Table Of Contenttqm cover (i).qxd 24/06/2008 13:19 Page 1
ISSN 1754-2731
Volume 20Number 4 2008
Celebrating 20 years1989-2008
The TQM Journal
The international review of
organizational improvement
formerly The TQM Magazine
Kansei/affective engineering
design
Guest Editor: Professor Jens J. Dahlgaard
www.emeraldinsight.com
The TQM Journal ISSN 1754-2731
Volume 20
Number 4
2008
Kansei/affective engineering design
Guest Editor
Professor Jens J. Dahlgaard
Access this journal online_________________________ 283
CONTENTS
Editorial advisory board __________________________ 284
Guest editorial ___________________________________ 285
Perspectives and the new trend of Kansei/affective
engineering
Mitsuo Nagamachi_____________________________________________ 290
Kansei/affective engineering design: a methodology
for profound affection and attractive quality
creation
Jens J. Dahlgaard,Simon Schu¨tte, Ebru Ayas and
SuMi Dahlgaard-Park__________________________________________ 299
Customer experience management: influencing on
human Kansei to management of technology
Shin’yaNagasawa _____________________________________________ 312
Kansei engineering approach for total quality design
and continuous innovation
AntonioLanzottiand PietroTarantino_____________________________ 324
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TQM EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
20,4
Dr AyedAl-Amri Professor Bengt Klefsjo
Saudi Arabian QualityCouncil (SAQC), Lulea˚ University ofTechnology, Sweden
Saudi Arabia Dr GraemeKnowles
Professor Jiju Antony WarwickManufacturingGroup,Universityof
University ofStrathclyde, UK Warwick,USA
284 Professor Tony Bendell Professor Yoshio Kondo
Managing Director ofServices Ltd and Kyoto University, Japan
Visiting Professor atMiddlesex University Professor Rodney McAdam
Business School, UK Ulster Business School,Northern Ireland
Marcos Bertin Professor Christian N.Madu
President ofInternational Academy for Pace University, USA
Quality
Dr Robin Mann
Shirley Y.Coleman Director ofCentrefor Organisational
Newcastle University, UK Excellence Research (COER), NewZealand
Dr TitoConti Dr Eitan Naveh
PlusGroup, Italy Israel Institute ofTechnology, Israel
Professor JensJ.Dahlgaard Professor JohnOakland
Linko¨ping University, Sweden Oakland Consulting plc, UK
Professor SuMi Park Dahlgaard Dr FernandoF. Padro
LundUniversity, Sweden Monmouth University, USA
Professor Barrie Dale Dr HubertK.Rampersad
Manchester Business School, UK President, TPS International Inc.,
Professor JohnDalrymple Florida, USA
RMIT, Australia
Professor Zien-Yusuf Rushami
Dr JohnDavies Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia
Salford University, UK Dr Bishnu Sharma
Professor Kostas Dervitsiotis University ofthe Sunshine Coast, Australia
University ofPiraeus, Greece
Professor AmrikSohal
Professor T.N.Goh Monash University, Australia
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Dr Charles Tennant
Dr H.James Harrington University ofWarwick, UK
James Harrington Institute, USA
Dr ManuVora
Dr Philippe Hermel Business Excellence Inc.,ASQ, USA
University ofVersailles-St Quentin en
Dr DiWaddell
Yvelines,France Deakin University, Australia
Professor Sam Ho Professor AdrianWilkinson
Hang SengSchool ofCommerce, Hong Kong GriffithBusiness School, Australia
Dr YasarJarrar Dr Shirley M.C.Yeung
TheExecutive Office,Government ofDubai, AsiaInternational Open University, Macau,
Dubai China
Dr Stanislav Karapetrovic Professor Klaus Zink
University ofAlberta, Canada University ofKaiserslautern, Germany
Professor Robert Karaszewski
University ofNicholas Copernicus, Poland
TheTQMJournal
Vol.20No.4,2008
p.284
#EmeraldGroupPublishingLimited
1754-2731
Guest editorial Guest editorial
The First European Conferenceon Kansei Engineering
The papers selected for this special issue were all except one presented at the 10th
International Conference on Quality Management and Organisational Development 285
(QMOD), which took place at Lund University, Campus Helsingborg, Sweden, 18-20
June,2007.Forfurtherinformationseewww.ch.lu.se/qmod.Morethan200participants
from 38 countries presented about 160 high quality papers at the QMOD conference,
making ita success and marking amilestonein theQMOD history.
