FreightCar America is an innovative leader in freight car manufacturing, designing and producing steel, stainless steel, aluminum, and hybrid railcars that transport bulk commodities and containerized freight across North America. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the company has built a strong reputation for engineering excellence and customized railcar solutions that meet the evolving needs of the transportation industry.
Business Challenges
FreightCar America’s IT team was under increasing pressure from routine Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) support requests across multiple locations. Employees frequently required assistance with common EBS activities and functionality, creating a growing backlog of tickets and diverting IT resources away from strategic initiatives.
The existing employee portal lacked automated support capabilities, forcing users to rely on manual processes or wait for IT response times. As a result, productivity suffered, and frustration grew among both end users and the support team.
At the same time, FreightCar wanted to step into the world of AI, but not for experimentation alone. The organization sought a practical, ROI-driven use case that could deliver immediate value while establishing a foundation for future AI innovation.
Approach
Peloton Consulting Group designed and implemented an AI-powered chatbot solution that seamlessly integrates OpenAI’s large language model capabilities with Oracle’s technology stack.
The solution leveraged:
- OpenAI Generative AI for conversational intelligence
- Oracle APEX to deploy the chatbot interface within FreightCar’s internal homepage
- Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse (ADW) to track usage analytics and continuously improve performance
- Integration with Oracle E-Business Suite to ensure contextual, accurate responses
Following structured discovery sessions to identify common EBS pain points, the team developed a streamlined question-and-answer framework with session-based memory to maintain conversational context. The chatbot was deployed with bilingual functionality and made accessible directly within FreightCar’s internal portal, providing users with intuitive, real-time assistance.
Behind the scenes, comprehensive tracking through Oracle ADW captures usage statistics and frequently queried topics, enabling continuous optimization and insight-driven refinement.
Business Impact
The impact was immediate and measurable. Routine IT tickets related to Oracle EBS decreased significantly, freeing technical staff to focus on higher-value strategic initiatives. Employees now receive instant, 24/7 assistance for EBS-related questions in their preferred language, eliminating wait times and accelerating productivity.
The analytics generated through Oracle ADW provide visibility into recurring support themes, allowing FreightCar to proactively enhance training materials, documentation, and system guidance. User satisfaction improved markedly, particularly around response times and the simplicity of interaction.
Beyond operational efficiency, this initiative established a scalable AI foundation and positioned FreightCar to expand generative AI use cases across the enterprise.
Summary
FreightCar America transformed a routine support challenge into a strategic AI opportunity. By integrating OpenAI’s generative capabilities with Oracle APEX and Autonomous Data Warehouse, Peloton delivered an intelligent support solution that bridges the gap between workforce needs and critical enterprise systems.
The result is a smarter, faster, and more scalable support model. This new model reduces IT burden, enhances employee experience, and lays the groundwork for continued AI-driven innovation across the organization.
