Emotion and Process Quality

Traditionally quality has been discussed mainly from the standpoint of functions and from the standpoint of a product, because engineering up to now has focused major efforts on how we can produce better quality products. Value was evaluated in terms of product quality. But when we come to think that not only products but processes also yield value, we should consider process quality as well. Behavior economics points out the importance of experience value. This is nothing other than process value. But what they discuss is value in use. We, engineers, should remember we can create experience through design and manufacturing and even through maintenance. Products get to fit us better with use and our attachment to them grows with time. This is breaking in but to express it in another way, it is nothing other than deterioration. Maintenance, for example, is not just an activity to restore deteriorating functions back to the design requirements. But rather it is an activity to break in our products. These process values are very much associated with emotion. This paper points out the importance of process value and how emotion plays an important role in process quality management. It is also pointed out that pattern classification approach is very effective for processing emotional quality.