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SPRINGER BRIEFS IN
APPLIED SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

Shuichi Fukuda

Self Engineering
Learning From
Failures
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Shuichi Fukuda

Self Engineering
Learning From Failures

123
Shuichi Fukuda
Systems Design and Management
Research Institute
Keio University
Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

ISSN 2191-530X ISSN 2191-5318 (electronic)

SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology
ISBN 978-3-030-26724-7 ISBN 978-3-030-26725-4 (eBook)
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Preface

The core messages of this book are as follows.

(1) Let us live as humans. We are not machines. We perceive environments and
situations, and we make decisions, based on our motivation. We decide what
action we will take.
(2) Let us enjoy our life. But let us keep on growing the world of human species.
We should try more to actualize ourselves. The efforts of each “Self” contribute
to expanding human world and human culture.
(3) As environments and situations change frequently and extensively in an
unpredictable manner, let us make the most of our “Instinct” endowed by
Nature. This is the tool for us to survive and that is “Evolution.” “Evolution” is
nothing other than “Adaptation.”
(4) We should establish “Self-Supporting Society.” “Self-Supporting” is com-
pletely different from “Self-Sufficiency.” “Self-Sufficiency” is defined with the
current industry or engineering framework as its background. You choose to
make your life “Self-sufficient,” because you would like to, or you had to. But
the world outside does not change.
“Self-Supporting” completely changes the whole industry or engineering
framework. Current industry or engineering framework is based on the principle of
“Work for others,” in other words, “Division of Labor.” But “Self-Supporting
Society” is based on the principle of “Work for myself ”, You work for yourself,
Although even if everybody works for himself or herself, the labor is appropriately
shared. So, the human world develops and expands.
3D printing is discussed from the viewpoint of current industry or engineering
framework to increase productivity. But it can be one of the tools to provide “Work
for myself” opportunities to us.
To accelerate this shift, engineers need to develop technologies that enable us to
use easily in our daily life. Certainly, we need chefs on some occasions. But in our
everyday life, it is more important for us to know how we can cook the leftovers in
the refrigerator and have nice dishes. This is a challenge and indeed provides us
with great satisfaction, when we succeed.

v
vi Preface

This is the same idea as “Sharing Economy.” Here, I would like to call it
“Sharing Life.” We do not need to stick to a single life. We can enjoy a multiple
life. Engineering is making our dreams come true. It is said only humans can see the
future. Then, why don’t we enjoy the life of tomorrow now?
What makes this possible is “Instinct” endowed by Nature. “Instinct” is common
to all humans. Personalization is fine, but we should devote more efforts to “Self”
activities, which are inherent in human species.
Thus, this book is written for you to realize another engineering philosophy is
needed to develop and establish World 2.0, which is a new world of tomorrow.
I hope you will enjoy reading this book.
I would like to thank many people who gave me new ideas and new perspectives
through discussions.
They opened the door to the new world.
Finally, I would like to thank Mr. Anthony Doyle, Springer, London, and
Ms. Megana Dinesh, SpringerNature, Chennai. Their encouragement and patience
are truly appreciated.

Yokohama, Japan Shuichi Fukuda

June 2019
Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 Engineering Yesterday and Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1 Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Mid-Twentieth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Late Twentieth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4 Early Twenty-First Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 Self ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1 Human Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2 Personalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3 Creativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3.1 Creative Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3.2 Sharing Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.4 Modularization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.4.1 VW Factory in Resende, Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.4.2 Kimono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.4.3 Wedding Dress, Fashion Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.4.4 Accessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.4.5 Cars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.5 Process Value: Its Increasing Importance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.5.1 Lego . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.5.2 Adaptive Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.5.3 Continuous Prototyping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.5.4 Degradation: Look Upside Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.5.5 Fitting, Breaking In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.6 Increasing Importance of “Self” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

vii
viii Contents

4 Mind-Body-Brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5 Emotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6 Experience Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.1 Yesterday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.1.1 Experience Was a Thing of the Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.2 Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.2.1 Concept Dominating World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.2.2 Understand the Real World Exactly to Adapt . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.2.3 Sharing Experience for Team Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.2.4 Sharing Economy: Broaden Your Perspective . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.3 Tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
7 Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
7.1 Rational Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
7.2 Pragmatic Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
8 Pattern-Based Approach (PBA) to Learning from Failures ....... 43
8.1 Patterns and Learning from Failures: Their Increasing
Importance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8.2 Performance Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
8.3 Mahalanobis Distance (MD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
8.4 Mahalanobis–Taguchi System (MTS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
8.5 Mahalanobis–Taguchi–Fukuda Approach (MTF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
8.6 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
9 Strategic Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Chapter 1
Introduction

