Appendix 2
Information System for Products – CCI
The CCI (Centre de creation industrielle, French center for industrial creation) has sought to “manufacture” information on the qualities of use and of products, and enable professionals and the public to select, from all of the products marketed in France, those that best match their criteria, their requirements of use. This experimental service was in place for several years at the Centre Georges Pompidou, as well as at the exposition of living arts and at the Nancy fair (1977). The center was successful since its opening, and it is for this specific reason that the service was shut down (which no longer justified its development in a “cultural” center)! It can be resumed if the desire to do so can be found!
A2.1. SIP files
These files contain all information relating to a type of product (refrigeration, food preparation, bicycles, washing machines, etc.) in a condensed format. In particular, they allow for the selection criteria to be chosen.
A2.2. Selection of items
Using a computer, we can question the bank of data that contained the characteristics (prices, capacities, dimensions, performances, etc.) of all the articles sold in France.
From among the 800 refrigeration units and 400 washing machines, the computer identified the article or articles that met the demand.
The system is applied to consumer goods, that is, finished products (objects).
What could we ask of the system?
A selection of items based on the criteria of use: which men’s bicycles have a double-chain wheel and a price between €200 and €800?
Clarifications on an article: is the “Kilav 2500” washing machine front loading?
Information concerning the existence of a type of product: are there chest refrigerators with a capacity of more than 500 L on the market?
The address of the general distributors of one or more items: what are the addresses of the general distributors of accumulation-based electric water heaters with a capacity of 400 L and with a three-phase power supply?
The references and addresses of manufacturers or general distributors of a brand or a type of product: who is the general distributor of the “Kilav” washing machine? Who are the manufacturers of Italian bicycles?
A question to which the SIP could not (and did not want to) respond: what is the best refrigerator?
One single best product for everyone does not exist; on the other hand, perhaps one or more products can fit one person’s usage requirements.