JR-West Empowers Employee Innovation with Power Platform and Generative AI

Adopting Power Platform to independently solve business challenges

As a company responsible for social infrastructure, JR-West is taking up the gauntlet against social challenges at a historical juncture while evolving its connection with customers. Under an ambition to evolve connections among people, communities, and societies while moving hearts and transporting the future, the entire group works to generate innovation. The Work Smile Project is an example of these endeavors.

“Everyone’s work environments and behaviors have completely changed since 2020,” says Hiroshi Sakai, Deputy Manager of the JR-West DX Human Resources Development Office, Digital Solution Headquarters. With remote work and the use of smart devices now normalized, the JR-West Group has united to promote new ways of working. “We’ve selected around 1,900 workers across the company, including those working on the frontlines of railway operations, to evangelize the use of digital tools in their facilities and help solve common work challenges. We want to take the extra time generated by this initiative and tie it to a feeling of accomplishment further ahead.”

Power Platform is a critical tool for this job. JR-West rolled out Microsoft 365 from its headquarters to the entire company from late 2021 to July of the following. Preparation and testing of the Power Platform environment began in January 2022, with full use commencing in July to match the Microsoft 365 deployment.

“We chose Power Platform to transform our work sites because it builds on our existing Excel and PowerPoint knowledge and skills. Power Platform also integrates with the full Microsoft product suite, making it a comprehensive tool for our employees,” explains Sakai.

From operational trials onward, JR-West work sites have led the charge in developing many applications. Take for example, “Tachirisu,” which the Hiroshima Civil Engineering Technology Center created.

“This application checks entry points for accessing designated parts of tracks for routine maintenance and disaster recovery work,” explains Keiichi Nakatsukasa, also of the DX Human Resources Development Office. JR-West used to get information from experienced workers and confirm locations from map websites, but broad jurisdictions meant even experienced workers wouldn’t know every location and digital maps didn’t show details around railway tracks, so it was often tricky to anticipate entry risks. “So, we collected maps and photos of these entry points and consolidated them into the app for workers to view.”

This is the impact of Power Platform: even frontline workers can create these kinds of applications, says Nakatsukasa. “Our entire company needs to address issues of labor shortages and knowledge succession. Now, all our sites can work toward solutions like the one developed by the Hiroshima Civil Engineering Technology Center, which represents a major shift. We can also bolster our workers’ IT literacy by having them create apps and use those made by their peers, which is another feather in the cap of Power Platform.”

Other notable benefits of the initiative include the on-site streamlining and greater literacy achieved by the JR-West Kanazawa Branch’s app, which shares lists of faults to look for during inspections of rolling stocks.

“Over 500 employees use Power Platform every day to create apps and automate tasks, and we use over 450 apps daily. Some of our employees are excellent Excel VBA macro makers, but we couldn’t officially endorse them as a company for fear of encouraging individualized work practices. Now, they can play an active role as Power Platform citizen developers,” says Nakatsukasa.

There is also a Microsoft Teams community, which has grown to over 1,300 members, to support these developers. According to Sakai, the principles of reciprocal assistance, teamwork, and continuous sharing results are strengthening the community and making it a place where workers can apply their strengths and personalities while forging connections beyond departments and job titles.

Railway system innovators turn to Power Platform for in-house app development

Departments responsible for railway system innovation are also enthusiastically embracing Power Platform-based internal app development. One such example is MIRAI, in which AI provides station attendants with suggestions to fix ticket machines, automatic ticketing gates, and other machinery based on the cause of the issue and established response methods.

“I participated in a hackathon held by the Microsoft-supported DX Users Group in June 2023,” says Yuto Fujimura of the Business Innovation Unit of the JR-West Railway Systems Office. An application created at this hackathon became the prototype of MIRAI.

“I have experience as a station attendant and in equipment call center operations,” explains Fujimura. “To deal with problems in station machinery, I usually relied on experienced team members and if I didn’t know an immediate fix, I had to contact the call center. With around 46,000 pieces of equipment across 340 different types, station and call center workers can’t acquire the expertise to cover everything. I had always dreamed of a tool that could instantly provide the necessary knowledge to inexperienced personnel.”

