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A Framework for Locally-oriented Product Design Using Extended
Function-structure Analysis and Mixed Prototyping
Hideki KOBAYASHI1*, Shinichi FUKUSHIGE2 and Hidenori MURATA1
1

Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University,
2-1 Yamada-oka, Suita-shi, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
2
School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University,
3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan*E-mail: kobayashi@mech.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp

Abstract
Ensuring sustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns is an important task and is one of theUnited Nation’s sustainable development goals. Each SCP pattern needs to be appropriate for its target region,
so they differ according to regional or local characteristics, including culture, climate and customs. Therefore,
product design should take into account these characteristics as appropriate. The purpose of this study is to
propose a framework for locally-oriented product design using an extended function-structure map and a mixed
prototyping environment. The former is applied to identify local specific information related to productfunction structure and to generate design ideas, and the latter is applied to evaluate design solutions in areconfigured living environment comparable with an actual one. Combining these two elements in the design
process allows local information to contribute to the design of locally-oriented products. The usefulness of the
proposed framework is shown by applying it to the development of an improved washing machine design foruse in the Vietnamese living environment.
Key words: locally-oriented product, satisfier, sufficiency, sustainable consumption and production (SCP),
sustainable design

1. Introduction
Realizing a sustainable society is the mostchallenging issue facing humanity today. Ensuring
sustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns is
one of the United Nation’s sustainable development goals(SDGs; UNEP, 2010). Product companies have focusedon improving the efficiency of production and products
from the perspective of the environment. Eco-design
guidelines and methodologies based on life-cycle thinking
have been developed (Brezet & Hemel, 1997; Chiu &Chu, 2012; Kobayashi, 2005). They have contributed to
improved eco-efficiency of products, and indices of
product eco-efficiency have also been developed andapplied (Kobayashi et al., 2005).
The appropriateness of SCP patterns varies according
to factors such as the culture, climate, lifestyle and social
norms of the target region. Indeed, studies have pointed
out that general differences in human nature can be
explained by culture (Hofstede et al. 2010; see also Tasaki& Kojima (2021) in this special issue.), 2010) and climate(Waztsuji, 1961), which affect individual personalities at a
Global Environmental Research
25/2021: 043–050
printed in Japan

deeper level. This evidence suggests that regional
differences have a broad effect on the human nature ofordinary people. To achieve an appropriate SCP pattern ineach region, one study identified the importance offocusing on local characteristics in product design(Kobayashi, 2015). To recognize local characteristics andgenerate ideas for locally-oriented products, the same
study proposed the concept of an extended
function-structure analysis method that visualizes therelationship between local specific information and a
product function-structure map (FSM) (Kobayashi, 2015).
Another study later developed a visualization system forthe extended function-structure map (EFSM) (Sugita et al.,2017).
In contrast, SCP focuses on not only more efficient
production and products but also on reduced consumption
while satisfying human needs, which is referred to as“sufficiency” (UNEP, 2010). However, sufficiency has
been discussed mainly in the context of sustainableconsumption and consumer behavior (Hertwitch, 2005;
Jackson, 2005), and there are few studies in the field of
product development. To improve sufficiency related to2021 AIRIES

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industrial products in daily life, we proposed a framework
based on the living-sphere approach (Kobayashi &Fukushige, 2018). An important aim of this approach is torealize satisfaction of basic human needs totally by
products within the living sphere in order to design alocally-oriented sustainable product. An integrated
framework of this approach consists of a universal humanneeds framework, as proposed by Max-Neef (Max-Neef,
1991), as well as the general concepts used in engineering
design (Pahl & Beitz 1988). A key element of this needs
matrix is the “satisfier,” which refers to a quality which
satisfies basic human needs that are expressed in thenatural language (Kobayashi, et al., 2019). A
mixed-prototyping (MP) environment was established andapplied based on the living-sphere approach to evaluate
new ideas of locally-oriented design (Kano, et al., 2019).
However, the EFSM and MP system have not yet been
applied systematically.
The objective of this paper is to propose a frameworkfor designing locally-oriented products through use of
EFSM and MP environments. The remainder of this paper
is organized as follows. Related works are summarized in
Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, a framework using EFSM and an
MP environment is proposed. An applied example isdescribed in Chapter 4, and its importance and remaining
issues are discussed in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 concludes thepaper.

