Analysis and Application of Quality Assurance in User ... · Figure 2: Kano Model Kano model could...
Transcript of Analysis and Application of Quality Assurance in User ... · Figure 2: Kano Model Kano model could...
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AnalysisandApplicationofQualityAssuranceinUserCenteredDesign:Acase
study
AlessandroBrun*,MatteoMarioSavino**,AntonioMazza**
*PolitecnicodiMilano,DepartmentofManagementEngineering,ViaDurando,10-20100,Milano,Italy**UniversityofSannio,DepartmentofEngineering,PiazzaRoma,21–82100,Benevento,Italy
Abstract:Whendiscussing the topicofquality froma"modern"pointofview, "customer satisfaction” is
arguablyoneofthetopcriterionofhighproduct/servicequality,sothatonlycompanieswhoseoutput(be
it a product or a service - or both) really satisfies end users are the ones with high quality. Traditional
product design ideology and methodology is experiencing innovation and reformation. A new design
ideology named “user-centered design” (UCD) is spreading and raising growing interest and recognition.
Unlike conventional design approaches, UCD gives users top priorities throughout the whole design
process,asitsultimatepurposeistomeetusers’requirements.Thepresentworkaimstoproposeaquality
assuranceprocessbasedontheUCDparadigm.TheUCDprocessmainlyincludesthreephases(namelypre-
design planning, design presentation, design evaluation and implementation), and quality control of the
product design is to be enforced throughout thewholeUCD process. The proposed control process has
beentestedinacasestudyofportablephotoprinterdesign,usingUCDforreferenceandQualityFunction
Deployment for technical means. The case study, which will be discussed in the paper, will show the
application of a new, effective quality control model for product design. Thanks to the real
application,basedonasurveyoncustomerneeds,andappliedtoallstagesofUCDprocess, feasibilityof
thesuggestedapproachisvalidated.Thepaperwillconcludewithacriticaldiscussionontheapplicabilityof
suchmethodologytodifferentfields.
Keywords:User-CenteredDesign,QualityFunctionDeployment,DesignQuality,QualityAssurance
1. Introduction
Qualityhasbecomeakey factor foranenterprise toachievesuccess,aswellasasignificant issue in the
economy evolution of each country (Fynes and De Burca, 2005) while the relationship between design
qualityandcustomersatisfactionandbusinessperformanceisalsoaddressedinseveralempiricalstudiesin
the fields of qualitymanagement andmarketing (Karipidis, 2011). Dr. Joseph Juran - the famous quality
managementexpertinAmerica-predictedthatthe21stcenturywouldbeacenturyofquality,whichwould
becomenotonly themosteffectiveweapon for companies tooccupymarket share,butalsoapowerful
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driving force for the development and improvement of society(Han et al., 2007). There are a variety of
perspectivesfromwhichquality isviewedaccordingtotherole itplays inthevariouspartsofabusiness
organization;inparticular,thefiveperspectivessingledoutbyGarvin(1984)inhisseminalpaperwerethe
judgmentalperspective,product-basedperspective,Userbasedperspective,value-basedperspective,and
manufacturing-based perspective. The “User Based” is a modern definition of quality, derived from Dr.
Juran’s viewpoint (Han et al., 2007): product quality is its “fitness for intended use”, that is, basically
“meetingorexceedingcustomers’expectations”.That isalsothedefinitionofqualitybeingacceptedand
applied in this article. This definition covers two aspects of implications: i) usage requirements and ii)
satisfactionlevel.Userswouldalwaysputforwardsomerequirementsforthequalityoftheproductsthey
areusing,andthoserequirementsmaybeinfluencedbysomefactorssuchasobject,location,timeandso
forth.At thesametime,usersatisfactionwith theproduct is reflected in termsofproductperformance,
using effect, economic characteristics, etc. Failure to take into account the customers’ view and needs
duringproductdesignwill result in lowquality.Consequently,effectivecontrolonproductquality in the
earlydesignphasefromuser’spointofviewwouldbeoneoftheareasworthyofstudy(Lin,2005).Quality
engineeringindesignphaseaimsatgraspingneedsfrommarketandusers,andtakingthemintoaccountin
product design process. The concept of customer satisfactionmeans that the entire process of product
development should be customer-centered and the requirement analysis should be carried out from
customers’ perspective. To help companies achieving such goals, tools – such as Quality Function
Deployment(QFD)-andapproaches–likeUser-CenteredDesign(UCD)–havebeendevelopedinthelast
decades.
