TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan) has launched a full-scale in-house redevelopment of its procurement system, which has been in operation for more than 15 years and centrally manages the procurement and inventory of materials and equipment.
The initiative aims to establish a highly flexible next-generation system platform that enables both rapid system development and continuous functional enhancement through AI-driven development (AIDD). As part of the project, TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING has adopted “Kong Konnect”, an API connectivity platform provided by Kong K.K. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan), to provide unified API management, service connectivity and authentication capabilities, together with ScalarDB, a distributed data platform developed by Scalar, Inc. (Head Office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan).
By transitioning to a cloud-based microservices architecture, TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING will establish a highly adaptable next-generation digital platform capable of responding swiftly to changing business requirements.

Significant Productivity Gains Through AIDD and Expansion Across the TSUNEISHI Group’s Shipbuilding Segment

The project incorporates AIDD on a full scale to modernise a mission-critical system that would traditionally require a lengthy development cycle.
The company expects to reduce development effort across the design, implementation and testing phases by more than 70%, significantly accelerating the development process.
The new system is also being developed as a multi-company platform that can be utilised across companies within the TSUNEISHI Group’s shipbuilding segment. Based on the principle of “One Business Process, One System”, the initiative seeks to standardise and consolidate operational systems, thereby improving efficiency and reducing administrative burden.
Looking ahead, TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING plans to expand the use of the platform across the TSUNEISHI Group’s shipbuilding segment as a common DX platform, further strengthening the competitiveness of the Group as a whole.

Background: Modernising Procurement to Strengthen Competitiveness and Reduce Reliance on External Vendors

In shipbuilding, the efficient procurement and management of materials and equipment are essential to maintaining construction schedules and achieving cost-efficient operations.
However, the procurement system that TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING has operated for many years had become increasingly complex due to fragmented system structures and highly specialised maintenance practices. These challenges made it difficult to respond rapidly to changing market conditions and emerging data utilisation requirements.
Recognising that incremental improvements would be insufficient, the company determined that a fundamental transformation was necessary to support the next phase of AI-enabled and data-driven operations. As a result, it chose a fully in-house redevelopment approach powered by AIDD.
This decision enables TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING to reduce its dependence on external vendors, respond more rapidly to changes in business strategy, and establish a resilient next-generation digital platform capable of continuous evolution.

Building a Resilient Next-Generation Microservices Architecture

As part of the transformation, TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING is moving away from its tightly coupled legacy environment and adopting a cloud-native microservices architecture designed to maximise the potential of AIDD.

1. Secure and Seamless System Integration through Kong Konnect

By implementing Kong Konnect, the company is establishing an integrated API management framework and robust authentication infrastructure.
The platform enables secure and high-speed connectivity between multiple services while strengthening governance across the entire system landscape. At the same time, it supports agile development without compromising speed or flexibility.

2. Balancing Agility and Business Continuity

The system is being decomposed into independently managed services based on business functions through a microservices architecture.
This approach minimises the risk of system-wide outages, improves maintainability, and enables continuous and rapid enhancement of functions in response to changing business needs.

3. A Reliable Data Platform that Leverages Existing Assets through ScalarDB

The modernisation programme also maximises the value of existing data assets.
By utilising ScalarDB as a data integration layer, TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING can maintain strong data consistency across multiple databases while enabling integrated access to information that was previously siloed across disparate systems.

Image: Overview of TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING’s Next-Generation Procurement System Architecture

Developing AI Talent Through In-House Development

TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING has been actively promoting AIDD while cultivating AI talent capable of supporting the next stage of business transformation and digital innovation.
By leveraging AI throughout the design, implementation and testing phases, the company expects not only to significantly reduce development effort but also to enable employees to focus on higher-value activities, including interpreting analytical results, determining refactoring strategies, and validating alignment with business requirements.
TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING regards AI not merely as a tool for improving operational efficiency, but as a foundational technology that will support long-term business growth and organisational transformation.

