Special Issue

Technologies supporting the achievement of Furukawa Electric Group
Medium-term Management Plan 2022 - 2025
Contribution to the achievement of SDGs
by Furukawa Electric Group

Digital Transformation of Infrastructure Maintenance Provided
by FURUKAWA ELECTRIC
Takashi Kawate*, Tetsuya Kon*, Akira Tachibana*

The Social Design and New Business Development is an organization whose
mission is to create new businesses that solve social issues in order to realize
the “Furukawa Electric Group Vision 2030”. Specifically, the organization is working to create
new businesses in segments such as social infrastructure maintenance and management DX,
life science, and space by 2030. This paper introduces the Maintenance/Inspection Support
Solution for Small-scale Infrastructures, which realizes the digital transformation (DX) ofmaintenance and management of small-scale infrastructures, a major initiative in the current DX
segment of the social infrastructure maintenance management, and also introduces future
developments in the social infrastructure maintenance management segment.

ABSTRACT1.

INTRODUCTION

The Social Design and New Business Development(SDNBD) was established in 2021 with the goal of creating new businesses that contribute to solving social
issues and creating new businesses in fusion fields inorder to achieve the “Furukawa Electric Group Vision2030”. The SDNBD is characterized by its ability to create
new businesses by quickly changing direction in the right
direction based on the Voice of Customer (VOC), using
design thinking and lean startup methods, rather thanbeing overly concerned with its own technologies.
Currently, the SDNBD is focusing on the social infrastructure maintenance DX, life science, space, and other business segments.
In the social infrastructure maintenance and management DX segment introduced in this paper, we aim todevelop new DX businesses through technological innovations for the maintenance and the management ofsocial infrastructures, which are facing many issues, andto grow them into businesses. At present, we are mainly
working on DX for the maintenance and the managementof small-scale infrastructures and facilities along railroad
lines, and DX for the disaster prevention and its mitigation. In this paper, we introduce the Maintenance/
Inspection Support Solution for Small-scale Infrastructures
as a case study, keep in mind that the main customers
are municipalities that manage small-scale infrastructures*Business Innovation Design,
Social Design & New Business Development,
Global Marketing Sales Divisionand construction consultants who are contracted bymunicipalities to perform inspections, which are completely new to Furukawa Electric. In addition, the technology required was not our own, and it was a challenging
work, but we have received more than 50 orders to date,and it can be said that we have taken a steady first step
toward our goal of creating new businesses.

2.
2

WHAT IS THE MAINTENANCE/INSPECTIONSUPPORT SOLUTION FOR SMALL-SCALEINFRASTRUCTURES?

Before moving on to the introduction of the Maintenance/
Inspection Support Solution for Small-scale Infrastructures,
we will first explain the environment and issues surrounding small-scale infrastructures. Small-scale infrastructures
are mainly consisting of roadside structures such as roadsigns and road lighting, and are administrated by municipalities and prefectural public safety commissions.
Infrastructure maintenance and its management may givea strong illustration of the maintenance required for theroad structures such as bridges and tunnels, but smallscale infrastructures are also required to make efforts toconduct an interim inspection once every five years and adetailed inspection once every 10 years, and periodical
inspections are conducted by construction consultantscommissioned by the administrators. However, the number of such lists is large, and it is known that there aremany cases in which the lists themselves do not exist, oreven if they do exist, they deviate from the actual situation. Furthermore, in inspecting all of them, the inspection
method, timing, and diagnosis often differ depending on
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39Digital Transformation of Infrastructure Maintenance Provided by FURUKAWA ELECTRIC

Maintenancebase

Inspection chart
preparing service
Justdrive!

1) Dashboardcamera

2) Video analysis

3) Database/Inspection chat
TypeLocation
MapPictureetc.

Updatedatabase

Inspection
support system
5) On-site inspection

Detailed
inspection

Patrol support
systemUpdatedatabase

Extract
short video

Regularpatrol

4) Off-site inspection

Paperless!

Carefuljudge!

Nooversight

ScreenFigure 1

New maintenance cycle realized by the Maintenance/Inspection Support Solution for Small-scale Infrastructures.

the characteristics of the route, the influence of automobile traffic, and the installation environment, making it difficult to conduct inspections using a standard method. In
other words, many municipalities are caught in dilemmas
such as “It is difficult to make plans without knowing allbuildings and locations.”, “In addition, budgets cannot besecured because of the large costs involved.” and “Dueto a number of issues such as the inability to standardize
inspection methods, the issues end up to be left alone.”
In response to the above situation, believing that themethod of screening only small-scale infrastructures thatshould be inspected in details and implementing a management inspection plan in a rational manner should beadopted, instead of the two options of conducting adetailed inspection of the entire numbers or not at all, we
have developed a new method to realize a new maintenance cycle for a vast number of small-scale infrastructures by utilizing our original Robotic Process Automation(RPA) technology (Figure 1).

