Identification of Product Specifications Based on KANO Model and Application to Ecodesign

Abstract

It is said that KANO model is one of the key findings in analyzing and categorizing various product qualities. The model says qualities are not only one dimensional in terms of the relations between quality fulfilment and customer satisfaction. If a designer could find a delighter which can increase customer satisfaction greatly without enhancing specification too much may contribute to increase product eco-efficiency, since higher specifications usually lead to larger environmental burden. The study extracts some design specifications of smartphones and carries out an online survey to smartphone users in order to identify the relations between the specification levels and customer satisfaction levels. As the result of the survey, a true exciter could not be found in the case study products. However, regression coefficients estimated by applying conjoint analysis to the selected specifications showed there were specifications which can effectively increase customer satisfaction such as battery capacity or display size, and also there was a specification having little effect in increasing it. The survey results suggested that there are optimum values of product specifications. Identifying the optimum values and avoiding over-specification is significant in finding appropriate design solutions which may decouple the customer satisfaction and the environmental burden increase. The study concluded that the approach is helpful in enhancing product sustainability by Ecodesign.