UIC / IRRB – 6th December 2006 SNCF research on comfort and services

UIC / IRRB – 6th December 2006

SNCF research on comfortand services


Customers satisfaction researches

• This issue leads to two main problems that are tackled within SNCF research activities

• 1 – to acquire knowledge on the customer satisfaction in order to exploit them for the identification of expectations and needs for comfort and services

• 2 – To improve this satisfaction by setting up new services or increasing comfort, or even to improve are ability to carry out these services


To acquire knowledge on the customer satisfaction

• To carry out new observation, interviews or enquiries methodologies

– To get individual feelings as regards comfort

– To detect representations and uses

– To get relevant knowledge to orientate the improvement of comfort and services


New services and comfort improvement

• To carry out specific researches on comfort components or equipments → lighting, acoustic, toilettes etc..

• To develop new information, ticketing and internet services → TIKEFONE, INFOGARE etc..

• To carry out new researches for SNCF agent training within the field of services


The research on comfort and services

• Main objectives :

– To improve our knowledge about customers comfort perception and detect the trends for improvement

– To improve comfort specification for future trains (or stations)

– To help developing new products, new services in particular when new technologies are necessary

• A research activity organised with projects and partnerships (with universities, other industrial companies, engineering company, design schools or agencies)

• A wide domain treated :

– Comfort inside trains or stations (global comfort, physical and sensorial comfort, equipment etc..)

– New services for ticketing (mobile phone), web travel services


The specificity of comfort

• Comfort is a human concept associated to a perception phenomenon

– It evolves with time (“l’invention du confort” by Le Goff)– It is global, “integrated” – It is the subject of judgement, assessment and production of

meanings (individual but also collective and shared through the language)

– It is dependent of the context and of memory phenomena

It’s a big ball !


Methodological answers to this specificity as regards researches on comfort

• To take into account the evolution of the concept– to built methodologies to study it (not only knowledge at one

time) !– to innovate !

Better understand (what, why, who and how)..

... and Innovate

• To take into account the global and integrated characteristics of comfort (don’t cut it into several parts if these parts are connected)

• To define global comfort, its components and connections between them

• To make recommendations as regards analytical studies of comfort

• To take into account individual and collective judgements and meanings

• To make analyses of customers speech

• To make research within the real context of assessment of comfort but also to detect memory influence with studies out of the context


• To reverse our classical approaches

• To mix disciplines – Physics + human sciences + creative design

for innovation

Two main changes

Acoustics

comfort perception as regards specific components

Dynamics ClimaticGlobal comfort perception

Train movements

NoiseTemperature, air

Activity


Examples of projects and multidisciplinary approaches undertaken

• Research on acoustic and kinaesthetic comfort

• Aconit (A research project on global comfort in trains)– Psycholinguistics studies– Psycho environmental studies – Definition of customer references about trains

(design approach)– Physical measurements– sensorial analyses (test)

• Concept train : a new approach based on creative design to innovate (exploitation of the knowledge acquired on comfort and of customers enquiries)


Focus on methodologies and tools developed to study global comfort

• Psycholinguistic analysis of customers speech about comfort collected in real situation – Open questionnaires first to

detect without a priori components of comfort and their connections :

• "Selon vous, en quoi votre trajet est confortable?" (semantic and syntactic analysis)

– Closed questionnaires built on the results of the first ones to be connected to physical measurements

• “Lorsque vous étiez debout ou que vous vous êtes déplacé(e), les mouvements du train vous ont-ils été :”

Très inconfortables

Inconfortables Moyennement inconfortables

Confortables Très Confortables



• Development of a specific measurement tool called OCTAVE (Outil de mesure du Confort Thermique, Acoustique Vibratoire et d’Eclairage)

0.1 m

0.6 m

1.2 mAcoustic

Dynamic

LightingClimatic

“Head"

« Chest"

“Foot"



• Psycho environmental studies to detect different social representations of comfort and compare out of context enquiries with in situ enquiries and observations

• Genealogy of the train and travelling by train : the customer references, the evolution of the object


The kind of results obtained and expected

• Relevant knowledge on comfort for trains !– The components and their importance as regards

customers perception, and different variables (train, first or second class, time etc..)

– But also their connection between them

• Relevant recommendations – To study and improve comfort – To define new indicators for each components

• Innovation– Analysis of what has evolved (or not)


The concept train approach (Janus du design 2006 given by the French institute of design)- starting without constraints- taking into account diagnoses and customers expectations and results about comfort- using the resources of design as a « global » approach (with student or professional designers)

Since 2000, has been conducted to provide new concepts for future suburban trains, or for the space offer to the traveller, or any other aspect of comfort (luggage, toilettes,etc..)

Focus on methodologies and tools developed to innovate


The kind of results obtained so far

• A real innovation process !

• Real applications – Suburban trains specifications– Mock up of new spaces for luggage that could lead to

specifications– One brevet for a luggage secured compartment– Development of a specific comfort object for ID-TGV

Images And partenaires/AREP/Emilie Le Gulvout


Conclusions

• The specificity of comfort requires specific methodologies and tools

• Two main changes are necessary to progress– Reverse usual approaches and start from the

customer perception– Call the good competences and mix disciplines

• Take advantage of creative design in connection with scientific results to innovate


Perspectives

• Analytical studies of comfort (with recommendations taken into account)

– Seats– Toilets – Lights– Acoustics and

dynamics– Climatic – Etc..

• Accessibility of sensorial disabled people– Starting from their perception and the way they built it– Using creative design to propose new ideas– Using new technologies to provide new services


Thank you for your attention !

Documents

UIC / IRRB – 6th December 2006 SNCF research on comfort and services