As the QMOD conference celebrated its ten years jubilee in 2007 we felt that this
was the right time to officially introduce the research field of Kansei engineering to
QMOD participants by organising the first European Conference on Kansei
Engineering integrated into the QMOD conference and in this way contributing to
the spread of knowledge about the Kansei engineering methodology and tools to a
wideraudience.Theintegratedconference – theFirstEuropeanConferenceonKansei
Engineering – which was run as one of five main parallel session tracks became a
great success. Intotal, 32papers were presented.
What was interesting to observe was that the Kansei sessions were very popular
andwehadtochangetheplannedsessionroomssothattheKanseisessionscouldtake
placeinoneofthebiggestauditoriums.ManyQMODparticipantswerecuriousabout
Kanseiengineeringandwantedtoknowmoreaboutthesubject.Asaconsequenceof
this great interest among the participants The TQM Journal decided to publish a
special issue on Kansei/affective engineering design in 2008 (issue 4). This is the
background of this special edition which I have worked on during several months,
together with the authors of the selectedpapers.
Theselectionbasewasthe32Kanseipaperspresented – groupedinto14European
papers, 14 Japanese papers and four other papers (Taiwan, Australia, Malaysia, and
Mexico). One general observation from the conference was that delegates from both
academia and business emphasized the need for more Kansei research and also for
spreading the applications to new areas. Another observation was that Kansei
engineeringisinfactwideningitsapplicationareasfromtraditionalproductdesignto
servicedesignareas.ApplyingKanseiengineeringwithinthesenewapplicationareas
requiresstrongcollaborationfromdifferentresearchdisciplinesrangingfromsocialto
engineering sciences.
Kansei engineering toolkits to evaluate and analyze Kansei data are under
development by several research groups in Europe, as well as Japan/Asia. Such
toolkitswereregardedashavingthepowertoattractmoreinterestfromcompaniesto
implement Kansei engineering in thenear future.
The selectedpapers
It is natural in this pioneering special issue of The TQM Journal first to present the
paper“PerspectivesandthenewtrendofKansei/affectiveengineering”writtenbythe
pioneerandfounder of Kansei engineering, Mitsuo Nagamachi, Japan. TheTQMJournal
Vol.20No.4,2008
Nagamachi declares that Kansei engineering (KE) aims to develop products that pp.285-289
qEmeraldGroupPublishingLimited
people want to have deeply in their mind. The term kansei is a Japanese word and
1754-2731
TQM implies psychological feeling and needs in mind. Before purchasing a passenger car,
20,4 for example, one may have images in mind of “a powerful engine”, “easy operation”,
“beautifulandpremiumexterior”,“coolandrelaxedinterior”andsoon.Thesewords
express the kansei, and the consumers really want to have such a vehicle if the
manufacturersucceedsinrealizingavehiclefittingtotheirimaginations.Nagamachi
claims however that we have not ever had such a science and technology which can
286 treatpsychologicalfeelingsandneeds(kansei)technologically,butKanseiengineering
isabletograsptheconsumers’kanseionapsychologicalbasis,toanalyzethekansei
usingstatisticalmethods,andtotransfertheanalyzeddataintothedesigndomain.In
his article Nagamachi presents and discusses the different KE methods and shows
variousproducts which have been developed by using Kansei engineering.
The second paper in the selection, “Kansei/affective engineering design – a
methodology for profound affection and attractive quality creation”, is written by
ProfessorJensJ.Dahlgaardetal.(membersfromtheKEResearchgroupatLinko¨ping
University, Sweden). The authors present a model of the KE methodology and
illustratehowthismodelwasappliedonasimpleexamplewhichallmayunderstand–
design of anew chocolate bar.