Asthecoretechniqueofqualityengineeringduringproductdesignstage,QFDhasachievedgreatsuccess
inqualitymanagementanddevelopmentofindustrialproducts.Beingregardedasapowerfulweaponfor
companies to successfully implement the customer satisfaction strategy, QFD has attracted widespread
concern by international quality academics. UCD is a design philosophy claiming that product strategy
shouldconsidermeetingcustomers’needsasthebasicmotivationandultimatepurposeduringtheinitial
stagesofproductlifecycle.Asthecoreofusabilityengineering,UCDhasbecomeahottopicinthefieldof
computerinterfaceallovertheworld(Hu,2009).However,theconceptofUCDisstillquite“philosophical”
whenitcomestoapplicationsintheindustrialworld,asithasnotbeentranslatedyetintoclearguidelines
givingspecificdirectionsforindustrialproductdevelopment.
Consideringtherelevanceofthetopic,alongwithsaidmeritsandlimitsofUCD,thepresentpaperaimsat
providing a practical implementation of UCD in the case of a portable photo printer design, using the
thoughtsandideasofUCDforreferenceandQFDfortechnicalmeans.Thepaperisstructuredasfollows:a
literaturereviewonmainworktopics inpresented insection2.Section3 focusesonresearchobjectives
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and methodology, section 4 describes the quality control process adopted for the application case of
section5.Thelastsectionhighlightsmeritsandlimitsofthepaperandindicatesfutureresearchdirections.
2. UCD,QFDandKanoModel
In an attempt to pursue customer satisfaction as a guarantee of long-term success, many firms are
increasinglyimplementingqualitymanagementmethodologiesandtools,andembracingtheTotalQuality
Management philosophy. Arguably, themost important, and often initial stepwhen implementing TQM
inspiredinitiatives–suchasSixSigma–islisteningtothe“VoiceoftheCustomer”,orVOC(Brun,2011;Lai,
2003). Chen and Yan (2008) pointed out that especially during the early stages of product concept
definition, the involvement of users plays a critical role: for a successful product development it is
paramount tounderstandcustomer/userneedsandtoaddress themquicklyandaccurately (Hongetal.,
2011).Wecanthereforedefinedesignqualityasthedegreetowhichaproductmeetsthecustomerneeds
ofaspecificmarketsegment(Freiesleben,2010).Inthefollowing,wewillanalyzetools,philosophiesand
methodologieshelpingcompaniestoguaranteedesignqualitythroughoutthenewproductdesignprocess.
UCD is a design philosophy and a process in which the needs, wants, and constraints of (current and
prospect)usersofaproductaregivenmaximumattentionateveryphaseofthedesignprocess.UCDcan
becharacterizedasamulti-stageproblemsolvingprocessrequiringdesignerstoi)analyzeandforeseehow
usersarelikelytouseaproduct,andii)testthevalidityoftheirassumptionswithregardstouserbehavior
inrealworldtestswithactualusersaswell.UCDistypicallydeployedinthreestages(DongandFu,2003):
a)strategyanduseranalysis,b)designandassessment,c)executionandassessment.Atthebeginningof
product lifecycle,users’needssatisfaction isstrategicallypositionedtobethebasicmotivationandfinal
objective;duringthefollowingdesignprocessanddevelopment,allthedecision-makingcriteriaarebased
on feedbacks coming from theusers. Inorder to supportpractical implementationofUCD, anumberof
specifictoolshavebeenproposed.Consider,e.g.,theStarLifeCycle,SpiralandWaterfallmodels,depicted
inFigure1(Sharpetal.,2002):theyfullyreflectthecharacteristicsofuser-centeredandsuggestthecentral
positionofuserindesign.