2. Related Works
Practical application of product development
approaches have been carried out that consider local
culture, geography, climate, geopolitics, history andeducational practices. A popular “market-in” approach isfield observation, in which a skilled local observer oranalyst identifies a gap in the market in terms of price,infrastructure, required performance or user educationlevel. Because field observation is independent of othertechniques, it can be easily applied to productdevelopment in an emerging or developing country,
although it is relatively expensive. Field observation is abasic element of locally-oriented product design. For
example, one study has reported on observation ofcultural contexts (Spencer et al., 2015). However, thesuccess of field observation depends on the person who
analyzes the cultural contexts.
To determine specific preferences of a product user,
personas are applied in product development (Pruitt &Grudin, 2003). Each persona has a gender, age, race,
ethnic, family and socio-economic background. It iseffective for establishing the right persona whileconsidering appropriate regional characteristics. Culturalcontext, however, not only consists of the traits or
behaviors of individuals but is also found in and throughthe everyday activities of the population as a whole (Lee,2012). Thus, methods centered on the individual,

including personas, carry the risk of overlooking invisible
and implicit cultural values, thus providing incomplete
and/or incorrect information to the designer. Co-design isregarded as a collaborative process between engineers andpeople in the local community. In a co-design approach, aworkshop is held at each project milestone. A gatekeeper
at each workshop plays the important role of connecting
local residents with engineers (Sianipar et al., 2013). The
quality of the design depends on the gatekeeper. A
problem encountered in co-design is the difficulty ofsharing information among project members, which can
result in gaps in understanding.
Design evaluation is also an important process in
product development. In terms of regional or cultural
product design, most studies have applied a questionnaire
approach (Hsu et al., 2013; Ghazali et al., 2018).
Subjective evaluation using the semantic differential (SD)method (Osgood et al., 1957) is also applicable to culturaldesign. Principles for design in the developing world areuseful in design review, but they are empirical and ad-hoc(Mattson & Wood, 2014). In past decades, various
collaborative software applications based on virtual
reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies
have been developed to connect people and share design
information in an immersive virtual environment (IVE)(Ong & Shen, 2009). Such VR- and AR-based
applications for design review focus mainly on a target
product designed with geometric modeling functions
based on three-dimensional computer-aided design(3D-CAD) platforms (Feeman et al., 2018).
To review the design of industrial products, it isdesirable to approximate the IVE to an actual space inwhich the designed products will be used. This enables
experience with product-use cases in a variety ofsituations in their actual environment, and enables thedesigner to validate the functionality and visual harmonyof the design with other products in the space. For thispurpose, MP is an emerging approach in usability testingin a multimodal environment and is able to involve sight,
hearing and touch in an IVE. This technology augments
reality and the ability to analyze the inter-relationships
between the physical form and behavior of industrial
products (Bruno et al., 2010; Barbieri et al., 2013).
In summary, it would be desirable to have a holistic
framework to collect and apply regional or local
contextual information to facilitate the design andevaluation of locally-oriented products. However, such aframework has yet to be established.

3. Framework
The proposed framework for locally-oriented productdesign is shown in Fig. 1. In this study, the product design
process comprises two processes: (1) problem recognition
and ideation and (2) evaluation of design solutions. EFSM,
MP environments and the SD method are applied toA Framework for Locally-oriented Product Design

support product design processes. Although they areuseful independently, more effective utilization of local
information can be realized by combining them. As local
characteristics, function-structure mapping data on a local
product, information related to that local product, thephysical environment of the living-sphere and satisfiers ofhuman needs are reflected in the FSM, EFSM, MP
environment and SD method, respectively.
Before product design goes ahead, an EFSM and MP
environment are developed by a design engineer, fieldobserver, field expert and system developer. For
development of the EFSM, an FSM of the reference
product in the target region is compiled based on reverse
engineering (Otto & Wood 1998) by a design engineer.
The FSM comprises a method of describing a product andis widely used in functional analysis for clarifying thedecomposed function and structure trees of a product andfor visualizing the relationship between sub-functions andcomponents (Pahl & Beitz, 1988). Reverse engineering
initiates the redesign process in which a product ispredicted, observed, disassembled, analyzed, tested,“experienced” and documented in terms of its
functionality, form, physical principles, manufacturability
and ease of assembly (Wood et al. 2001). Here, a design
engineer collects information about not only the FSM but

Fig. 1

Proposed framework for locally-oriented product design.

Fig. 2

Schematic of the extended function-structure map. (EFSM).

