炊飯器開発における「おいしさ」の形成

抄録

The needs of the customer are often not clear at the time of product development. Indeed, customers themselves also do not recognize their exact needs, and discover them after purchasing the product. However, despite such imprecise circumstances, because of the need to have a presence in the market, companies are forced to proceed with product development and to make decisions at each stage of the development process. These decisions are made on the basis of a temporary definition of the customer’s expected needs. This paper examines the development of a rice-cooker. The development process involves making a series of decisions to define the subtle taste of cooked rice that is influenced by customer preferences. Specifically, we attempt to clarify the process of how the taste of rice cooked by the product is defined as delicious, how this is commercialized as a function of the product, and also the sustainability of the development process.
Our qualitative research showed that deliciousness cannot be evaluated quantitatively, and that it is necessary to evaluate taste by human senses. In these cases, evaluation by humans is an integral part of product development. Testing and evaluating the prototype product relies on creating a dialogue between the designers and testers. Because of the ambiguous nature of the sensory needs that the design process seeks to fulfil, a trial-and-error approach is necessary, which is prone to result in redundancies. From this aspect, successful communication between developers and testers becomes significant, and for mutual understanding, a common language and shared sense are required.
As more experience in product development is accumulated, trends of impressions in the market can be more easily recognized. The unspoken needs of the customer can be met through the recursive interplay between development experience and market reaction. Since experience in the market varies with each company, customer impressions of product benefit also tend to vary with each company.