Company Introduction

Hokusho Co., Ltd., headquartered in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, is a 73-year-old company engaged in manufacturing, primarily focused on logistics transport systems. The company's flagship product, the "vertical conveyor," has earned high praise as a piece of equipment that automatically transports goods across floors in logistics centers and factories. The company also combines conveyors and a wide variety of peripheral equipment to provide optimal logistics solutions for each and every customer. Its 350 employees work together to build an efficient and safe logistics environment.

Issues before introducing generative AI

"AI is a hot topic, but I have absolutely no idea how to use it in my work." This was the vague sense of the problem we faced before implementing it. There was no clear problem, such as "I want to use AI because I'm having trouble with this," and we often heard people say, "I don't know how to use it in my work." Furthermore, because differences in work between departments were not shared, it was difficult to get hints or ideas from within the company about how to use AI.

Benefits of using generative AI

Through the training, I was able to clearly see what generative AI can do and how it can be used. The video learning was short and divided into sections, making it very easy to watch, and it was easy to find time to study between work. I sometimes set aside a block of time to watch the videos all at once, but in any case, I was able to progress without any difficulty.

What particularly impressed me was how the basic knowledge of generative AI was repeated many times in the video. The same expressions appeared repeatedly, and it naturally dawned on me that "this is an important point." I believe that this kind of knowledge should not be kept to myself, but should be shared thoroughly within my department and the entire company.

In my work, I use generative AI, especially when creating Excel functions and macros. In the past, even if I wrote an Excel macro or function, I would forget it over time, which meant having to check the manual and rewrite it every time, which was a hassle. However, now, with just a few simple instructions to the AI, the code is generated in a matter of seconds. This is not limited to Excel macros, but also when creating RPA using Microsoft Power Automate, where I can have the AI generate the base code and then customize it to suit my own work.

This expansion of AI use has not only led to increased efficiency, but has also given me the opportunity to wonder, "How are other people using it?" During the workshop held during the training, there was time to hear about how people in other departments use AI for their work, and I was surprised to learn that there were other ways to use it, which sparked a flurry of ideas for applying it to my own work.It wasn't just about learning the tools, it also helped promote communication and understanding within the company.I feel that way.

Future outlook

In the future, I would like to share my knowledge with other employees rather than just using it myself. Perhaps someone else will discover a way to use it that I hadn't noticed before. I would like to increasingly delegate tasks that can be entrusted to AI, so that I can devote more time to the judgments and design work that only humans can do.

The accounting department is considering using a chatbot to respond to inquiries about the company's expense settlement system. By introducing a system that can automatically answer frequently asked questions, the department believes it will be able to reduce the burden of responding to inquiries and make them more convenient for employees.

Also, I have the impression that only a few people are using generative AI at the moment, so I would like to create an environment where the entire department has the correct knowledge about generative AI and can use it with confidence. I feel that the key to company-wide use is to create an atmosphere where people can casually talk about how they tried using it.