45

also data from actual experience.
Then, related local information and a product usage
profile are selected and linked to a product sub-function
and component of the FSM by a design engineer (Fig. 2).
This information link provides evidence for the function
or structure of the reference product. The EFSM supports
recognition and ideation, focusing on specific regional or
local characteristics by visualizing the relationshipbetween critical local information and the related function
and/or component (Sugita et al., 2017). In other words,
the EFSM is a tool for applying indigenous knowledge to
product design based on engineering.
Local information is collected through fieldobservations by a field expert before development of the
EFSM and MP environment. In field observations, anobserver collects local information, focusing on usage ofall products in the living environment, including
descriptions in natural language, interviews with locals
and photography/video filming. Furthermore, satisfiers, as
defined by Max-Neef, are identified in needs-based
workshops held in the target area (Kobayashi, et al., 2019).
Each satisfier is described in natural language and tends tosatisfy fundamental human needs.
In the process of evaluating product design,evaluators experience product use cases in an MP
environment, which involves subjective evaluation using
the semantic differential (SD) method (Osgood et al.,1957). A living space where the target product is used indaily life is reproduced in the MP environment. This
environment comprises tangible prototypes of real
products and their virtual models to increase theevaluator’s sense of agency. It allows for visualobservation through a head-mounted display and also
evaluation of the workload associated with the movementof the evaluator’s body and tactile sensation while using
the product.
Based on the local information obtained from fieldobservations, a typical living space in the observed target
region is reconstructed in a VR space created to the same
scale as that of the real space. In addition, the evaluator’s
limbs are reproduced in the VR space, and their
movement reflects the movement of the evaluator’s actual
hands and feet in the real space. In the real space,
simplified physical prototypes that the evaluator can touch
are placed in the same positions as those of the products
created in the VR space. The virtual models are overlaid
on the physical prototypes, and MP enables the evaluator
to experience motion, load and a sense of touch thatapproximate reality.
After completing the experience, the evaluators rate
the impression of their experience by assigning scores forpairs of evaluation criteria. The SD method measures thepsychological attributions of an individual’s attitude
toward something. It focuses on the connotative meaningof objects, events and concepts, and is suitable formeasuring emotional and behavioral aspects of an46

H. KOBAYASHI et al.

individual’s attitude (Klement et al., 2015). It consists ofmultiple sets of adjectives with opposite meanings such as“hot ↔ cold” that are divided into 5 or 7 levels and eachis set as an evaluation criterion.
In this study, the evaluation criteria used in the SD
method were extracted from satisfiers (Max-Neef, 1991)
acquired from needs-based workshops in the target region.
Requirements for the product are connected to the related
satisfiers, and the connected satisfiers are converted into
adjectives. Pairs of these bipolar adjectives (i.e., antonym
pairs) are used as the evaluation criteria. The evaluation
results are analyzed by comparing the score of eachcriterion for the target product before and after
introducing design improvements.
The purpose of the proposed framework is
appropriate application of local information with different
properties to two product design processes. Namely, weapply 1) descriptive information on product use, lifestyle,climate and culture to create an EFSM, and on satisfiers toevaluate design solutions, and 2) spatial information fromphotos and videos to establish an MP environment. By
using this framework, varied local information can beutilized to design locally-oriented products.

in a Vietnamese market and used it as the base product.
Figure 5 shows the reference product disassembled. This
product consists of relatively few parts compared withthose sold in high-income countries.
4.3 Recognition and Ideation using EFSM
Figure 6 shows a screenshot of the visualization
system for the EFSM made by adding a component
structure and related local information to the FSM of thebase product. The window in the upper-left of the figurecontains the following local information: “Residents
believe that washing by hand and then putting the clothes
in the washing machine is the best way to remove dirt, but
because they are busy, they wash their clothes in thewashing machine only,” “washing machines are fast andconvenient, but people believe that hand washing removes

4. Example Application
4.1 Field Observation
In recent years, environmental issues have been
surfacing due to population and economic growth inSoutheast Asia (Kishita, et al., 2018). Although the grossdomestic product (GDP) per capita in Vietnam is lower
than that in high-income countries, its economic growthrate is the highest in Southeast Asia, so it is important todesign locally-oriented products for Vietnamese
consumers at reasonable prices. In this study, we focus on
the washing machine as an example application of the
proposed design framework.
Figure 3 shows a bathroom inside a traditional
Vietnamese house. It consists of a washing machine andwash basin, a shower and a toilet. This configuration istypical in Vietnam. Here, clothes are washed by hand in
the wash basin and/or washing machine. The custom of
hand washing is popular because Vietnamese peoplecommonly think that stains cannot be removed byavailable washing machines alone. Figure 4 shows washbasins for washing clothes and dishes outside the house.
4.2 Reverse Engineering
As an example application, we designed a new
twin-tub washing machine for lower-middle-class
Vietnamese people. In the same target user segmentin other South Asian countries, such as Indonesia
and the Philippines, twin-tub washing machines are
relatively popular. However, in this study, we designed
this type of washing machine for the Vietnamese market;
we disassembled a single tub washing machine for saleFig. 3 Bathroom in a traditional Vietnamese house.

