Understanding Customer Requirements Principles of Design Zahed Siddique

Understanding Customer Requirements Principles of Design Zahed Siddique Assistant Professor School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering University Of Oklahoma zsiddique@ou. edu University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Need to focus Moving in the wrong direction at a fast pace is still moving in the wrong direction. Ri t gh ong r W University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Information on QFD…. n n n Developed in Japan in the mid 1970 s Introduced in USA in the late 1980 s Toyota was able to reduce 60% of cost to bring a new car model to market Toyota decreased 1/3 of its development time Used in cross functional teams Companies feel it increased customer satisfaction University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Why…. ? n n Product should be designed to reflect customers’ desires and tastes. House of Quality is a kind of a conceptual map that provides the means for interfunctional planning and communications To understand what customers mean by quality and how to achieve it from an engineering perspective. HQ is a tool to focus the product development process University of Oklahoma AME 4163

QFD Target University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Important points n n n Should be employed at the beginning of every project (original or redesign) Customer requirements should be translated into measurable design targets It can be applied to the entire problem or any subproblem First worry about what needs to be designed then how It takes time to complete University of Oklahoma AME 4163

How Muches This Product Whats vs Hows Now vs What Hows Units This Product Customer Evaluation Who Whats Hows vs Hows Who vs. Whats Components of House of Quality Hows vs How Muches Targets University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Target Useful Data This Product Customer Evaluation Ratio of Improvement Extensions to House of Quality Weighted Importance % Units This Product Targets Technical Difficulty University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Step 1: Who are the customers? n n To “Listen to the voice of the customer” first need to identify the customer In most cases there are more than one customer n n consumer regulatory agencies manufacturing marketing/Sales University of Oklahoma Customers drive the development of the product, not the designer AME 4163

Step 2: Determine the customers’ requirements n n Need to determine what is to be designed Consumer n n n product works as it should lasts a long time is easy to maintain looks attractive incorporated latest technology has many features University of Oklahoma List all the demanded qualities at the same level of abstraction AME 4163

Step 2: cont. . . n Manufacturing n n n easy to produce uses available resources uses standard components and methods minimum waste Marketing/Sales n n n Meets customer requirements Easy to package, store, and transport is suitable for display University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Kano Model Basic Quality: These requirements are not usually mentioned by customers. These are mentioned only when they are absent from the product. Performance Quality: provides an increase in satisfaction as performance improves Excitement Quality or “wow requirements”: are often unspoken, possibly because we are seldom asked to express our dreams. Creation of some excitement features in a design differentiates the product from competition. University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Types of customer requirements n n n n Functional requirements describe the product’s desired behavior Human factors Physical requirements Reliability Life-cycle concerns Resource concerns Manufacturing requirements University of Oklahoma AME 4163

How to determine the Whats? n n n Customer survey (have to formulate the questions very carefully) If redesign, observe customers using existing products Combine both or one of the approaches with designer knowledge/experience to determine “the customers’ voice” University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Affinity Diagram n n Provides structure for verbal data by creating natural clusters or groups Ensures that the list of demanded qualities are complete and expressed at the same level of detail University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Constructing Affinity Diagram Set a brainstorming session to list all possible requirements n Record each element of the list on small cards n Place all cards on a table randomly Silent mode n Spend time reading all demanded qualities n Start at the same time, once everyone is ready - everyone quickly and without thought find two demanded qualities that have something in common n If you find a demanded quality is not where you think it belongs, move it. If it is moved again, make a duplicate and talk about it later. n The process continues until all demanded qualities are in a group. n University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Constructing Affinity Diagram Discussion Mode n Begin discussion after group composition for the demanded qualities becomes stable n First review the demanded qualities that seemed to have more than one home n Select a descriptive name for the groups. Group names must also be demanded qualities, but at a higher level of abstraction n Look at each group and judge if all elements are at the same level of abstraction n Check each group by asking “If this is the name of the group, what elements should be included but are missing? ” n Next test for missing groups. n Check with the types of customer requirements list University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Step 3: Determine Relative Importance of the Requirements: Who vs. What n Need to evaluate the importance of each of the customer’s requirements. n Generate weighing factor for each requirement by rank ordering or other methods Whats Units This Product How Muches University of Oklahoma Customer Evaluation Whats vs Hows Now This Product Hows Now vs What Who vs. Whats Who Hows vs How Muches Targets AME 4163