At the end of the article the authors present and discuss the future of KE. The
authorshaveobservedthatpeopletodaycaremoreandmoreaboutwhetherproducts
and services match and appeal to their feelings, emotions, personal life styles,
identities,andevenmoral/ethicalpreferences.Themostattractiveproducts/servicesof
tomorrow will in the authors’ view be designed to satisfy all dimensions of human
needs – manifestaswellaslatentneeds.Tobesuccessfulcompanieshavetoattaina
profoundunderstandingofthecomplexityofdifferenthumanneedsandthepowerof
satisfyingtheseneeds.Hence,theresearchfoundationofaffective/Kanseiengineering
shouldintheauthors’viewaimatunderstandingandbalancingthesatisfactionofthe
“Trinityof Human Needs” (Dahlgaard-Park, 2003):
(1) physical orbiological needs;
(2) mental/psychological needs (embracing emotional, intellectual, social and
aesthetic needs); and
(3) spiritual orethical needs.
Byunderstandingthe“TrinityofHumanNeeds”andbymakingeffortstobuildthese
complex human needs into new products and services Kansei/affective engineering
researchers will definitely be able to contribute with quite new research applications
which may increase people’s quality of life. By working more explicitly with the
“TrinityofHumanNeeds”,affective/Kanseiengineeringmayalsobeabletogiveclear
input to understanding and developing a company’s image and product branding
which match better to the increased awareness and demands of sustainability. This
should in the authors’ view be one of the core applications of “New Kansei/affective
engineering”.
Theauthorsthensuggestastructuralmodelasapossibleexpandedframeworkfor
futureKansei/affectiveengineeringresearchstudies.Accordingtothemodelprofound
affectionis a result of the followingsix enabler factors:
(1) Sensingexperience;
(2) emotional experiences(kansei);
(3) behavioural experiences/action; Guest editorial
(4) socialexperiences/interactions& relations;
(5) spiritual experiences/moral, ethics; and
(6) intellectual experiences/cognition.
The authors define “Profound Affection” as a very comprehensive state, which is a 287
resultofacombinationofsensing,intellectual/cognitive,emotional,social,behavioural
and spiritual experiences. “Profound Affection” is not only a result of sensing or
emotional experiences.
Because the Japanese terminology Kansei gives associations of sensing and
emotionalaspectsonlyanddoesnotembraceotheressentialaspectssuchasspiritual,
intellectual, social aspect the authors suggest adopting the terminology of affective
engineering design, instead of Kansei engineering, when the research aims at
understandingthe broader scope of “Profound Affection”.
Thenextarticle,“Customerexperiencemanagement – influencingonhumankansei
to management of technology”, is written by Professor Shin’ya Nagasawa, Waseda
BusinessSchool,Japan.Inhisarticle,Nagasawapresentsanddiscussestheconceptof
customer experience, which has been effectively used as a concrete theory to
organically combine people’s kansei or feeling and psychology into the making of
products.Furthermore,theconceptofcustomerexperiencealsohelpstounderstandhit
products andbrand successes.
Nagasawa exemplifies customer experience by discussing the following five
modules of strategicexperience values:
(1) sensoryexperiencevalue;
(2) emotional experience value;
(3) intellectual experience value;
(4) behavioral experience value; and
(5) relativeexperience value.
Nagasawa then illustrates these five modules of experience values in his analysis of
four differenthit products case stories.
By using the five modules of experience values to explain hit products there is a
strong overlap tothestructural model for creating aprofoundaffectionpresentedby
Dahlgaard et al. in the previous article. This may not be a coincidence because hit
productsareinsomewaytheresultofacompanyhavingbeensuccessfulinthedesign
of a new product which hasresultedin profound affection.
The fourth paper selected, “Kansei engineering approach for total quality design
and continuous innovation”, is written by Professor Antonio Lanzotti and Pietro
Tarantino from University of Naples, Italy. The paper aims at defining a structured
processofcontinuousinnovationintheproductconceptdevelopmentphasebyusinga
statistical-basedKanseiengineering(KE)approach,whichconsistsoftheidentification
of quality elements satisfying both functional and emotional user needs, i.e. the total
qualityelements.AstheapproachdevelopedintegratesboththeKanomethodologyfor
attractive quality creation and Kansei engineering analyses this paper complements
TQM thepreviouspapers.Theproposedapproachisexploitedthroughacasestudyontrain
20,4 interiordesign developed in avirtual reality (VR) laboratory.
Thefifthpaperselected,“Ane-commercesiteforgiftflower arrangementsthatfit
kanseiandsocialmanners”,iswrittenbyProfessorKeikoIshiharaetal.,comingfrom
Hiroshima International University, Japan. With this paper we are “back to Japan”
again, and what could be more typical of Japan than flower arrangements? Maybe
288 someofthereaderswillbeinspiredtodevelopanewbusinessinspiredbythecontents
of this article?
