Recently, it is said building customer loyalty is effective to keep the relationship between customers and companies developing. However due to this relationship's complex characteristics, there are few ways to strengthen loyalty. Consequently, it is important for company markets to grasp and calculate the important factors of customer loyalty. In order to analyze complex customer characteristics or their loyalty, one needs to analyze not only data from questionnaires, but also free-format text data. This is because the respondent can answer their opinion freely, so the collection of more information and the finding of new opinions can be expected. Recently, due to the development of information technology, people can obtain or store enormous amounts of such customer data easily. This research analyzes this free-format text data by using morphological analysis, one of the methods of natural language processing. Using this result, we have reconstructed the customer loyalty structure diagram, by using a method of analyzing customer loyalty, which was proposed by previous research. In addition to evaluating the important index of customer loyalty, we propose a method of calculation using the customer loyalty structure diagram. Moreover, this research is aiming for the evaluation of the difference between strongly satisfied and unsatisfied customers. We also investigate the difference of characteristics between product categories. From those results, corporate marketers can know what the key factors of customer loyalty are important and make a strategy to get excellent customers.

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This paper discusses the design of a multistage serial production system utilizing multitasking workers, who have the capability of processing two or more kinds of operation. In designing a production system, it is important to raise productivity by using workers and production facilities effectively. However, the variation in operation time and unbalanced workloads generally reduce the performance of the system. They increase the work in the process level and decrease the process throughput in the line. To cope with this problem, methods for levelling workloads at each workstation have been studied by many researchers as the line balancing problem. Methods for determining the optimal or near-optimal combination of operations at each workstation have been proposed. Following on from previous researches, this paper discusses the effectiveness of utilizing multitasking workers to raise the performance of the production system. The usefulness of multitasking workers is verified through numerical simulation. Simulation experiments show that the production system including multitasking workers can achieve high-performance under a low WIP level for each worker. Through these results, this paper shows that a high-performance flexible manufacturing system can be constructed by using multitasking workers. Furthermore, the design method of the multistage serial production system, which raises the production rate of each worker, is clarified.

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Semiconductor manufacturing is expected to change its policy for high product mix and low production volume conditions so as to respond the tremendous growth in home information appliances. Under the condition, rapid productivity improvement activities are needed to establish agile manufacturing operations. In this research, Visualized Coefficient of Variation Analysis (VCVA) is applied to measure material flow fluctuations in a manufacturing system on a time-line basis. Based on this approach, a monitoring tool was developed and implemented in a wafer manufacturing system to find manufacturing productivity detractors from a crow's nest view of the whole manufacturing system. Results show the effectiveness of the method by visualizing "tsunami" phenomena in the material flow fluctuation, and by identifying the root cause equipment as the source of the productivity detractor.

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This paper proposes a framework for the collection and use of status change data during the planning stage when using the Business System Transformation Model (BSTM), in order to find problems included in the planning process, and the failure of planning within the business system. The planning stage of a business system is the first and most influential step in the process of developing a new business or product. Through the BSTM, companies can access useful information, not only about their own past actions, but also the decisions of other companies who have dealt with similar issues. First, this paper defines the multiple status changes that occur during the planning stage. In this stage, information about changes in the recognition of the situation in business circumstances, the process of creating an idea or concept within business planning, and changes in the conditions that need to be satisfied in order to bring success to a project, can be obtained. Secondly, this paper explains the method of applying this information to the BSTM. Finally, the usefulness of this method is examined by applying it to actual cases, and operational problems are discussed.

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Recently, the Japanese Electric Power Exchange (JEPX) was established so that load service entities (LSEs) can sell and purchase electricity. This is expected to create an effective system for balancing the supply and demand of electricity. LSEs generate and purchase electricity, and their production cost of electricity is related directly to their profits. Furusawa et al. [2005] proposed a model and used simulations to evaluate the economic merits of energy storage systems (ESs) when consumers install an ES and LSEs supply all electric demand from the market. In addition, they examined incentives to install an ES. In this paper, we mainly expand Furusawa's model and examine transactions where consumers install an ES and a private power generator. The reasons are because there are many cases where consumers are covering part of the demand by privately generating electric power in recent years. To reflect the Japan's present condition, we assume that LSEs supply power from power plants and the market, and then we formulate a profit maximization model and simulate it. The optimal operating plans for consumers and LSEs are examined, and the conditions that are desirable for both of consumers and LSEs are investigated. In addition, we study influences to market clearing price by installing two systems.

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Many people with cerebral palsy work in social welfare companies as data entry operators etc. Because of spastic reactions and involuntary motion, they find it difficult to use their upper limbs for movement and positioning tasks such as pointing a mouse at an object on a GUI screen. It would be of great benefit to secure the movement distance and the target size which are appropriate for people with cerebral palsy on a GUI screen, so they can perform pointing device operation effectively. However, it is not possible to increase the screen size, beyond a certain limit. Therefore, ideal conditions may not be achieved. In such a situation, an effective environment for positioning tasks can be created by controlling the D/C gain, which is calculated by dividing the movement distance of the pointer by that of the input device. This study investigated the effect of changes in the D/C gain on motion time (MT) for pointing tasks and attempted to determine the D/C gain for minimizing the MT. It was found that the D/C gain for minimizing the MT could be obtained by using an appropriate combination of the target distance and target size.

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In this study, the trend of fatigue feeling was researched and analyzed for different work postures. Some work postures are used for the same work purpose. Standing posture or chair sitting posture is common. Recently Multi-process holding system developed in Toyata production system was introduced more often. The system requires standing posture with several walk steps. The "Questionnaire for Subjective Fatigue Feeling", by Industrial Fatigue Research Committee of Japan Association of Industrial Health was used. This study focused on women as the objects of study. The task were sawing, fiber processing or assembling. The subjects for multi-process holding were nine newly employed women (who graduated from senior high school), the subjects for standing were 12 newly employed women, the subjects for chair-sitting were nine newly employed women, and there were seven women whose work posture changed from chair-sitting posture to multi-process holding. As the result of this study, in the case of newly employed women working in the standing posture with several walks steps and women whose work posture changed from chair-sitting posture to multi-process holding fatigue feeling increases at first, but it decreases immediately. Standing posture fatigue feeling becomes high and makes much difference among individuals when compared with other work postures. Daily change was significant, but weekly change was not significant. Chair sitting fatigue feeling was lower compared with other postures in the initial week but afterwards the possibility of fatigue feeling increased. These results offer an effective suggestion as fundamental materials for studying proper work postures in production systems.

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