Fig. 4 Wash basins for washing clothes and dishes.

Fig. 5 The local reference product disassembled.

A Framework for Locally-oriented Product Design

47

Fig. 6 A screenshot of the visualization system for the EFSM of a Vietnamese washing machine.

opening of the hydroextractor, which enables manual
washing on top of the machine while standing.

Fig. 7A schematic of the design concept.

dirt better,” and “Have a habit of washing their clothes byhand and then using a washing machine to remove
stains.” Also, the window in the lower-right area of the
figure contains the following information: “Weak torque”
and a photograph of the washing motor. A design engineer
examined all the above information and came up with theidea of combining hand and machine washing in a single
product.
From the results, we designed a combination of washbasin and twin-tub washing machine, as shown in Fig. 7.
To facilitate the task of daily laundry, our new design
solution introduces a wash basin attached to the drum

4.4 Design Solution Evaluation in an MP
Environment Following the SD Method
We investigated replacing a fully automatic washingmachine (reference product) with a locally-designed
twin-tub washing machine including a wash basin in an
MP duplication of the bathroom of a traditional
Vietnamese house.
Before enlisting local people to experiment, weconverted satisfiers gathered from workshops (Kobayashi,
et al., 2019) held in Vietnam into 13 evaluation criteria
based on the SD method as follows: calm ↔ restless,formed ↔ formless, healthy ↔ sick, comfortable ↔
uncomfortable, refreshed ↔ weary, free ↔ bound,cautious ↔ rash, accomplished ↔ awkward, clean ↔
dirty, delicate ↔ rough, satisfied ↔ dissatisfied, easy ↔
painful, and relaxed ↔ strained. In this experiment, theevaluation criteria were rated between 1 and 7, with ahigher score indicating a more positive evaluation.
Furthermore, we constructed an MP environment

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H. KOBAYASHI et al.

based on images of a bathroom that we visited during thefield observation (Fig. 8). The hands and feet of theevaluators were reproduced in the virtual space, and thesevirtual models were linked to the evaluators’ actual hands
and feet in the real space. In addition, we placed
simplified prototypes of the washing machine, washtub,
water and laundry items in the real space, as shown in
Fig. 9.
The two types of washing machines were installed in
the MP environment of the same Vietnamese bathroom
and were evaluated by three Vietnamese people (two men
and one woman). These evaluators were immersed in thevirtual bathroom including the physical prototypes andcarried out the laundry process using the washingmachines. First, they evaluated the fully automaticwashing machine when carrying out the preliminary
process of manual washing using the wash basin on thefloor. Then, the fully automatic washing machine was
replaced with the twin-tub washing machine, which
involved manual washing in the wash basin attached tothe top of the machine while standing.
The average values of the three evaluators for eachcriterion are shown in Fig. 10. The total average for all thecriteria was 4.8 for the fully automatic washing machine
and was slightly higher at 5.0 for the twin-tub washingmachine. However, the score for “easy” decreased from
6.7 for the fully automatic washing machine to 5.3 for thetwin-tub washing machine. Switching between thewashing, rinsing and wringing processes and the work oftransferring the clothes from the washing tank to thehydroextractor (i.e., the wringing and spinning tank) were
found to lower the scores of the evaluation criteria for thetwin-tub washing machine, but not necessarily for the
fully automatic washing machine. These manual
processes also resulted in lower scores for “calm,”“pleasing,” “refreshing” and “relaxed.”
In contrast, the score for “free” increased because thequantity of water and washing time could be easilyadjusted with the twin-tub machine. “Delicate” wasconnected to many requirements for laundry and is the
only criterion connected to the requirement of “doesn’t
damage clothes.” This score increased because the newly
designed twin-tub washing machine allows manualclothes washing while standing with increased stability.
Because none of the scores fell below 4.0, which is the
middle value for each criterion, changes in the laundry
processes were not considered to have negatively
impacted the selected satisfiers.
Although the overall score slightly improved withuse of the twin-tub washing machine, the evaluation
results for some of the criteria, which were based on
satisfiers, suggest that the design needs to be further
improved. In particular, the functions and structure of thetwin-tub washing machine need to be changed so that it
makes transferring clothes from the washing tank to thewringing and spinning tank easier. A detailed design

Fig. 8Virtual space of the MP environment.