The authors describe an e-commerce site as a solution for proposing gift flower
arrangements suiting the purchaser’s needs according to the integration of results of
kansei evaluation and expertise of florists. The proposed system deals with flower
arrangementsusingfoamsincontainers.Apurchaserinputsdatasuchasthepurpose
ofthepresent,relationshipwiththerecipient,andbudget.Thesystemreceivesthedata
and then retrieves suitable flowers from the database according to the results of a
kansei evaluation and social constraints. Then the system displays a list of possible
flowers andtypesof arrangements.
TheremainingfourpapersareselectedfromoutsideJapan(Canada,NewZealand,
theUKandSweden)andtheyillustratewellhowtheKansei/affectiveengineeringhas
spread to all parts of theworld.
The sixth paper in this special edition, “Effect of SmartPhone aesthetic design on
users’emotionalreaction:anempiricalstudy”,iswrittenbyParulNandaetal.,froman
experience analysts research team, based in Ontario, Canada. The paper investigates
emotional reaction of males to varying aesthetic design of the BlackBerry Pearl, a
leading wireless SmartPhone solution (BlackBerry Pearl, 2007). Further, the paper
empirically evaluates male preferences for the BlackBerry Pearl in different colours
andoverlaypatterns.Thetermemotionisoperationalisedtorefertousers’preferences
based on instinct rather than intellect.
The seventh paper, “Multi-modal visual experience of brand specific automobile
design”, is written by Anders Warell, who is Professor at Massey University,
Wellington,NewZealand.Thepaperpresentsaquestionnairestudyofbrand-specific
perceptionsofautomotivedesignusingsubjectiveratingmethods.Thepurposeofthe
study was to explore the multiple modalities of the visual product experience of
automobile design as perceived by the general public. Furthermore, the experiences
were analysed using a framework for Visual Product Experience. Results from the
study indicate that there is a correlation/relation between experiential modes, in that
respondents tended to rate attributes consistently high or low across modes. This
impliesthatiftheaestheticsarenotperceivedasfavourable,neitheristheexpression
ofthecar.Furthermore,respondents’assessmentsofaesthetic appeal andexpression
are on an average strikingly similar, suggesting that the level of aesthetic appeal
correlateswiththelevelofsemanticunderstandingofthedesign.Thegeneralratingof
emotional responsefollows asimilar consistentpattern for the two studied cars.
Theeighthpaperselected,“Kanseiengineeringtoolkitforthepackagingindustry”,
iswrittenbyDrCathyBarnesetal.,fromtheAffectiveEngineeringResearchGroup,
University of Leeds, UK. The paper presents a Kansei Engineering Toolkit for
packaging design by using illustrative case studies. The authors present the
application of the toolkit to “live” projects to show how each tool supports design
development.Inthiscase,relationshipsareconstrainedtoproductappearancealone.It
is found that the suggested Kansei Engineering Toolkit has real value within the Guest editorial
packaging development process to inform concept selection decisions based upon
actual consumer data.
The ninth and the last paper selected, “Affective design of values in primary
healthcare”,iswrittenbyEbruAyasetal.(PhDstudentfromtheKanseiEngineering
Research at Linko¨pings University, Sweden). The authors have found that whilst
considerable research has been devoted to apply affective (kansei) engineering for 289
product design, there are no studies found for servicescape (physical surroundings)
design in healthcare services. So the overall aim of the study is to find possible
affective design solutions in a servicescape by utilizing Kansei engineering. Another
aimwiththisstudyistoproposeaframeworkmethodologyforexploringkanseivalues
andperceivedqualitiestowardswaitingareasinhealthservices.Thestudyappliedisa
qualitativeapproachfordatacollectionintheKanseiengineeringmethodology.Adata
miningtechnique is used to extract design solutions for aspecific feeling.
Calm, pleasant and fresh feelings are determined towards creating values for
patients for primary healthcare waiting rooms. “Calm” is found as the most desired
feeling for creating values that would appeal to human kansei. The core design
attributes explored for this feeling are privacy, colours, child play areas and green
plants. Good design of lighting, seating arrangements and low sound level are also
needed design elements to give a complete design view. Considering the technical
qualities giving feelings of safety, functionality and privacy appear important for
design ofvalues.Based oninteractionqualities,welcomingenvironment,with caring
staff and giving attention to patients are needed. The results for perceived affective
qualities from selectedwaiting areas showed significant differences.
