Page 263 - Mechatronics for Safety, Security and Dependability in a New Era

Ch50-I044963.fm Page 247 Tuesday, August 1, 2006 4:05 PM
Tuesday, August
Page 247
1, 2006
Ch50-I044963.fm
4:05 PM
247
247
SERVICE EXPLORER
A TOOL FOR SERVICE DESIGN -
1
1
Yoshiki SHIMOMURA , Tomohiko SAKACT, Tatsunori HARA ,
1
Tamio ARAI and Tetsuo TOMIYAMA 3
1
Research into Artifacts, Center for Engineering, The University of Tokyo,
Komaba 4-6-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan
2
Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.,
Otemachi 2-3-6, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
3
Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
ABSTRACT

To design and develop services effectively and efficiently, a methodology of service design and a
support by the computer system based on the methodology are needed. The authors are carrying out
fundamental research in "service engineering," which deals with services in an engineering manner,
and have already proposed a methodology of service modeling. This paper proposes a "service CAD,"
a computerized tool to support service design, which provides designers with a design environment
equipped with knowledge about existing services. To do so, we developed the specifications of a
prototype of service CAD and, based on these, a prototype system called Service Explorer. Lastly, the
power of the prototype will be demonstrated for an example of hotel service.

KEYWORDS

Service Engineering, Service Design, Service Modeling, Service Design Tool, Service CAD.

INTRODUCTION
Service is attracting more and more attention as manufacturing industries are shifting from a "product
seller" toward a "service provider." To design and develop services effectively and efficiently, a
methodology of service design and a support by the computer system based on the methodology are
needed. However, very few researchers dealt with services from the viewpoint of design, while
services have often been traditionally a topic in the field of marketing and management (e.g. Shostack
(1981)).

The authors are carrying out fundamental research in "service engineering," which deals with services
in an engineering manner (Tomiyama (2001)). A methodology of service modeling has been already