, Digital Technology Promotion Department, and DX Promotion Department were established as organizations to promote productivity innovation, digital business, and technology within the Nippon Koei Group, and to engage in DX in general. How does Mr. Sakuraba, the general manager of the Digital Innovation Division, which bundles these three departments, define "DX"?
−−−Please tell us about the themes and pillars of Nippon Koei's DX promotion.
In the DX platform concept, we would like to promote open innovation with various companies.
−−−Tell us about your DX work that you are currently working on.
We will expand this platform concept to other areas besides disaster prevention. In addition to the technology data we have accumulated so far, we will collect infrastructure information as big data such as satellites and IoT data, and create an environment for AI to analyze. Also, we would like to openly innovate not only with various departments within our companies but also with other companies.
From now on, we will create value that is different from the conventional thinking of construction consulting.
−−−The fields that construction consultants are good at are mainly planning, analysis, and design. However, the hurdles of advanced technology have been lowered recently because AI and tools are analyzing instead of humans. What do you think Nippon Koei will be able to do in 10 years from now?
The above figure shows the digital twin of medium-term management plan. Nippon Koei has skilled experts in various fields, and if Nippon Koei has the comprehensive strength, we believe that we can cover all of the steps from upstream to downstream (1-6 above). This is the image of our organization in 10 years. In the future, I believe it will be necessary to create value that is different from the conventional thinking of construction consulting and to think about how to add value to technology.
