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Research paper : Introduction to service engineering (H. Yoshikawa)−108 Synthesiology - English edition Vol.1 No.2 (2008) designed and analyzed in terms of engineering by observing the behaviors of the donor and the receptor, it is necessary to describe the service more microscopically and consider it as a continuous process. In the above example, the cook or the donor has time course of designing dish and preparation involving movements (included in the donation), while the customer or the receptor has a time course of reception including the expectation until the dish arrives, eating and drinking, and resting between dishes. Although it is not easy, it is possible to express the time course with some conditions. For example, the donor increases the “latent function for the donation” through preparations (“function for cooking” has been already exerted). When the providing action occurs through serving of dishes, the function for the receptor is exerted, and it becomes a manifest function or service, and the cumulative latent function decreases. In this sense, service is change (temporal differentiation) in latent function accumulated by preparation. The time course is as follows: receptor’s reception increases rapidly on arrival of the dishes, this leads to the receiving action of dining, the fulfillment increases, and a new fulfillment occurs as the receptor enjoys the afterglow of meal. The elements of the donor and the receptor are not independent, and, of course, the relationship that characterizes the service exists between the two elements. Therefore, the service issue is a mutual relationship between limited continuous processes with autocorrelation.3 Amplification of serviceHere, let us address the amplification of the service. This is an important issue related to the fact that the service is drawing attention as an industrial or an economic problem. It is also related to the productivity of service industry. These issues will be discussed in the future, and here we shall describe only the basic concepts that must be understood to enter into the discussion.A service can be amplified. The amplification can be accomplished by a medium (or a vehicle). Setting a primitive service in which a person donates a service to another person as a basic unit of the service, the rate of service amplification can be expressed as the ratio of (amount of) service to (amount of) primitive service.There are two modes of amplification. The first is strengthening by a medium within the condition of primitive service. When one person donates a service to another person, not directly, but through a medium (in most cases, through tools), the service may become higher in speed or wider in range (when transporting a person, higher speed service can be donated using a motorcar rather than carrying the person on back), and this is called a strengthened primitive service. The primitive service in which the person is carried on back is amplified through strengthening medium (tool) called motorcar. The second mode is the proliferation. The amount of service is increased when a network is built using media and the service is delivered to many people without losing the amount donated per person. One service donor can donate the same service to several receptors (Rakugo, a Japanese traditional art for telling humorous stories, told to one person can be heard by tens of thousands of people through the television media). The delivery of the service in this manner is called amplification by proliferation.The medium (vehicle) that bridges relationship between the donor and the receptor includes tools such as devices and machines, circumstances such as stage and building, and social system such as laws, regulations, rules, and customs set by nation, government, region, or organization. Examples are shown in Figure 4. In order to calculate the amplification quantitatively, respective consideration must be taken for each case. Using the aforementioned example, number of television sets can be used as rate of amplification due to proliferation. In terms of strengthening, if the transportation service can be donated in 5 min by car while it is 30 min by carrying the passenger on back, the rate of amplification by strengthening is 6. However, it cannot always be measured, and along with qualitative improvements, the quantification is not easy. For example, in the restaurant example, the fulfillment for the cooking (taste, for example) was quantified, but this is not necessarily accurate. In this point, effective measurement method must be determined by employing the knowledge of related disciplines and by introducing new points of view to the each field of service.When considering the cost of amplification, the perspective shifts to economy. There are many issues including the productivity of service industry. Many issues that are currently drawing attention and are being investigated belong to this topic.4 Summary: related disciplines and research topics(36)−AmplifyingmediaToolCircumstanceSocialsystemIntegrationTypes of mediaTool, device, machine, database, software, etc.Structure, spatial configuration, network, etc.Law, system, rule, organization, custom, etc.Integration of aboveExample of service amplifying mediaTelevision, message device, automobile, word processor, search engine (all devices are service amplifiers)Theater, hotel, recreation hall, information network, roadGovernment, ward office, police box, bank, store, communication system, traffic system, hospital, school, company (administrative, financial, distribution, communication, transportation, medical, and education services)Fig. 4 Example of service media.

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