Designing an AI-Centered Organization at a Global Manufacturer

[Engagement Scope] Against the backdrop of labor shortages, rising costs, and declining AI costs, we designed "AI-centered organizational management" to surpass existing productivity-improvement gains.

• Leading-case research and analysis: Identifying growth opportunities driven by technology evolution (generative AI / AI agents, robotics).
• Organizational design: Designing a process in which the origin of work shifts from "humans" to "AI" — a model in which AI proposes and executes, with humans approving and handling exceptions.
• Financial-impact modeling: Simulating reductions in talent-related, warehousing, and marketing costs alongside increased AI-systems investment, and surfacing the resulting shift in mid- to long-term cost structure.

[Challenges]

• Rising labor and organization-maintenance costs anticipated over the mid- to long-term.
• Existing organizational management and routine operational efficiency hit a ceiling on productivity gains.
• Sustaining competitive advantage at the convergence of digital and physical (robotics) domains.

[Results]

• Developed an operational-process transformation plan: We defined the shift from the conventional process in which "humans originate work" to one in which "AI originates work," with humans specializing in approval and bug avoidance.
• Flattened organizational structure: We designed the flattening of the organization through AI's substitution for middle-management functions (information transmission and coordination), along with the delegation of authority to the front line.
• Financial model surfaced: We clarified the specific cost-reduction items (recruitment and training costs, social-insurance expenses, and others) and investment items associated with the transition to AI-centered operations.