Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : October 08, 2016 - October 10, 2016
In recent years, environmental issues are becoming more important not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. One of the practical approaches for developing countries is to introduce eco-products and eco-technologies used in developed countries. However, they are not always acceptable due to differences of social, economic and cultural contexts between countries. Relationships among product function-structure, product life cycle, consumer needs and local constraints are very complicated depending on the contexts. It is necessary to clearly understand how local specific needs and constraints are related with product function-structure. The authors have proposed a methodology consisting of reverse engineering, field observation and an extended function-structure analysis. An extended function-structure map (EFSM) represents relationship among local specific needs, local constraints, product function-structure map. The aim of this study is to develop a prototype system for visualizing design information for locally-oriented design. This system aids users in understanding relationship among product specifications and local information by displaying a chain of elements of the EFSM which are related with local information. In order to validate this system, the authors show a case study on home electric appliances in Vietnam and Japan. A result of the case study indicates that this prototype system is useful to support design of a locally-oriented sustainable product.
