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6 Case Study

"Will Jan wake up? He pushed the button and ink rattled on paper - each program has its price, hasn't it?"
The market segments of printers include people, who use printouts for checking their implementation of programs - such as the author. How to improve this market segment?

6.1 History

The author used different desktop printers. When starting at Philips Semiconductors the LA50 printer was widely used as a shared printer - inadequate for private purposes (Table 2). In the beginning 90's the author needed frequent printouts from source codes; he wanted a private low-noise printer - so he bought the NEC 24P. In the mid 90's he upgraded to a LED-printer from Panasonic, which was faster, less noisy and had a much better image quality. He switched to the inkjet, when hp introduced this trade-off solution in the late 90's.

Table 2: Perceived Advantages and Disadvantages of Printers

Printer	Advantages and Disadvantages
LA50 (9 needles)	very loud , very slow , very bad printout , free
NEC 24P (24 needles)	pretty fast , more silent , expensive
Panasonic (LED)	very fast , very good print , silent , ozone , price
Hp-Inkjet (ink)	slower , print , color , moderate price , no ozone , no odor

Table 3: Estimating Perceived Ideality from Table 2

Printer			Perceived Ideality
LA50	1	3	1/3 = 0.33
NEC24P	+2	+1	3/4 = 0.75
Panasonic	+3	+2	6/6 = 1.00
HP-Inkjet	+4	+2	10/8 = 1.25

Figure 3: Trend in Perceived Ideality (Table 2, Table 3)

We can estimate the trend in ideality by comparing the new advantages and disadvantages from generation to generation (Table 3, Figure 3). It is a perceived ideality - specific to this market segment. How to identify the Kano-qualities?

6.2 TRIZ Model

Let's focus on the Panasonic-situation. The author wants to review source code - objective. He buys this printer, because it offers faster and high quality printing; this product function allows him to achieve his objective - satisfier. Meeting his objective creates value: to create a program with fewer bugs - expected value (Figure 4).
At home, an unwanted function reveals itself: the printer emits ozone! Tolerated to some degree, it finally limits the frequency of printouts - dissatisfier.
At home, a nice function revealed itself: the printer is very noiseless! This delighter allows starting more complex projects; creating programs with more functionality may come true - unexpected value. Though - the ozone imposes a limit here as well.

Figure 4:TRIZ Model for the Printer

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