3.
3

3.1

Creation of Databases and Inspection Sheets
Using the Inspection Chart Preparing ServiceAt first, it is necessary to identify small-scale infrastructures to be managed and inspected, and to create a database. In contrast to the conventional human tactic method, we have developed a method to acquire digital dataof panoramic views and location information of smallscale infrastructures using our original RPA technology
from data acquired by a dashboard camera equipped ona patrol vehicle or other means traveling on the target
road (Figure 2). This allows the administrator to complete
the database simply by driving on the road with a vehicle

THE MAINTENANCE/INSPECTIONSUPPORT SOLUTION FOR SMALL-SCALEINFRASTRUCTURES SERVICES

In order to realize the maintenance cycle shown in Figure 1,the Maintenance/Inspection Support Solution for Smallscale Infrastructures provides the services required foreach maintenance phase.

Figure 2

List file and a panoramic photo of the small-scale
infrastructures created by RPA.

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Digital Transformation of Infrastructure Maintenance Provided by FURUKAWA ELECTRIC

Step 1

Road administrator
Just drive a patrol vehicle equippedwith a dashboard cameraon the road to be inspected

Step 2

Furukawa Electric
Reconciliation with the database
LAT, LONRoad
infrastructures

Location
information
Panoramicphoto

Driving videos
and the database
informationRoad
infrastructures

Roadinfrastructures

DXDigital
patrolling data

Step 3Carefully patrolin the office
Figure 3

Extract only
desired videos

ordwhiledriv

ing

Extract only video informationnear road infrastructures

Flow of the Patrol Support System.

equipped with a dashboard camera, which significantly
reduces costs and man-hours.
In addition, the system automatically creates an inspection list for each small-scale infrastructure in accordancewith the inspection guidelines of the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and creates andprovides a digital management database that includes
the above location and photographical information. Thisis what we identify as the Inspection Chart Preparing
Service.
3.2 Patrol Inspection and Screening Using thePatrol Support System
With a correct situation of the small-scale infrastructuresthat need to be managed, it is necessary to periodicallycheck for damages, in other words, conduct inspections
and repairs. Here, too, we are providing a patrol support
service that utilizes data from a dashboard camera.
Based on the location information of small-scale infrastructures extracted using the Inspection Chart Preparing
Service, short video data showing small-scale infrastructures are extracted from the video taken by the dashboard camera (Figure 3).
By linking the extracted videos to the database createdby the Inspection Chart Preparing Service and readingthem with dedicated software (Figure 4), it is possible toconduct patrol inspections without visiting the site.

Figure 4

Rec…

In the patrol inspection with a car, since driving is necessary in areas where there are no small-scale infrastructures, it is not efficient and sometimes oversights mayoccur. However, using the Patrol Support System, it ispossible to see videos of only the areas around smallscale infrastructures, and it is more efficient and also prevents oversights. Furthermore, by comparing videos
extracted from the data obtained from the dashboard
camera at different dates and times, it is possible to easily capture the deterioration over time.
What is important here is that the Patrol Support
System allows a rough assessment of damages in a shortperiod of time and without having to visit the site. If theinspection interval becomes long, the damage may progress to the point where rebuilding is necessary, and thecost of repairs will be high, but if the damage can beidentified at a less severe stage, the cost of repair can be
kept low. In addition, by identifying the level of damage inthe preliminary stage of a comprehensive on-site inspection, it is possible to select small-scale infrastructuresthat should be inspected on a priority basis and to develop an efficient inspection plan. This is made possible with
only the Patrol Support System, which can collect data
simply by driving with a dashboard camera and efficiently
extracting the necessary data using RPA, and can beconsidered the key element of the new maintenancecycle we are proposing.
3.3 Detailed On-site Inspection Support Using theInspection Support System
The small-scale infrastructures that are judged as“detailed inspection required” using the Patrol Support
System should be inspected in details at the site. In thedetailed inspection, such as loose bolts, cracks, ... etc,
are checked, and the results are recorded in an inspection sheet. However, the editing process is very complicated. It requires to enter the information written on paper
at the site on a PC, or transferring photos taken with a

Example of the dedicated software display.