Rank Ordering n n Order the identified customer requirements Assign “ 1” to the requirement with the lowest priority and then increase as the requirements have higher priority. Sum all the numbers The normalized weight Rank/Sum n The percent weight is: Rank*100/Sum University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Step 4: Identify and Evaluate the Competition: How satisfied is the customer now? The goal is to determine how the customer perceives the competition’s ability to meet each of the requirements Whats Units This Product How Muches University of Oklahoma Customer Evaluation Hows Whats vs Hows Now This Product The design: 1. does not meet the requirement at all 2. meets the requirement slightly 3. meets the requirement somewhat 4. meets the requirement mostly 5. fulfills the requirement completely Hows vs Hows Now vs What n it creates an awareness of what already exists it reveals opportunities to improve on what already exists Who n Who vs. Whats n Hows vs How Muches Targets AME 4163

Step 5: Generate Engineering Specifications: How will the customers’ requirements be met? n The goal is to develop a set of engineering specifications from the customers’ requirements. Restatement of the design problem and customer requirements in terms of parameters that can be measured. Whats Units This Product How Muches University of Oklahoma Customer Evaluation Whats vs Hows Now This Product Hows Now vs What Who vs. Whats Each customer requirement should have at least one engineering parameter. Who Hows vs How Muches Targets AME 4163

Step 6: Relate Customers’ requirements to Engineering Specifications: Hows measure Whats? This is the center portion of the house. Each cell represents how an engineering parameter relates to a customers’ requirements. Whats Units This Product How Muches University of Oklahoma Customer Evaluation Whats vs Hows Now This Product Hows Now vs What Who 9 = Strong Relationship 3 = Medium Relationship 1 = Weak Relationship Blank = No Relationship at all Hows vs Hows Who vs. Whats n Hows vs How Muches Targets AME 4163

Step 7: Identify Relationships Between Engineering Requirements: How are the Hows Dependent on each other? Engineering specifications maybe dependent on each other. Hows vs Hows Whats Units This Product How Muches University of Oklahoma Customer Evaluation Whats vs Hows Now This Product Hows Now vs What Who 9 = Strong Relationship 3 = Medium Relationship 1 = Weak Relationship -1 = Weak Negative Relationship -3 = Medium Negative Relationship -9 = Strong Negative Relationship Blank = No Relationship at all Who vs. Whats n Hows vs How Muches Targets AME 4163

Step 8: Set Engineering Targets: How much is good enough? Determine target value for each engineering requirement. Whats Units This Product How Muches University of Oklahoma Customer Evaluation Hows Whats vs Hows Now This Product n Hows vs Hows Now vs What n Evaluate competition products to engineering requirements Look at set customer targets Use the above two information to set targets Who n Who vs. Whats n Hows vs How Muches Targets AME 4163

Relationships Among Engineering Characteristics Customer Evaluation Customer Identifying performance measure conflicts Engineering Characteristics Evaluation Record Performance Relative Importancemeasures for each customer demanded quality ratings for your Record customer performance Customer Attributes Similar product and competitors’ products Importance for each demanded quality needs Relationship demanded customer and The first step is tobetween list alltothe demanded qualities at the same be determined Technical benchmarking Engineering Performance level of abstraction Units Technical Difficulty associated with achieving Engineering Objective Measures Targets/improvements and importance of Influence Setting Technical Targets technical characteristics Customer Determining Targets Qualities Important Technical Difficulty Targets Importance Characteristics University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Components of House of Quality Hows Whats vs Hows This Product Who Customer Evaluation Who vs. Whats Now vs Whats Hows vs Hows Weighted Importance Addition to the House of Quality presented in text book Importance % Units This Product How Muches Hows vs How Muches Targets Rank Technical Difficulty Selected University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Creating the Requirement List n n Contents of Requirement List n Specify if the individual items are demands or wishes in the clearest possible terms n Tabulate Quantitative and Qualitative aspects n Collect further information n If possible rank wishes as being of major, medium or minor importance n Living document Arrange the requirements in clear order n Define the main objective and the main characteristics n Split into identifiable groups Enter the Requirement list on standard forms and circulate Examine Objections University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Requirement List University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Requirement List Example Name 1 Name 2 Name 3 Use information from House of Quality as an starting point for creating the requirement list. Need to identify requirements for the product that are basic and necessary but are not specified by the customers. University of Oklahoma AME 4163

Example House of Quality Design a device to toast breads and other similar types of food University of Oklahoma AME 4163