When you saw the title of this book, you might have wondered “Self Engineering?
What is it? Is it another Do It Yourself?” The answer is Yes and No.
“Do it yourself (DIY)” is the word of the producer. Its primary purpose is for
the producer to satisfy the growing needs of diversification and personalization of
the customer. This is fundamentally a word from the producer to the customer. This
symbolizes the current industrial framework where the producer and the customer
are divided.
The word for “Self Engineering” is “Do it myself (DIM).” You are motivated
internally to do the job and you, yourself, make a decision to do the job. It is deeply
related to the highest need of humans, “Self-Actualization,” which Abraham Maslow
pointed out [1, 2]. The importance of “Self” is pointed out by Edward Deci and Robert
Ryan in their Self-Determination Theory [3].
Why they emphasized its importance is because it is related to our need as a
living creature. All living creatures are born to expand their world and to adapt to the
changes. “Adaptability” is getting attention these days. But all living creatures are
born to adapt to the changes of the environments and situations. That is “Evolution.”
“Evolution” is nothing other than “Adaptability.” “Self” in this sense is our need as
the human species and all living creatures are living on “Self.”
Current engineering focuses too much on products. But as “Sharing Economy”
demonstrates, we do not need so many cars. If we can share cars, we can enjoy driving
cars that best fit the environment and the situation. When cars will become electric
vehicles (EVs), we can enjoy assembling a car just like Lego. Then, car component
companies can produce their components in mass, but they do not need such large
factories as you see today. We can enjoy not only the product, but the process itself.
This is another “Self-Actualization” or “DIM.”
In other words, we can enjoy making our dreams come true. But engineers forgot
why we wish to make our dreams come true. It is said that only humans can think
about the future. It is one of the valuable resources endowed by Nature to explore
and to expand the world of the human. Engineers, however, are enjoying their own

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1

S. Fukuda, Self Engineering, SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26725-4_1
2 1 Introduction

“Self-Actualization” and focus on developing higher technologies and pay most of

their efforts.
Have you ever considered the electricity consumption needed for Watson and
AlphaGo? They consume 100–200 kW. Humans, on the other hand, only consume
about 20 W. Watson or AlphaGo is splendid. But if we consider the current trend
of Robotic Process Automation (RPA), I believe we should re-examine whether we
really can sustain such tools or keep on automating which consume tremendous
amount of energy. This is because our current society is divided into two groups: the
experts and their users.
If we can remove these walls between experts and between experts and users and
change the society to “DIM,” then everybody can enjoy their life his or her own way
and still keep the energy consumption to the minimum. In short, our society will
change from “Working for others” to “Working for myself.”
“Self-Actualization” is given by Nature to explore and to expand the world of
human species, so if we utilize this “Instinct,” we could develop another society,
which consumes the minimum energy, but still provides enjoyment and satisfaction
to humans.
To achieve this goal of developing such a new world, we need to go ahead by trial
and error. In such a world, humans will be a playing manager in Human–Machine
Mixed Team. To make such a dream come true, we need to learn by failures.
This book describes how engineering is changing and what the future seems to
hold for us.
And finally and most importantly, this book introduces a pattern-based approach
to learning from failures.

