Tokyo — June 16, 2022 — Asteria Corporation (Japan listed, Security Code: 3853) announced today that an Ibaraki branch office of telecom company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corp. (hereafter NTT East) introduced no-code* mobile app building tool Platio and created an app designed to report construction status and share engineer knowledge. The app has improved the efficiency of these processes, saving 1,000 man-hours a year spent on them.
Background and Effects
A worker reports construction status at the site using a smartphone
An Ibaraki branch office of NTT East provides network services and handles the construction, management and maintenance of telecom facilities; it supports Japan’s communications infrastructure. During the routine on-site witness for excavation work, it is essential to inform the construction contractor of the precise location of buried pipelines in which electric wires and optical cables are installed to prevent unforeseen accidents, such as interference with electric wires.
However, at sites where various construction projects including road expansions have been conducted, the location of buried pipelines sometimes differs from that shown on the drawings. In such cases, it is important for skilled engineers to determine the location of the pipelines based on their experience, but the aging of engineers has made it imperative to pass on their skills to the next generation.
The conventional method of skill transfer was mainly verbal communication, with less experienced workers taking notes of knowledge of veteran engineers in PowerPoint after returning to their office. In order to increase efficiency of this process, consideration was given to the possible introduction of an app that will enable recording on site or an easy-to-use tool that will enable information sharing among engineers.
After careful consideration, the Ibaraki branch introduced Platio as a tool for sharing the experience and know-how of its skilled engineers, which allows users to easily create an apps tailored to the needs of workers in the frontline for a monthly fee of 20,000 yen with no initial fee required. Employees of the Facilities Department, who have no programming experience, produced a unique “Engineer Knowledge Sharing App” in just two days, and began using it in December 2021.
[The Overview of an “Engineer Knowledge Sharing App”]
The app can be used to report construction status and check the records.
-Record and share points to keep in mind while working at the construction site by skilled engineers
-Enhanced accuracy of information with GPS data and attached images
-Find previous records on an app by searching locations on the map
Using this app, skilled engineers can record their knowledge and points to keep in mind while working on site with a smartphone. The accumulation of their useful know-how, combined with images and comments, can be instantly shared on an app with other engineers. The registered record is also linked to GPS data, making it reliable and high-quality information. In this manner, Platio has realized the digital transformation of skill transfer. Additionally, even when the actual road conditions differ from those shown on the drawings, Platio not only helps engineers enhance their ability to respond to irregular situations at the site, but also strengthens the training of younger engineers.
The application of the Engineer Knowledge Sharing App is not limited to the transfer of technical skills; it can also be used to complete reports on construction status from the site. Before the introduction of Platio, workers would record necessary information in PowerPoint on a computer, but now they can complete this process only by inputting information on a smartphone, saving 1,000 man-hours a year.
Staff members at the Ibaraki office plan to revamp the app to enable comprehensive checking of instructions given at a construction site, work manuals, drawings, construction records and other related information combined with the map data.
A message from Ibaraki branch office of NTT East
We adopted Platio to advance the digital transformation of on-site operation that will lead to create new values by utilizing data.
Platio is much easier to use than we imagined, and customer support is so helpful that we think that we can expand the scope of its application.
Although app development sounded hard to us, but we were able to create the app in two days. It was really quick and convenient. The Kaizen video using Platio was highly evaluated within the company and we received an internal award. By utilizing the accumulated know-how and data, we believe that even young employees can quickly adapt to worksites.
Osamu Sasaki,
DX Promotion Advisor and Manager of the Public Relations Department and Facilities Department at the Ibaraki branch
Shoji Hatanaka,
the Mito service center, the Facilities Department at the Ibaraki branch
Business Plan
Platio has been highly evaluated for its ability to create and deploy business apps unique to individual companies without coding in just three days, and adopted by companies and organizations in diverse industries. The product has also helped expedite DX at worksites through the digitalization of on-site operations and streamlined work processes. As a result, sales almost tripled in FY2020, compared with the previous year, and this trend continues into the current fiscal year. The aim is to achieve 500 downloads by the end of FY2022.
*A mechanism which allows creation of software and apps without writing a single line of code. Platio users can deploy necessary functions and modify app’s specifications to make it more serviceable at worksites, even if they do not have expertise in a programming language.
About NTT East Corp.
NTT East offers telecommunications services and related services in eastern Japan.
For more information about NTT East, visit www.ntt-east.co.jp/en/
About Asteria Corporation
Asteria Corporation develops and sells software and services which connect a variety of in-house computers and devices. Its key product, ASTERIA Warp, is data integration middleware has used in nearly 9,664 companies*, mainly large and medium ones. Another product, Handbook, allows users to carry around materials used for sales activities and meetings as well as product catalogues in electronic files on smartphones and tablets. A total of 1,647 companies* and public institutions had adopted the product. (*Numbers are as of the end of March 2022)
For more information about Asteria, visit www.asteria.com/jp/en/
About Platio
Platio is a cloud service which allows users to easily create and use mobile apps that fit specific tasks without coding. By capitalizing on apps which are optimized for each task, Platio promotes digitalization at worksites and improves efficiency of manual processes. Apps created with Platio can be distributed immediately for use at worksites. Data that users entered into an app is stored in the cloud and will be shared real time the up-to-date status of worksites with managers. Apps also can automatically detect changes in entered data and send an alert to managers so that they can quickly respond to anomalies. Apps for businesses tend to be complex and expensive. As an easy app building solution, Platio won Good Design Award for fiscal 2018.
For more information about Platio, visit plat.io/en/home
For the press enquiries, please contact Masumi Koizumi of Asteria’s PR and IR department.
TEL: +81-3-5718-1297 / Mobile: +81-80-7716-9841 (Koizumi) / E-mail: press@asteria.com
For product enquiries, please contact the Marketing Division.
E-mail: platio-pm@asteria.com
Asteria, Handbook and Platio are registered trademarks of Asteria Corporation.
The names of products are registered or unregistered trademarks of individual companies.