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Figure1:StarLifeCycleModel,SpiralModel,andWaterfallModel
QFD is a “method to transform user demands into design quality, to deploy the functions forming
quality,andmethodsforachievingthedesignqualityintosubsystemsandcomponentparts,andfinallyto
specify elements of the manufacturing process”. It has the two-fold purpose “to assure that customer
needsareproperlydeployedthroughoutthedesign,buildanddeliveryofanewproductandto improve
theproductdevelopmentprocessitself”(AkaoandMazur,2003).QFDtransformscustomerneeds(i.e.the
VOC) into design requirements, component characteristics, production and quality control requirements
(Cristiano et al., 2000; Govers, 2001; Chang and Wu, 2002). The key success factors of the QFD
methodology are that it is customer-centered and oriented towards customer satisfaction, supports
systematic deployment of a product’s function and characteristics, and fosters inter-departmental
teamworkandcollaboration.Threeresolutionmodelsarewidelyacknowledged(Chang,2006):i)Japanese
QFDmodel (Xiong and Shindo, 1996), ii) ASI QFDmodel (Xu, 2003) and iii) Goal/QPC QFDmodel. QFD
models proactively explore not only the requirements that customers explicitly conveyed, but also
unspokentypesofneeds,sotomaximizecustomersatisfactionandavoiddissatisfaction.Notwithstanding
itsmanymerits,QFDhassomewell-knownlimitationsalso,themainonebeingtheunderlyingassumption
thatCustomerSatisfactionimproves linearlywiththeincreaseoftheproductperformance.Asnotallthe
needsareshowingthesamelinearbehavior,specificmethodologies(suchastheKanomodelandtheGrey
SystemTheory)havebeendevelopedtoimproveanalysisandhandlingofcustomerneeds.
Kano Model defines 3 types of user requirements (Kano, 1984): i) must-be requirements, ii) one-
dimensionalrequirementsandiii)attractiverequirements(Figure2).Must-berequirementsareconsidered
asthemost“basic”productfunctionsorservices,oftencorrespondingtounspokencustomerneeds.When
must-be requirements are fulfilled, they contribute little to customer satisfaction while vice versa the
customerwillbeverydissatisfied.One-dimensionalrequirementsrepresentthe“typical”productfeatures,
and contribute to customer satisfaction in a linear way.Attractive requirements are related to product
attributesor servicebehaviors that totally gobeyondusers’expectationsand thusmakeusers surprised
andexcited.Whentheproductdoesn’thavethesefeatures,userswon’t feeldissatisfied;butoncethese
featuresexist,userswouldbeverysatisfied.
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Figure2:KanoModel
Kanomodelcouldbeexpandedwithothertypesofrequirements (ChenandChuang,2008): i) indifferent
requirements, i.e. users are not interested in them; ii) reverse requirements, i.e. different users have
different,orevendiametricallyoppositeexpectationstowardsoneattribute;iii)questionablerequirements,
i.e.therearesomemisunderstandingfromusersorfeedbackmistakes,orthequestionsareputforwardin
awrong stage.When user requirements have to be classified, two opposite questions (i.e. forward and
reversequestion)areset:customersareaskedabouttheirfeelingandattitudeswhentheattributeexists
or not. According to users’ answers, user requirements can be classified according to the categories
identified by Kano, e.g. using the widely adopted clustering approach advocated by Matzler and
Hinterhuber(1998),showninTable1.
Table1:MatzlerandHinterhuberClusteringApproach
3. Researchobjectivesandmethodology
UCDprocessesandmodelsaremostlyappliedinsoftwaredevelopmentandinteractionsdesign,yetalsoin
industrialproductdesign“User-centered”isshowingagrowingrelevanceandfrequentadoption.Withthe
present paper, we propose the introduction of a quality assurance process in a User-Centered product
designcontext.SuchanewmethodologywouldsupportthedesignteamincollectingtheVOCandatthe
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sametimeto take intoaccountcustomersatisfactionasameasureofdesignquality, thusguidedby the
goalofdevelopingproductsthatmeetuserneeds.