References

1. A.H. Maslow, A theory of human motivation. Psychol. Rev. 50(4), 370–396

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination_theory
Chapter 2
Engineering Yesterday and Today

2.1 Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century

Very late in the nineteenth century, a wide variety of new products emerged, which
play important roles in today’s society. For example, 1886 was regarded as the birth
year of the modern car when German inventor Karl Benz patented Benz Patent-
Motorwagen [1, 2] (Photo 2.1). And the Wright Brothers flight was in 1903 [3]
(Photo 2.2).
The late nineteenth century was the age of inventions. Therefore, “Self” was
important. Although the word “Self” was not popular, people placed importance on
“Self.”
But this period when “Self” was important did not last long. It is a big surprise
that Ford Motor started to mass-produce cars in 1901 [4, 5] (Photo 2.3). And many
inventions came to be produced in mass. Mass production calls for uniformity, and
the “Self” came to be ignored. This trend continued until the late twentieth century.
Twentieth century may be called an age of conversation. Our world was small
and closed with boundaries. So, we share the language and we can exchange our
thoughts as symbols (Fig. 2.1).
There were changes in these days, too. But these changes were smooth, so that we
could differentiate them mathematically, i.e., we could predict the future (Fig. 2.2).
Therefore, engineers could foresee the operating conditions of machines and mass-
produced products were easily accepted.
Machines were designed and produced on an individual product basis. So, we
could give instructions to each machine from outside and machines responded. To
describe it another way, we give instructions to machines as engineers designed.
So, there is no basic difference between machines and human operators. Human
operators’ role was the same as that of machines. Humans were just another machine.
Therefore, there was no room for “Self.”

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 3

S. Fukuda, Self Engineering, SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26725-4_2
4 2 Engineering Yesterday and Today

Photo 2.1 Benz Patent-Motorwagen

Photo 2.2 The Wright Bothers

2.1 Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century 5

Photo 2.3 Ford motor T mass production

Fig. 2.1 Closed world and

open world

The word “Self” was used in a different meaning in these days. Such words
as “Self”-operating machines, for example, were frequently used. But this does not
mean machines came to be inventive. Completely the other way around. It just means
that machines operate as engineers designed without any additional instructions from
the operator. It only means that we can save time and effort to give instructions to
machines every time.
6 2 Engineering Yesterday and Today

Fig. 2.2 Changes of

yesterday and today

2.2 Mid-Twentieth Century

The World War II ended in 1945. But facilities and equipment were broken or severely
damaged. And food is difficult to secure. So, we had no other choice but to secure
food, etc., on our own. In short, we need to practice what Theodore Roosevelt told us
as the soul of exploration, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
We were practicing exploration.
These experiences served as a springboard to the exponential progress of engi-
neering in the late twentieth century.

2.3 Late Twentieth Century

This ignorance of “Self” prevailed until mid-twentieth century. Mass production

was the major engineering strategy these days. But the rapidly progressing engineer-
ing expanded our world, and our world became an open world without boundaries
(Fig. 2.1).
This changed engineering. Our engineering until then was just like agriculture.
We have our land and cultivate it in pursuit of a rich harvest. The goal is fixed, and we
pay our attention and efforts to find a better way. In fact, agriculture is the first sector
of economy and engineering developed as a second sector to develop it (Fig. 2.3).
But with our world quickly shifting to an open world, engineering shifted from
agriculture to hunting. In hunting, the goal or the game is not fixed. We may come
across animals which are stronger than us and we may be a prey, instead. And we
need different ways to catch or kill different games (Fig. 2.4).
Thus, expansion of our world revived the importance of “Self.” “Self” determines
which game to catch or kill or to escape, depending on what animal “Self” comes
across.
This change may be compared to railroad and voyage. In the case of a railroad, the
destination is clear and what we have to do is to determine which line and which train
2.3 Late Twentieth Century 7

Fig. 2.3 Agriculture

Fig. 2.4 Hunting

to take. So, “Self” is not called for. Anybody can make a decision at the beginning
of a journey.
But in the case of a voyage, the weather may be very good today, but tomorrow,
hurricane might come. Then, we need to evacuate and set sail at some port nearby. In
the worst case, we have to abandon the originally planned goal and head for another
goal with the changing situations. Thus, in voyage, we have no other choice than to
go by trial and error (Fig. 2.5).
Hunting and voyage need adaptability. As environments and situations vary from
case to case, perception (situational awareness) and decision making become cru-
cially important. Therefore, “Self” becomes very important. In fact, “Self” only
knows what is happening right now.
8 2 Engineering Yesterday and Today

