Robust Quality Engineering Society (RQES) will celebrate the 20th anniversary in 2012. In a big turning point, analyses of 610 pieces of research papers published in the Journal of Quality Engineering Society from Vol.1, No1 to Vol.19, No.3 were conducted to clarify the spread of quality engineering research and the change of contents over 20 years, and to obtain some new issues or guidelines to challenge. In this paper, as the first step of research, the database structures were defined and analyses about the following classifications were worked out:the category of research paper, the content of subject matter, the methodology of quality engineering, industrial fields, lead and co-authors,professional affiliation, and the number of withdrawal from RQES of both award winners and non-winners ones. As a result, the following were high-lighted:New researches have been decreasing after the 10th anniversary. The number of case studies related to automobile and copying machine are especially conspicuous in all industrial fields. Hiroshi Yano's contribution to the growth of quality engineering and Robust Quality Engineering Society was quantitatively clarified. Furthermore, it was shown that the quality engineering awards motivate engineers to continue studying quality engineering.

There are two methods of shiitake mushroom cultivation: log cultivatioll and bed cultivation. Which method is employed depends on the use of the mushrooms,the climate, and the cultivation environment, In this experiment with bed cultivation, shiitake mushrooms were cultivated in a greenhouse with minimal air conditioning, in consideration of overseas (e.g., Chinese) cultivation methods and conditions, and the results were evaluated to find optimum conditions. When bed cultivation is practiced in the forests of China, for example,lack of funds and equipment makes it difficult to control temperature and humidity, employ stimulated growth methods, or take contamination counter-measures. A one-year experiment was performed under equivalent conditions to find optimal management methods and technologies. As a result, it was determined that the cultivation conditions should be changed in the summer and the winter, and that important improvements were needed in the areas of contamination of the bed substrate, harvest of mushrooms of even size, temperature and humidity control in the winter, and dealing with small mushrooms that sprout in the bag if the substrate is immature. In a confirmation experiment,problems remained in gain reproducibility, especially in winter cultivation, partly because of the effects of contamination, temperature and humidity control, etc. in the greenhouse.

Face images taken by a digital camera were identified by use of the Mahalanobis-Taguchi system. Because of the high pixel count of the images, the multilevel MT system was used. The images were mosaicked by treating the average of multiple pixels as a single pixel, and the amount of data was further reduced by double processing by the MT system. Effectiveness of identification of face images taken from different camera angles was also examined. Even with background present, identification proved possible unless the faces were disguised in a way that concealed most of the face. When the unit space was defined from a face image photographed from the front, it was found that identification was possible with camera angles up to about 45 degrees. When the definition range of the unit space was extended, identification accuracy became lower, differing from the result in a previous report. This indicated that the unit space must be defined on the basis of a study of the variance within the unit space and distance from the signal data.

Although manufacturers ship only products that have passed multiple pre-shipment inspections, some products still fail in the field, in which case further inspection may be needed to trace the cause of the failure. The products analyzed in this study included auto disc changers that were 'dead on arrival', presumably because of defects that were slight enough to pass the existing preshipment inspections but had progressed into more serious problems after shipment,causing the product to operate incorrectly. The current consumption value during operation of the auto disc changer was measured and its waveform was evaluated using the RT method to obtain a quantified operating function. The results suggested the possibility of pre-shipment detection of devices that might fail in the field.

A rotating machine experiences various losses, such as copper loss, iron loss, and mechanical loss, while operating in various modes and these losses raise the temperatures of its components. A rotating machine must also be designed so that the temperatures of its conductors remain below the temperature tolerance limit of their insulation. The necessary cooling design is one of the critical design factors that determines the dimensions and efficiency of the machine. The aim of this study was to apply quality engiheering to air-cooling parameter design for the rotor of a rotating machine. This was done in two steps: in the first step, the main factors affecting the air cooling of the rotor were extracted using network analysis; in the second step, the effects of the main factors were evaluated quantitatively by model test analysis. As a result of this study, a 28% increase in complete flow around the rotor was confirmed and the flow was distributed more uniformly.