Thedevelopmentof ourmethodology is groundedon twounderlying assumptions: i) “fit for purpose” /
matching user needs is one of themost important success factors in new product development, and ii)
insufficientmarketanalysis isoneofthemostcommoncausesofnewproductfailure.Consequently,the
process of product planning and design should be driven by customer needs. In order to obtain and
maintain competitiveness, enterprises should carry out a rigorous market research, and continuously
interactwithusers,tobeabletodesignproductsbettermeetingcustomerrequirements.
TheproposedmethodologywillsupportcompanieswillingtointroducetheideasandconceptsofUCDinto
the design of industrial products. Based on the fact that UCD has been developed and proved to be
beneficial in computer industry (Zheng, 2006), aUCDapproach could be introduced in industrial design,
and integrated with quality engineering, to develop a new approach to design. In this way, companies
adopting the methodology could achieve benefits such as correctly understand user needs and seize
marketopportunities,andimproveproductdesignquality,ensureultimateproductquality.
The development of said methodology was based on an extended literature review, and supported by
empiricalevidencehavingbeenvalidatedthroughacasestudy.
4. DevelopmentofqualitycontrolprocessinUCD
Inthefieldofproductdesign,somerelativelyfrequentlyusedUCDmethodsare:ethnographyobservation,
user roles, user interview, survey questionnaire, focus group, QFD, scenario-based design, participatory
design, usability test, eye-movement analysis, etc. The various tools provide similar benefits, supporting
companiesto:a)identifyuserneeds;b)createadatacollectionsystem;c)speedupinformationaccessand
interpretation; d) explore design opportunities from the perspective of end users; e) avoid judgmental
decisionsindesignprocess(Hu,2009).
The entire UCD process could be divided into three phases: pre-design planning, design presentation,
designevaluationandimplementation.InFigure3,theentireprocessisdepicted,andthespecificstepsin
whichtheabovementionedtoolscouldbeusedarehighlighted.
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Figure3:UCDprocess
Throughout the whole process, the degree to which user needs are fulfilled is typically regarded as a
measureofdesignquality.Thus,correctlyaddressingtheuserneedsateverystep–aswillbeexplainedin
detailsinthenextsubsection–isameantoimplementqualityassuranceinnewproductdesign.
4.1 User-BasedMarketSegmentation
Different users have different dominant needs, so the consumer market is not a unified homogeneous
market, but can be divided into user group subsets with common requirements and characteristics. At
presenttheapproachestomarketsegmentationaremainlybusinessperspectiveanduserperspective(Xu
andTang,2008).Thisworkprimarilystudiestheuser-perspective-basedmarket.Themarketsegmentation
variables based on users consist of 4 aspects (Gan, 2002): geographical factors, population statistical
factors, psychological factors and behavioral factors characterized by some frequent variables (Freud,
1994).
4.2 Characteristicsdescriptionoftargetusers
Usersshouldbeclassifiedthroughasetofcharacteristics.Onefrequentlyusedclassificationmodelisbased
onthethreeelementsoftargetusers:a)agefeatures;b)lifeattitude;c)fashionsensibility(LiaoandZhu,
2010); each triplet of age/attitude/sensibility representing one possible (virtual or actual) user group.
Usuallyoneproductgroupcouldbetargetedtoseveralusergroupsatthesametime.
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4.3 Acquisitionandclassificationofuserneeds
Theacquisitionandanalysisofuserneedsisthemostcritical,andalsothemostdifficultstepinthequality
controlprocess inUCD impactingonthedeterminationofdesignelements inQFD.Figure4presentsthe
processofuserneeds recognition.Theprocedure foruserneedsacquisitionstarts fromthedefinitionof
targetusers, followedbytheselectionandapplicationof tools forneedsrecognition,suchas interviews,
focusgroups,andobservationofusersbehavior.