Fig. 2.5 Railroad and voyage

2.4 Early Twenty-First Century

Such a shift quickly removed the walls between different areas. We must take note
that such a shift is not diversification on the individual basis. Diversification and
personalization are very often discussed together. But we should be careful that
personal diversification and the world-level diversification are different. What is
important for human species is this world-level diversification. Many different areas
are now working together as a team. It is not a team of individual members. But a
team of teams. How we respond to this problem of a team of teams is a big challenge.
Let us take a simple example of brand. Yesterday, brand was the quality assur-
ance. You are assured to receive the same quality of products as you did. But today,
such reproducibility lost importance. Adaptability becomes most important. How a
company can produce products that adapt very well with the changing environments
and situations becomes crucially important.
Basically, this is what “Self” is practicing. How human species can survive in the
frequently and extensively changing environments and situations is what “Self” is
pursuing. In other words, that is “Self” is pursuing how to evolve.

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benz_Patent-Motorwagen
3. https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers/online/fly/1903/
4. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fords-assembly-line-starts-rolling
5. https://silodrome.com/ford-model-t-assembly-line/
Chapter 3
Self

3.1 Human Needs

Maslow proposed a hierarchy of human needs [1] (Fig. 3.1).

At the bottom level, humans look for material satisfaction. They look for food, etc.,
to survive. But after these needs are satisfied, they go up the ladder. Their needs shift
gradually from material to mental. The primary sector of the economy is agriculture,
fishing, etc., as everybody knows. Engineering developed as the secondary sector
to make the most of these natural resources. The tertiary sector is the production of
services instead of end products [2].
At the top of the pyramid, humans look for “Self”-actualization. They would like
to demonstrate how much capable they are. Therefore, to take mountain climbing
for example, mountain climbers choose a difficult route and once they succeed, they
challenge a more difficult route the next time. And the more difficult the route is,
the more satisfaction they get. If they only want to reach the top of the mountain,
they could ask a helicopter to take them there or they could take a much easier route.
So, challenge is the core and mainspring of all human activities. And that is the
same reason why we love games. We would like to demonstrate how capable we
are. But we should remember we are born to act this way. This is what each “Self”
is contributing to expand the community of the human species, although we are not
aware of it.
It is interesting if we note that the year Maslow published this paper is 1943.
Around this time, mass production spread widely, and inventive “Self” became
ignored. Products were evaluated based on the functions, and reproducibility was
important. Products were expected to work the same way, no matter how situations
might change. Such reproducibility-central trend was prevalent because situations
did not change appreciably, and changes were predictable.
It is interesting, too, that in 1944, Johan Huizinga published “Homo Ludens: A
Study of the Play-Element in Culture” [3]. He pointed out the importance of “Play” for

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 9

S. Fukuda, Self Engineering, SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26725-4_3
10 3 Self

Fig. 3.1 Maslow’s hierarchy

of human needs

developing “Culture.” We must remember “Culture” and “Civilization” are different.

“Civilizations” come and go, but “Culture” persists, because it is related to human
species. Culture is the community of human species.
We play to expand our community. Look at babies and children. They play to
explore the new world. They play to grow.
“Growth” is another form of “Evolution” or “Adaptability.”
Ironically, this overwhelming mass production opened our eyes to the importance
of “Self.”
In 1985, Deci and Ryan proposed Self-Determination Theory [4, 5]. Even if the
job is the same, we feel much happier, if we are motivated internally and make
decisions ourselves to do the job, than we are told to do the same job from outside,
no matter how much high the reward may be. They made clear the importance of
intrinsic motivation and self-determination.

3.2 Personalization

The discussion above about “Self” should not be confused with personalization. The
expansion of our world brought diversification, and people’s requirements come to
be personalized. And such marketing strategy as mass customization is proposed.
This is the discussion of the “personal” diversification. Our requirements vary
from person to person by nature. The “Self” we are discussing here is so to speak
what we share across individuals as human species. Personalization is a problem of
individual variations and is not a problem of the whole human species.
Mass customization is a marketing strategy to sell mass products to customers
with diversified requirements [6]. It is very much extrinsic. What we are discussing
here is intrinsic “Self.”
3.3 Creativity 11

3.3 Creativity

Mass customization was an effort to make mass production and personalization com-
patible. But we must remember why Maslow emphasized the importance of “Self”-
actualization and Deci and Ryan pointed out the importance of intrinsic motivation.
All living things make efforts to expand the community of their species. Humans
are no exception. All living creatures are born to expand their world. Thus, they are
all explorers. That is why they are called living creatures. Creatures comes from the
Latin “Creare (-Create).” Thus, they are creative to develop their species.