Message from MORI Satoshi, Executive Officer and General Manager of Information Strategy Dept., Business Administration Div., TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING

“Procurement is a critical source of competitive advantage in the shipbuilding industry. To continuously respond to change, it was essential for us to take full ownership of our IT capabilities through fully in-house development.
By combining advanced technologies such as Kong Konnect and ScalarDB with AIDD, we expect to reduce effort across the design, implementation and testing phases by more than 70%, enabling a level of development speed that challenges conventional industry assumptions.
This initiative goes far beyond a system replacement project. In the future, we intend to expand the platform across the TSUNEISHI Group as a common DX platform, significantly strengthening the competitiveness of the entire Group at unprecedented speed.”

TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING will continue to enhance data utilisation and collaboration across its business operations through AIDD and in-house digital capabilities, while advancing the establishment of a resilient and continuously evolving next-generation digital platform for the shipbuilding industry.

About Kong K.K.

Kong, a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500® and AI-native startups alike, Kong’s unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic — on any model, any cloud.
President: Daiki Ariizumi
Head Office: Midtown Tower 18F, 9-7-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Established: August 2023
Business Activities: Sales, implementation support, maintenance and customer support for API and AI connectivity management solutions
Website: https://konghq.com/

About Scalar, Inc.

Scalar, Inc. is a global technology company founded in Japan in 2017, with offices in Tokyo and San Francisco. Under its vision to “Define the Future of Data Management,” Scalar provides advanced data management technologies that help enterprises modernize their systems and build trusted data-driven services.
Its flagship product, ScalarDB, is a Universal HTAP engine that integrates heterogeneous databases and supports both transactional and analytical workloads across distributed environments. Scalar also provides ScalarDL, a tamper-evident data management solution that enhances the authenticity, integrity, and trustworthiness of data.
Co-Founders and representative Directors: Wataru Fukatsu (CEO) and Hiroyuki Yamada (CTO)
Head Office: Room 209, FARO Kagurazaka, 5-1 Fukuromachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0828, Japan
Established: December 2017
Business Activities: Research, development, and provision of database middleware
Website: https://www.scalar-labs.com/

TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING Co., Ltd.

TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING (HQ: 1083 Tsuneishi, Numakuma-cho, Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan) engages in shipbuilding and repairs, and is the anchor company of the TSUNEISHI Group, which conducts business mainly in the shipbuilding industry and maritime transport. With manufacturing bases in Japan (Tsuneishi Factory, the HQ), Philippines, and China, the company builds bulk carriers, container carriers, tankers, etc.
Website：https://www.tsuneishi.co.jp/english/

Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer: OKUMURA Sachio
Business: Shipbuilding and repair
Founded: July 1917
Capital: 100 million yen
Employees: 847 (as of 1 January 2026)

Shipbuilding Business Affiliates:

TSUNEISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES (CEBU), Inc. (Cebu, Philippines)
http://www.thici.com/
TSUNEISHI GROUP (ZHOUSHAN) SHIPBUILDING INC. (Zhejiang, China)
https://www.tsuneishi.co.jp/tzs/english/
TSUNEISHI IRON WORKS Co., Ltd. (Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan)
https://www.tsuneishi.co.jp/iron-w/
TSUNEISHI ENGINEERING Co., Ltd. (Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan)
https://www.tsuneishi.co.jp/engr/
TSUNEISHI MIHO SHIPBUILDING Co., Ltd. (Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan)
https://www.tsuneishi.co.jp/miho/
TSUNEISHI KURE DOCKYARD Co., Ltd. (Kure, Hiroshima, Japan)
https://www.tsuneishi.co.jp/kure/
TSUNEISHI SOLUTIONS TOKYOBAY Co., Ltd. (Minato, Tokyo, Japan)
https://www.tsuneishi.co.jp/tokyobay/english/
TSUNEISHI YURA DOCKYARD Co., Ltd. (Hidaka, Wakayama, Japan)
https://www.tsuneishi.co.jp/yura/english/
TSUNEISHI AKISHIMA LABORATORY Co., Ltd. (Akishima, Tokyo, Japan)
https://www.tsuneishi.co.jp/akishima/english/

For further information, please contact:
Corporate Communications Dept.
TSUNEISHI GROUP CORPORATION
Email: pr@tsuneishi.com