Figure4:acquisitionandclassificationofuserneeds
GriffinandHauser(1993)showedthattheneedsrevealedinatwo-hourfocusgroupdiscussionareequal
tothoseobtainedfromtwoone-hourinterviews,whereasthecostofinterviewisusuallymuchlowerthan
that of a focus group. This is the reason why the interview is the most frequently used user-needs-
acquisition method, and we will therefore adopt it in our case study. User needs collected through
interviewsarethensortedandclusteredusingtheAffinityDiagramtechnique.Aftertheacquisitionofvalid
userneeds,an importance level is tobeassigned toeachof them.This isdone throughaquestionnaire
withfive-pointLikertscaleanswers.
4.4 ConversionfromuserneedstodesignelementsbasedonQFD
Oncetheuserneedshaveaccuratelybeencollected,QFDhelpsin:a)rankingtheweightofuserneeds;b)
calculatingthecorrelationvaluebetweenuserneedsanddesignelements.SoQFDcouldberegardedasa
conversiontoolbetweenuserneedsanddesignelements.
a. Rankingtheweightofuserneeds
Tointroducenon-linearcorrelationsneedsandproductperformances intoQFD,manyscholarsstartedto
study how to integrate QFD and Kanomodel (Tan and Shen, 2000; Sauerwein et al., 1996; Sireli et al.,
2005).Inparticular,weadoptedthefollowingapproachto:
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• Classify user needs according to Kano model, dividing them in: M (must-be needs), O (one-
dimensional needs), A (attractive needs), I (irrelevant needs), R (reverse needs), and Q
(questionableneeds).
• Forthei-thneed,calculatetheproportionofusersconsideringitM,O,AandI(respectively𝑈!,𝑉!,
𝑋!and𝑌!),andcalculate𝐹! (theincreasingrateofusersatisfactionwhentheattributeexists)and𝐷!
(thedecliningratewithouttheattribute),anditcanbeobtainedthat
𝐹! =!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!;𝐷! =
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sotherelativeweight𝑤! ofthei-thuserneedis:
𝑤! = 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝐹!𝐹!!
!!!,
𝐷!𝐷!!
!!!
Theuserneedwillbeclassifiedapplyingtheprincipleof“relativemajority”(ofusers),butwhenthe
relativepercentagesof twoclassificationsareequal (or very close tooneanother), anda clearly
definedcriteriaisneeded,wewilladopttherelativeusersatisfactioncoefficientratio(expressedas
𝐹!/𝐷!)andclassifytheneedaccordingtothethresholdinTable2.
𝑭𝒊/𝑫𝒊 Typeofneeds
>1.1 Attractiveneeds
0.9~1.1 One-dimensionalneeds
<0.9 Must-be-needs
Table2:thresholdsfortherelativeusersatisfactioncoefficientratio
b. Calculatingthecorrelation
Thecorrelationvaluebetweenuserneedsanddesignelements is calculatedby collecting theopinionof
severalexperts. Incaseofdivergingopinions,methodologiessuchasDelphiortheAnalyticalHierarchical
Process(AHP)couldbeappliedtofindaconverginganswer.
4.5 Designproposalevaluation
After obtaining the “quality controlling points” of the design process, the designer team could generate
severalalternativedesignproposals;thevariousproposalswillthenbeevaluatedandthebestoneselected
accordingtotheusers’perspective.Heretheuserneedssatisfactiondegree𝑆!" isintroducedwiththeaim
to examine the degree towhich the design proposal fulfills user needs. In particular, specific evaluation
criteriaare:
! Judgmentof𝑆!! accordingtothefollowingtable;
Degreetowhichdesignproposalsfulfilluserneeds 𝑺𝑲𝒊
Verywell 1
10
Preferably 0.75
Fairly 0.5
Reluctantly 0.25
None 0
! Calculationofweightedevaluationscoreforuserneed𝐷!:
𝑓!" =𝑊! 𝑆!"!