3.3.1 Creative Customers

Kids are very creative. Even when they go down the same slide, they invent many
different ways of sliding down (Fig. 3.2).
Youngsters also invent their own ways of enjoying wears. Jeans are used for
working. So, they make holes in their jeans to share stories (Fig. 3.3).

Fig. 3.2 Kids are very

creative
12 3 Self

Fig. 3.3 Youngsters enjoy stories

3.3.2 Sharing Economy

Sharing Economy is getting wide attention these days. This is another example of how
creative customers are. They realized there are many ways of enjoying cars. We used
to buy cars and drive them. Passenger cars are so to speak a status symbol. Customers’
expectations did not change from customer to customer. But today customers realized
their motivations vary from time to time. Sometimes they would like to drive a sports
car, and other times they would like to enjoy driving with their families. They realized
what they expect from cars vary widely from time to time and from situation to
situation. Then, they can share a car and drive it when they need that kind of a car.

3.4 Modularization

Although the basic industry framework of mass production did not change after World
War II, the facilities were destroyed during the war, so mass production changes in
its strategy. Before the war, it was simply mass production. Products were designed
and produced in mass. No ingenuity was needed. But after the war, to keep the
framework of mass production with many factories and equipment severely damaged,
new strategies emerged. One is modularization, and the other is model upgrading.
3.4 Modularization 13

3.4.1 VW Factory in Resende, Brazil

It is said that modularization started when Volkswagen (VW) opened a new factory
in Resende in Brazil in 1996. Local industries were very much afraid VW would
destroy their industries, but VW took a very much different strategy. They rented the
factory space to local industries and leave the production operation totally to local
industries. Local industries formed a production team and what is very unique, VW
asked them to sign a contract on the basis of final product sale.
Usually, such component suppliers sign contracts on component basis with the
assemblers running a factory. But VW was very clever. If they leave everything to a
team of local companies and contract on the final product sale base, then VW does
not have to worry about how they can adapt to Brazilian customers. Local companies
know very well what Brazilians want. So, VW sent only several Germans to run the
factory. This approach was very much welcomed by Brazilians, and VW Resende
factory was called “Dream Factory” [7, 8]. But from VW perspective, they can save a
lot of money by introducing such an approach, and they can produce a car Brazilians
want in much shorter time and with much less cost. So, it brought win-win relation.
Modularization was introduced in Resende factory to facilitate the team working
of local industries. Later, modularization was changed to function-based, but initially
it was how the production can be adapted to the local production customs and pro-
cedures. We must remember such modularization strategy plays an important role
when we go abroad and tie up with local industries. Such win-win relation-focused
approach should be utilized more in modularization. In fact, this way of modulariza-
tion was born after VW’s long experience and struggle abroad.
But such Resende style modularization did not spread much. Instead, function-
based modularization spread very rapidly and widely. It is because if we introduce
this strategy, we can produce parts in mass, and by combining them differently,
we can easily cater to personalization. Mass customization is basically marketing
strategy, but this modularization is producer-centric.
Another reason for such acceleration of modularization is industries come to
design and produce products as a team. Yesterday, products were designed and pro-
duced on an individual or single kind basis. But today they are designed, produced,
and operated as a team.
To describe it another way, our product development used to be a tree structured,
but today how we form a network of a product team becomes important. In the case
of individual product development, a tree structure is best, because there is only one
output node and every node (member) are supposed to contribute to this goal.
But in the case of team products, its structure is basically a network. In a network,
any node can be an output node, so that we can deal with the rapidly progressing
diversification (Fig. 3.4).
Such part-centric modularization opened our eyes to a new world. We have been
focusing our attention on the performance of final individual products, but modular-
ization leads us to identify other values we have not been aware of.
14 3 Self

Fig. 3.4 Individual to team product (tree to network)

Fig. 3.5 Kimono

3.4.2 Kimono

Kimono is another old example of modularization. Western dresses have been

designed to fit the body, but kimono (Fig. 3.5) is made of four main strips of fabric
(modules) and we put it on. And by changing combinations, the same fabric can be
re-tailored, and the grandchild wears the same kimono her grandmother wore.