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Digital Transformation of Infrastructure Maintenance Provided by FURUKAWA ELECTRIC

digital camera to a PC and posting them on the inspection sheet when coming back to the office. In order toreduce the burden of such works, we have developed anapplication called the Inspection Support System. The
user brings a tablet with this application installed to theinspection site. The digital inspection sheet created by
the Inspection Chart Preparing Service can be read andthe inspection results can be directly input (Figure 5).

Figure 5

State of inputting inspection results in the Inspection
Support System.

In addition, since the system is equipped with a function that automatically assigns the photos taken to eachpart of the equipment, the need for conventional photoorganization is eliminated (Figure 6).

4.
4Since its release about three years ago, more than 50
municipalities and construction consultants have used
the Maintenance/Inspection Support Solution for Smallscale Infrastructures.
Municipalities such as Utsunomiya City and others areusing the Inspection Chart Preparing Service to create
databases, and have confirmed that it has significantlyreduced work time by a factor of 10 compared to theconventional method. In addition, an increasing numberof construction consultants are using the Inspection
Chart Preparing Service to perform field inspections (e.g.,preparation of field notebooks, confirmation of smallscale infrastructures, etc.) prior to detailed on-site inspections, as a result expanding the scope of use beyond
database preparation.
Furthermore, in collaboration with a construction consultant, we have started an initiative to realize a newmaintenance cycle (preventive maintenance), which is thegoal of the Maintenance/Inspection Support Solution for
Small-scale Infrastructures. The Inspection Chart
Preparing Service is used to maintain a database ofsmall-scale infrastructures managed by the target municipality, and then the Patrol Support System is used to perform patrol and screening. Based on the results, on-site
inspections and individual facility plans will be developed.
Starting from this plan, we will aim to operate preventive
maintenance using the Patrol Support System.

5.
5

Figure 6

Function of automatically organizing photos in theInspection Support System.

This application is mainly used by construction consultants who are contracted by administrators to perform
inspections, and it contributes greatly to the efficiency ofthe inspection work.

HISTORICAL RESULTS OF THE
MAINTENANCE/INSPECTION SUPPORTSOLUTION FOR SMALL-SCALEINFRASTRUCTURES

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALINFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE DX

We have mainly introduced the Maintenance/Inspection
Support Solution for Small-scale Infrastructures up to thispoint, but now we will introduce other cases of social
infrastructure maintenance and management DX services
that are being developed, such as the Maintenance/
Inspection Support Solution for Lineside Facilities, which
is an extension of the Maintenance/Inspection Support
Solution for Small-scale Infrastructures to the maintenance and management solution for facilities along railroad lines, bridge inspection support services, etc.
The Maintenance/Inspection Support Solution forLineside Facilities utilizes the technology developed for
the Maintenance/Inspection Support Solution for Smallscale Infrastructures and is being developed into a service that supports the maintenance of facilities along railroad lines, such as railroad poles and signals (Figure 7).
The main services will include the creation and updatingof a database of facilities along the railroad line and thesupport for patrols and inspections, and are scheduled tobe launched as early as the fiscal year 2023. In addition,
we are considering the development of a function to meaFurukawa Electric Review, No. 54 2023

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sure building limits and separation distances between
facilities, as well as a function to automatically extractchanges in condition, as needed unique to railroads.

Figure 766.

CONCLUSION

In this paper, we introduced the activities of the SDNBD
to create new businesses in the social infrastructuremaintenance and management DX segment. In the future,
we will further increase the number of municipalities that
introduce new maintenance cycles using the Maintenance/Inspection Support Solution for Small-scale Infrastructures,
solve social issues related to small-scale infrastructures,and expand the market. We will also continue to develop
the market for the Maintenance/Inspection Support
Solution for Lineside Facilities, the bridge inspection support, etc., and contribute to the realization of the“Furukawa Electric Group Vision 2030”.

State of facility patrol inspection along the linesideusing the Maintenance/Inspection Support Solutionfor Lineside Facilities.

In addition, DX for the maintenance and managementof bridges, which are road structures, is also a large market, and in light of the recent circumstances, we believethat there is ample room for market development throughunique solutions utilizing the Maintenance/Inspection
Support Solution for Small-scale Infrastructures technology. We will capture the jobs of construction consultants
involved in bridge inspections through design thinking
and aim to provide truly needed services as soon as possible.

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