!!!𝑚
Where𝑊! istheweightofeachuseneed,m isthenumberoftargetuserswhoparticipate inthe
grading;
! Calculationofthetotalscore𝑓!fordesignproposalX:
𝑓! = 𝑓!"
!
!!!
wherenisthenumberofitemswhichregarduserneedsasgradingindicators.
Theproposalwithahigherscoreisthedesignthatcouldbetterfulfilluserneedsonthewhole,providing
basisforproposalsevaluation(eventhoughothercriteria,suchasthecostofthedifferentproposals,might
beusedtomakethefinaldecision).
5 Applicationinarealcase
TheproposedqualitymethodinUCDisappliedinadesignprojectofanewportablephotoprinterthrough
three steps: i) During pre-design phase, carry out elaborate analysis on target users and their needs, ii)
convertuserneeds todesignelementseffectively,withexplicitdesignquality controllingpoint indesign
processandiii)Determinepreliminaryproductdesignproposal,showtheproductdesigneffecttousersin
formsofdraftand2Dsketchdrawings,preparingfoundationsforsubsequentdesignwork.
Step1.Marketsegmentationanduserneedsacquisition
Sixfactorsareconsidered:Region,mobility,age,gender,occupationandincome.Inthiswayitishelpfulto
understandandgrasptheconsumermarketasawhole,aswellaspositiontargetusergroups.Inparticular,
theprojectteamaddressedtwoclustersofusers:
1. Potentialusers:Universitystudents,themightyandmainconsumptionforcesinthefuture,whose
attitudesandtastesplayadeterminantroleinthedevelopmentdirectionofprinterinthefuture;
2. Maintargetusers:Newgraduates,officewhitecollars,payingcloseattentiontonewproducts in
digitalmarket,seemedasthemajorconsumergroupsofportablephotoprinter.
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Userneedsacquisitionwasperformedthroughinterviewstotargetusertounderstandthegeneralfeatures
suchasvalueconcepts,expectations,beautyappreciationandpreferencesofuserstowardsportablephoto
printers. In this way, the general requirements and expectations of users when they use or purchase
portablephotoprinterswasobtained.The intervieweeselectionwasbasedon thepreviousdefinitionof
targetusers,regardingtheyouthmenandwomenincitiesof19~30yearsoldrelativelyconcernedonthe
fashion trend of digital products; having purchased or used portable photo printer, or relatively familiar
with this kind of products. After that, the researchers had comprehensive awareness of the using
conditions, use intentions, value positioning, expectation conditions andaesthetic standardsof users for
portablephotoprinters,andtheywereabletoextractalistofuserneedsandorganizeithierarchically(in
theso-called“CriticaltoQualitytree”,CTQtree)usingaffinitydiagram.
A furtherquestionnairewasadministered tousers inorder tocalculate the relativeweightsof customer
needs.Results(analyzedbymeansofthestatisticalsoftwareSPSS)aresummarizedinTable3.
Table3:relativeimportanceofneeds,asresultingfrommarketsurvey
Since the actual importance degree of user needs is not linear, it is necessary to revise the user needs
importance degree combinedwith Kanomodel. First of all, the user needs are classified based on Kano
modelandtheclassificationmannerproposedbyMatzlerandHinterhuber;resultsareshowninTable4.
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Table4:classificationofneedsfollowingMatzler&Hinterhubermethod
AsisshowninTable,forthe9thitem“Smallsize,portable”,thedifferencebetweentherelativefrequency
percentages of “Must-be needs” and “One-dimensional needs” is very small, so the relative user
satisfactionratioiscalculatedas0.71,whichislessthan0.9,thusclassifyingthisitemintomust-beneeds.
Theotheruserneedsofportablephotoprinterareclassifiedaccordingtotheirhighestrelativepercentage.
Step2.Conversionfromuserneedstodesignelements
Theextractionofdesignelementsisaverytechnicalprocessrequiringdetailedknowledgeinthefield.This
hasbeendone involvedprofessionalprinterdesigners,ergonomicsprofessionalsandotherpractitioners.