3.4.3 Wedding Dress, Fashion Show

Wedding dress is another good example of modularization. Every lady would like
to wear a wedding dress just for herself. But not every lady is rich. So, they have
to put up with the rental dresses. Rental dress shops are very well aware of the
3.4 Modularization 15

Fig. 3.6 Wedding dress

bride’s wishes. So, they hold a fashion show and observe where the participants pay
attention to. They produce a wide variety of these feature parts. But the other parts
which do not draw attention are identical. They constitute a common platform. We
have to realize once again that modularization is not for making production easier or
cheaper, but to satisfy the self-actualization need of humans (Fig. 3.6).

3.4.4 Accessary

Accessary is the same idea. Everybody would like to express herself or himself best
in the environment and in the situation.

3.4.5 Cars

The word “Modularization” came popular with car industry. In fact, modularization
is often discussed these days, but most of them are related to passenger cars. Trucks
introduced modularization long time ago. But we should be careful. The modulariza-
tion in the case of trucks is to facilitate the production, and it is not basically related
to the self-actualization need. In the case of a truck, different bodies are needed for
different users. So, chassis and bodies are produced in different factories, and they
are assembled later (Fig. 3.7).
Modularization of a passenger car has been developed on the same idea as trucks.
Modularization facilitates production. But these days, another kind of modularization
is emerging. That is the same idea as accessary. Users can enjoy how they can combine
the modules in different ways to best fit the situation (Fig. 3.8).
16 3 Self

Fig. 3.7 Modularization of a truck

Fig. 3.8 Self-assemble car

3.5 Process Value: Its Increasing Importance

The framework of industry has long been linear. This is because the customer needs
are at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, and they wanted material
satisfaction. In other words, they wanted products and the products they needed were
very clear. So, engineering developed to process the natural resources at first. And
even when engineering developed further, the functions of the final products have
been most important.
Products were expected to work the same way, no matter how the environment and
situations may change. Thus, the goal was very clear, and problem solving was most
important in these days. Further, material engineering was not so much developed, so
engineers had no other choice than to produce their products with available choice of
materials. Due to these backgrounds, industries introduced linear system (Fig. 3.9),
and they managed their systems based on a tree structure (Fig. 3.4).
3.5 Process Value: Its Increasing Importance 17

Fig. 3.9 Change of industry framework: from linear system to parallel processing system

Although engineering developed rapidly, this basic linear system industry frame-
work did not change until very recently. The efforts were paid to reduce time to
market and reduce cost. For example, DARPA proposed DARPA’s Initiative in Con-
current Engineering (DICE) in 1988. Its purpose is to reduce time to delivery by
bringing downstage processes more upstream and process the jobs earlier.
But recently, material engineering developed so much that material engineers can
produce almost any materials engineers want. So, the restriction of material choice
has been removed almost completely. And engineering expanded our world enor-
mously so that our life space expanded so much. Therefore, the products we need are
quickly diversified. Modularization is one of the solutions to meet such diversifying
needs. Thus, industry framework is quickly changing to Parallel Processing System
(Fig. 3.9). The Parallel Processing System is nothing other than neural network.
This change of industry framework led us to the new world of value. The value
yesterday was product value. How a product works best was the primary interest of
our customers. But now customers find there is another joy, which is more exciting,
and which satisfies their “Self” needs. Now, industry is ready to provide them with
parts which customers can combine by each customer’s way and to come up with what
they want. Therefore, engineering changed from product-centric to process-focused.
Yesterday, engineers regarded modularization as a good tool to adapt to the diver-
sification of customers’ requirements. Their focus was on final products alone, and
their view is from the manufacturing aspect. They did not consider what the customer
really wants. This is the problem of “Self,” not personalization.

