A Critical Multi-model Comparative Study of QFD, Kano & AHP Hybrids for Product Development

Abstract

—Accurate comprehension of customers' requirements is a crucial step in product development as it ultimately decides how well the organization has been able to meet customer expectations. Though " Quality Function Deployment " (QFD) has been used over the years to incorporate voice of customer in the product design however the use of " Kano Analysis " and " Analytic Hierarchy Process " (AHP) are some of the alternate approaches that have been employed to understand customer attributes in recent years with work also reported on their hybrids. Although an " approximate transform function " is methodically introduced where Kano analysis is involved in a hybrid so that Kano attributes can be fitted with the other approach(es) involved, however no proper distinctness exists in literature of the true value this function is ought to attain. This paper builds on the hybrid approaches and compares different models for an insight of their suitability for incorporating the " true " voice of the customer and in the process scrutinizes the " function " by critically analyzing the circumstances instrumental in influencing its value. A case product is evaluated using hybrids (AHP-QFD, AHP-Kano, AHP-QFD-Kano) wherein various customer attributes are highlighted by primary data collection for planning matrix of QFD (the baseline). For Kano hybrids, the attributes are organized into Kano categories and adjusted with approximate transformation function; the models adopted herein are then subjected to a critical review by introducing key circumstantial factors for better understanding and possible corollaries on " approximate transform function " and Kano involved hybrid models. The authors advocate that hybrid AHP-QFD (IR)-Kano model is the best for incorporating the voice of customer in product development and " approximate transform function " can't be a fixed value owing to the dynamic nature of not only the circumstantial factors but also due to the traits, a particular sector/product may possess.