Prototype of the toilet

Prototype of thewashing machine

Wash basin,
clothes and water

SandalsFig. 9 Tangible prototypes in the MP environment.

Fig. 10

Average scores of each criterion assigned by threeevaluators for two types of washing machines.

A Framework for Locally-oriented Product Design49

review focusing on these features is subsequently required
to identify functions that need to be improved.

various types of products in different regions, especiallyin developing countries in Asia.

5. Discussion

Acknowledgements

As described in Chapter 4, the design engineer isrequired to understand the relationship between local
information and the FSM as well as recognize design
issues. In this case, the EFSM itself is a concept
visualization method in which local information
expressed as free-format short sentences is linked to the
FSM, which enables the design engineer to recognize
design issues and generate design ideas. Thus, local
information used in the EFSM should be appropriately
arranged for product design. For example, three similarsentences are linked to the function node “Wash” in Fig. 6
because they were observed by different individuals in
different field studies. Although we consider that this typeof arrangement suggests that the nodes of local
information are representative of the general population in
the target region and are important, the local information
should be analyzed in more detail in future work.
Next, we discuss our evaluation using an MP
environment. By reproducing the living space and homeequipment in the MP environment, the evaluators could
evaluate the products and product use cases holisticallywithin an environment approximating the realities of daily
life. However, because differences in the importance ofeach satisfier and their mutual dependency were notconsidered in this study, further analysis of the satisfiers isneeded. The effect of spatial and temporal discrepancy
between virtual objects and tangible prototypes, such as
time delays between tactile and visual senses, is anotherissue that needs to be further analyzed. The limitations of
the MP environment in time and space restrict the scopeof evaluation to only the in-use process of products within
a limited interior space.
In general, the proposed framework can be applied
during the early phase of product design. However,life-cycle thinking, including life-cycle planning (LCP), is
necessary during the early phase of eco-design(Kobayashi, 2005). Therefore, we will consider a processthat integrates the proposed framework and an eco-design
framework such as LCP in future work.

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant
Number JP17H01941 and the Environment Research andTechnology Development Fund (S-16-1, JPMEERF16
S11610) of the Environmental Restoration andConservation Agency of Japan. The authors also thankMessrs. Sugita Yuya, Watanabe Yugo and Kano Akio for
their work in the Graduate School of Engineering
Master’s course at Osaka University.

6. Conclusion
In this study, we proposed a framework for designing
locally-oriented products by using an EFSM and MP
environment. This framework enables us to utilize
different types of local information, namely, descriptive
and spatial information for product design, while focusing
on local characteristics as appropriate. We demonstrated
the usefulness of the proposed framework by applying it
to a novel Vietnamese washing machine design. We hope
to apply the framework to more design cases using

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Hideki KOBAYASHI
Hideki Kobayashi, Ph.D., is a professor in the
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka
University. He earned his Ph.D. in Design
Engineering from the University of Tokyo. Prior
to his current position, he was engaged at
Toshiba as a senior manager of the Corporate Research & Development
Center in the area of eco- and sustainable technologies. His major
research interests include sustainable system design and management, andsustainable consumption and production (SCP).

Shinichi FUKUSHIGE
Shinichi Fukushige, Ph.D., is a professor at
the Department of Industrial andManagement Systems Engineering, Schoolof Creative Science and Engineering,
Waseda University, Japan. Prior to hiscurrent position, he worked at Osaka
University as an associate professor in the area of life-cycle
engineering and sustainable system design. He holds an M.E. and
Ph.D. in Precision Machinery Engineering from the University ofTokyo. His research interests include product life-cycle design
and management, ecodesign (environmentally conscious productdesign), design for sustainable product-service systems andsimulation of socio-technical systems.

Hidenori MURATA
Hidenori Murata, Ph.D., is an assistantprofessor at the Department of MechanicalEngineering,
Graduate
SchoolofEngineering, Osaka University. He earned
his Ph.D. from the Division of Materials
and Manufacturing Science, Graduate
School of Engineering, Osaka University. His academic
background includes both systems engineering and design
engineering. His research interests include system modeling,
lifecycle simulation and sustainable consumption and production.
(Received 31 May 2021, Accepted 30 July 2021)