WiththeselectionoftheseninepapersitismyhopethatthereadersofTheTQM
JournalwillbeinspiredforfurtherstudiesoftheareaofKansei/affectiveengineering,
which I strongly believe has a lot to contribute to the further development of quality
andTQM.Aswrittenabove,peopletodaycaremoreandmoreaboutwhetherproducts
and services match and appeal to their feelings, emotions, personal life styles,
identities,andevenmoral/ethicalpreferences.Themostattractiveproducts/servicesof
today and tomorrow will be designed to satisfy all dimensions of human needs –
manifest as well as latent needs. Hence, quality and quality management must be
furtherdevelopedalsotoembracethenewdimensionscoveredwithinkansei/affective
engineering.
Jens J. Dahlgaard
Division of QualityTechnology,Linko¨ping University, Sweden
Thecurrentissueandfulltextarchiveofthisjournalisavailableat
www.emeraldinsight.com/1754-2731.htm
TQM Perspectives and the new trend of
20,4
Kansei /affective engineering
Mitsuo Nagamachi
290 Hiroshima International University, Hiroshima, Japan
Abstract
Purpose–ThepurposeofthispaperistopresentanddiscussKanseiengineering(KE),whichusesa
unique ergonomic technology to produce a new product which fits to consumers’ feelings and
demands.Itisaconsumer-orientedproductdevelopmentmethodbasedontheconsumermind.Ithas
beenappliedtorealizeseveralnewKanseiproductssofar.
Design/methodology/approach–KE is sometimes able to create an invention, but mostly it is
powerfultocreatemorecomfortableandaffectiveproductsorservicestothecustomers.KEutilizes
psychological methods to grasp the customer’s feelings, and the data obtained by this method are
analyzedusingmultivariatestatisticalanalyseswhicharetransferredtothedesigndomain(design
specifications).
Findings–Itwasfoundthatacustomerhasahierarchyofvaluesofhis/herlife.Allpeople,from
childrentotheelderly,wanttoenhancetheirqualityoflife.Havingqualifiedproductsandservices,
includingservicemen’ssmilesandgreetingsisanimportantfactor.
Originality/value–KEisspreadingoutintheworldatpresent.Thepaper(wittenbythepioneer
andfounderofKE)tells“astory”aboutthemethodsandprocedurestocreateanewKanseiproduct
andreferstotheimplicationsofKansei/affectiveengineering.
KeywordsCustomersatisfaction,Consumerbehaviour,Productdesign,Productdevelopment,Japan
PapertypeConceptualpaper
Introduction
Therearetwowaysofaproductdevelopment,oneiscalled“product-out”philosophy
which implies the manufacturer provides technology and design specifications
according to decision making from the manufacturer’s side. Another way is
“market-in” philosophy which means consumer-orientation for product development.
Bythisphilosophyamanufacturerconsidersconsumerneedsandwantsandtheseare
transferred to the product function and design as product properties. Nowadays, the
consumers desire consumer-oriented products, because they have a lot of goods at
homeandtheywanttohavegoodswhicharemoreneeded,moreattractive,andvery
sensitive to their personalityand their feelings.
Kansei engineering aims to develop products that people want to have deeply in
theirmind.ThetermkanseiisaJapanesewordandimpliespsychologicalfeelingand
needsinmind.Beforepurchaseofforexampleapassengercaronehasimagesinmind
of may be “a powerful engine”, “easy operation”, “beautiful and premium exterior,
“cool and relaxed interior” and so on. These words express the kansei, and the
consumersreallywanttohavesuchkindofavehicleifthemanufacturersucceedsin
realizingavehiclefittingtotheirimaginations.However,itisaregretthatwehavenot
TheTQMJournal ever had such a science and technology which can treat psychological feelings and
Vol.20No.4,2008 needs (kansei) technologically.
pp.290-298
qEmeraldGroupPublishingLimited Kanseiengineeringisabletograsptheconsumers’kanseionapsychologicalbasis,
1754-2731
toanalyzethekanseiusingstatisticalmethods,andtotransfertheanalyzeddatainto
DOI10.1108/17542730810881285