DEVELOPING THE SPACE OF PRODUCT PROPERTIES SUPPORTING KANSEI ENGINEERING PROCEDURE

Abstract

Applications of Kansei Engineering method can be found in many different companies , countries and cultures. Although new applications are increasingly being discovered, the relation of their core activities to Kansei Engineering can be readily identified. In this paper, a basic procedure is proposed which visualizes the way semantic descriptions are linked to product properties. From this model, a number of improvements can be derived, such as the need for a proper definition of the relative importance of product properties and the proximity of interaction. The aim of this paper is to propose a conceptual model for spanning the space of product properties, and to describe its testing in an application study. The space of product properties was spanned in three different steps. The first step was to collect potential properties from existing products , new product concepts and company image variables, followed by the second and third steps, selection and compilation. The application study, conducted on laminate flooring, revealed that laminate floors could be semantically described by four factors: reliable and practical , modern d esign, classic style, and finally nice and solid. From a physical perspective , eight different properties were chosen for evaluation according to the proposed model. It could be seen that the four previously mentioned factors were related to the properties. Moreover, it became clear that the two groups rating their impressions , craftsmen and architects, had different opinions. From this study, it was concluded that the proposed procedure and conceptual model for the space of product properties was useful when performing applications.