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- Explanation of construction overview at the Obayashi Corporation visitor room set up in the Expo 2050 Osaka, Kansai construction site
Obayashi Corporation holds briefings and construction site tours in order to provide institutional investors and securities analysts with a better understanding of its business performance and operations.
Obayashi held a tour of its West Japan Robotics Center on December 12, 2024, and a construction site tour of the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai site and its Osaka main office tour the following day on December 13, 2024, with 17 institutional investors and securities analysts in attendance.
Tour of West Japan Robotics Center (December 12, 2024)
Obayashi's West Japan Robotics Center operates under a basic policy of utilizing robotics technology to provide technical support and development that helps eliminate machine accidents, expand orders received in the construction businesses, improve productivity, and enhance profitability. The facility manages the operation of company-owned machinery, develops labor-saving solutions by utilizing ICT, IoT, and AI technologies, promotes self-directed health and safety initiatives by providing safety education, and provides planning and deployment support for machine installation.
During the tour, after an explanation of the Center's achievements in developing and operating remote and automated construction machinery, including performing remote construction work at disaster recovery sites following the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake and the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, as well as automated construction work at several dam construction sites across Japan, the participants toured the facility to observe demonstrations of a control system of suspended load on crane, SkyJuster™ (*1) and a facial recognition system Face-Starter™ (*2) , as well as a safety training facility where they were able to experience via simulation workplace accidents such as being caught in machinery and falling from height. The Center is also equipped with an Incubation Stadium, which serves as a development site for remote and automated construction machinery, and here participants observed a demonstration of unmanned, automated excess soil loading operations using construction machinery equipped with SURROGATE™ (*3) technology.
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- Demonstration on SkyJuster® technology in Robotics Center facility
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- Participants observe unmanned automated operation of wheel loader at the Incubation Stadium
Tour of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai Site and Obayashi's Osaka Main Office (December 13, 2024)
Obayashi is currently in charge of several construction projects in the Yumeshima area, the planned site of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, including the Pavilion World (PW) Northeast construction zone of the Expo site where Obayashi serves a general contractor for the entire venue and the zone, as well as the Guest House and the new Yumeshima subway station.
The Grand Roof (Ring), which serves as the symbol of the Expo site, is one of the world's largest wooden structures, with an inner diameter of approximately 615 meters and a circumference of approximately 2 kilometers. This highly anticipated project is the culmination of the Obayashi Group's extensive expertise in the design and construction of wooden structures.
As part of the tour, participants received explanations with models, graphics, and other media on the overview of the project, the construction process and digital transformation (DX) technology used at the construction site in Obayashi visitor's room. Following this, the group toured on foot the new Yumeshima station that is currently under construction, observing the entry/exit gates for workers equipped with a facial recognition entrance system, the pavilions of a range of companies and municipalities, before viewing the entire venue including the pavilions of the various countries from the uppermost walkway of the Grand Roof (Ring).
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- CLT (Cross laminated timber) was used in the visitor room to create structures reminiscent of a large roof ring
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- View of the entire venue from the roof of the visitor room
On December 13, Obayashi also conducted a tour of its Osaka Main Office, which relocated to its current site in 2023. When moving to the new office, the Office Transformation Project Team, comprised of young employees who volunteered to participate, planned the main concept of the office and designed it in-house, incorporating a range of features to bring their concept a reality. The visit showcased Obayashi's unique office design tailored to the needs of a construction company, and included a tour of the office floor, reception area, and cafeteria floor.
Comments from participants surveyed via a questionnaire following the event included, “The explanations and demonstrations provided me with a firsthand understanding of Obayashi's initiatives in remote and automated construction machinery,” and “Visiting the actual construction site and seeing firsthand the on-site capabilities that are ensuring this massive project is completed on time both surprised and impressed me.”
Obayashi will continue striving to foster constructive engagement with our shareholders, investors, and other stakeholders as well as to enhance information disclosure.
*1 SkyJuster™
A control system that prevents a suspended load from rotating due to wind or other factors when hoisting materials with a crane, and enables the load to be rotated in any direction at the intake point without the use of a guy rope
*2 Face-Starter™
A system that prevents construction machinery from being operated by unqualified operators by using facial recognition and visual information of the operator to control startup
*3 SURROGATE™
A remote control system that enables construction machinery to be operated unmanned from a distant location by attaching an apparatus to the control levers or other parts of the equipment