3.5.1 Lego

It is very much interesting and surprising that Lego production started in such early
times as 1947. Lego is very much different from the philosophy of industry until then.
Lego just produced blocks and they sold them to customers. No products were sold.
Just blocks. So, doing business with a considerably reduced number of factories was
not a problem at all and further they achieved the best cost performance (Fig. 3.10).
18 3 Self

Fig. 3.10 Lego

Customers enjoyed very much. They enjoyed the process of combining different
parts to produce what they have on their minds. This satisfied their creative “Self,”
their inventive “Self.”
Denmark is known for its excellence in design. Their design is very much sophis-
ticated. But on the other hand, they show us that there are other designs. For exam-
ple, Friz Hansen is famous for their chairs. They produce excellent quality artificial
leathers for their chairs. But they sell chairs with natural leathers with scratches at a
higher price. Why?
Their answer was, “You can enjoy stories. You can enjoy talking about how the
animal may have lived and how the scratches were made.” It was a big surprise. I
thought they sell products, but they are selling processes. They know how process
values are important.
So, sophisticated design represents Danish culture on one side, but Lego represents
another culture of Denmark. They really know what design is. Further, Denmark is
known for Vikings. Vikings are explorers. We can understand why Danish design is
exploring many frontiers.

3.5.2 Adaptive Model

Another way to revive production with limited number of facilities and equipment
after World War II was model upgrading. As product variation cannot be developed,
the same model is produced but it keeps upgrading.
3.5 Process Value: Its Increasing Importance 19

This satisfied customers very much. Deci and Ryan pointed out in addition to
their self-determination, the importance of growth for humans. Customers enjoyed
imagining the next upgraded model. And indeed, it satisfied their need for growth.

3.5.3 Continuous Prototyping

Deci and Ryan also pointed out our need to grow in addition to their famous Self-
Determination Theory. In fact, growth is another adaptation. We grow by adapting
ourselves to the environments. Evolution is another adaptation, and Evolution and
Growth are deeply associated.
The idea to satisfy our needs for growth was introduced in software in the early
twenty-first century. This approach is called, “Continuous Prototyping” (Fig. 3.11).
In this approach, very basic functions are first provided. After customers get used
to and become confident, then software developers provide little higher functions.
Thus, as the customers get used to and become confident, the functions are upgraded,
and higher functions are provided step by step.
We should take note that confidence and trust are basically the same. Confidence
means trust in yourself and Trust means trust in others. In fact, in German, Confidence
and Trust are expressed by the same word “Vertrauen.”
Therefore, the customers’ trust in the system increases with the increase of their
confidence. And software developers have their own benefits, too. They can sell a
system at an early stage of development, and they can understand what their cus-
tomers expect by observing their use. In other words, they noticed the importance
of processes. By introducing such an approach, software developers succeeded in
satisfying our self-actualization needs.
But hardware development keeps the old tradition of delivering the finished prod-
uct to customers.
So, modularization may be understood to cope with the diversifying customer
requirements with limited facilities and equipment (Fig. 3.12).

Fig. 3.11 Software

development
20 3 Self

Fig. 3.12 Hardware development

3.5.4 Degradation: Look Upside Down

The invention of a new programming language which can be used in common at the
stage of development and for applications led software development industry to the
introduction of “Continuous Prototyping” development style. This success opened
the eyes of hardware industry how important processes are. However, they cannot
but stick to their traditional fixed function development (Fig. 3.12).
But if we turn the software development (Fig. 3.11) upside down, then it is nothing
else than the degradation of hardware (Fig. 3.13). And this reminds them of the
advantage of repair or the advantage of utilizing deterioration. In fact, degradation
is the opposite of growth.

3.5.5 Fitting, Breaking In

Asics, shoes maker, realized that degradation is associated with the feeling of fitting.
When the shoes deform as shown in the middle, people throw them away. But Asics
thought this is the form of the shoes that fits walking best. So, they developed shoes
with flexible middle part. Then, people who wore them said, “I feel like walking on
my own feet. I can enjoy walking, no matter how much long it may be.” These shoes
sold very well. And Asics applied the same idea to the sport shoes, because athlete
shoes deform in the same way at the start. This idea was highly evaluated by athletes,
too. This is another example of adaptability.
To increase adaptability, we need to look at things from a different perspective.
And again, this is another expression of “Self” (Fig. 3.14).
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