To make his dream a reality, Fujimura said, “MIRAI, which provides the expertise to troubleshoot station machinery, uses Azure OpenAI for generative AI and Power Platform for its front end. Going from the planning stage to completing development took under a month.”

“Using AI models with Power Platform is easier than developing from scratch, has lower training costs, and enables a quick in-house PDCA cycle,” says Hiroshi Matsumiya, also from the Railway Digital Transformation Division. The Work Smile Project emphasizes employee-led business innovation, but a model of having development teams create an application for use in the field is also very effective, he explains. “All our employees have accounts, so it’s easy to start with proof-of-concept tests at a few sites, and depending on the results, deploy improved versions over a greater scope, including other sites," says Tatsuhiro Hori, another Railway Systems Office team member.

From December 2023 until the end of the February the following year, JR-West conducted a proof-of-concept test at Kyobashi Station, checking MIRAI’s capabilities to help fix equipment failures at the station. A station attendant who used MIRAI gave the feedback below:

“With MIRAI, we enter simple key words to find an appropriate fix, which is much faster than having to contact the call center as we used to. I hadn’t used AI chat much before, so it was a fresh experience. MIRAI also presents similar situations in addition to answering our questions. Even new employees can initiate responses to failures instantly.”

According to Stationmaster Ikuta of Kyobashi Station, “It feels like a bit of a shame to use such a great tool just to fix station machinery. It will undoubtedly help our employees improve their skills. Station attendants are essentially hospitality workers, so it would be great if we could also include that knowledge in the future.”

During the proof-of-concept period, calls from Kyobashi Station to the call center dropped by about 20 percent. In a survey of station attendants, 70 percent of respondents said they wanted to continue using the app.

“We’ve created a model in which we can search and share our collective internal knowledge with generative AI through MIRAI. It will undoubtedly be valuable in other areas of our business,” says Matsumiya. “Even though we had accumulated a huge amount of data, we hadn’t put it to much use. This model perfectly fits our company style because we can implement prototypes in two or three days. Also, it fits our style since all employees can make apps by themselves, and use apps made by colleagues as well.”

Work style innovation with generative AI, moving away from relying on precedents

MIRAI was JR-West’s first step toward innovating railway systems with generative AI, and further initiatives are underway. In October 2023, the enterprise issued a press release titled “Innovating Work Styles with Generative AI” while encouraging ideas from various departments with the Generative AI Idea Competition and an AI ideathon. Proof-of-concept tests are already underway for some of these ideas, three of which are described below.

- AI-based risk identification
An app for JR Electrical Engineering Department construction work briefings to support examination of specific risks by identifying risks from past cases.

- “Izumu Isami”
A work safety management application that uses accident, incidents and countermeasures stored in the ISSM safety information system to quickly and comprehensively identify accident information from similar situations.

- “TRAIN”, a learning management system partner
An AI chatbot providing users advice on training, career development, and goal setting.

“Combining generative AI and Power Platform has made it easier to use internal data that we’ve never fully applied,” explains Nakatsukasa. The ability to pick the best tool from Microsoft’s extensive service lineup was another huge draw for JR-West. For example, “TRAIN” leverages Microsoft Copilot Studio and Microsoft Dataverse, which will be incorporated in Microsoft Teams in the future. These features will be a catalyst for employees to innovate their own work, he says.

According to Hori, “Railway companies have always relied on past experiences, but digital tools are pushing them toward corporate cultures that encourage new actions. We’re still in the transition phase, but we’re likely to have completely transformed in five to 10 years. “Power Platform and Microsoft Generative AI give us the power to implement bottom-up or top-down initiatives, and we expect these tools to move us from self-reliance toward co-creation.”

“Microsoft has enthusiastically supported our activities to date,” adds Sakai. “We’ll continue to use Microsoft's Generative AI and Power Platform to create transformational workplace applications. We’re looking forward to a continued partnership with Microsoft to drive change together.”