The matrix of relationships between user needs and design elements has been determined in a panel
session with the experts. Results are summarized in Table 4, where “◎” represents strong correlation
degree (equals to 5), “○” represents medium correlation degree (equals to 3), and “△” means weak
correlationdegree(equalsto1).
Table5:resultingQFDmatrixfortheportableprinter
Step3.Designplansevaluationofportablephotoprinter
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According to the importance rank of design elements, the design team designed two portable photo
printers (labeled as Plan A and Plan B) to choose from where 20 target users were selected as the
evaluators.Thedesignerselaboratedthedesignconcept,specificationparameters,productcharacteristics
andsoonfacetoface,andtheusersgavetheirgradesinaccordancewithwhethertheproductmettheir
needs,withthesatisfactiondegreedividedinto5levels,from“Verywell”to“Notatall”.Tableshowsthe
finalgradevaluesofthetwoplansafterthesynthesisofweightingandaveragingofusergrading.
Table6:comparisonbetweentwoalternativedesignproposalstakingintoaccountuserview
Ascanbeseenfromtheevaluatingresults,theoverallgradesofplanAishigherthanthatofplanB,even
thoughtheperformanceofAisnotsuperiortothatofBforeverysinglefactor.Thecomparisonofthetwo
plansintermsofvariousindicatorsisshowninFigure6.
Figure5:comparisonbetweentwoalternativedesignproposals
Theprinting performance of planB is superior to that of planA,which can also be concluded from the
specificationparametersof theplans, since theconfigurationof theproductBobviouslyexceeds thatof
productA,which,atthesametimeimprovesusersatisfactiontosomeextent.Thisiscoincidentalwiththe
classification that theperformance-relevantuser needsmostly belong toone-dimensional and attractive
needs.Becauseofmoreadvancedconfiguration,planBhasahighermarketreferencepricethanplanA,
whichaffectsusersatisfactiontoagreatextent.Thisisbecausethetargetusersare“Universitystudentsof
19~30yearoldandnewgraduates”whoarerelativelyprice-sensitive,whichiscloselyrelatedtothetarget
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marketbeingselectedatthebeginning.Inaddition,boththetwoplanshavehumanizeddesignintermsof
operability,withwhichtheusersarerelativelysatisfied.Intheperspectiveofappearance,userspreferplan
A, which gives them the feelings of “small, exquisite, fashion and succinct”. When it comes to
interestingness,planBisevenbetterduetoitsadvancedsystemconfiguration.
6 Conclusionsandresearchoutlooks
Amodernqualitydefinitionhastotakeintoaccounttheuserperspective;underthisassumption,theUCD
philosophy developed. Based onQFD, this work proposed an originalmethodology of quality control in
product design. The whole process encompasses: pre-design planning, design presentation and design
evaluation. It isalwayshighlightedthat theextenttowhichcustomerneedsaresatisfied isameasureof
productdesignquality,aiming,onturn,atreachinghighlevelsofcustomersatisfaction.
Thefollowingstatementssummarizeourwork:
" Discusses onwhy companywilling to achieve good level of customer satisfaction has to ensure
qualityoftheproductdesignprocess,byusingappropriatetools;
" IntroducestheconceptofUCDwitharelevantliteraturereview;
" Weproposedaqualityassuranceprocess,basedontheUCDparadigm,consistingintheapplication
of several quality management tools in the 3 sub-processes of the User-centered product
development;
" KanoModelisusedtocomplementthewellknownQFDlimitation,ofassuminglinearbehaviorof
customersatisfaction;
" The methodology is tested and validated in a real case, regarding the development of a new
portablephotoprinter.Theprocessisusedtodirectandcontrolthequalityoftheproductdesign.
Inthelightofthequalitycontrolpointsafteranalysis,designalternativesaremappedout.Thefinal
planisdeterminedafterassessmentjudgedbytheextentthatcustomerneedsarefulfilled.
Although attempting to shed new light on the paramount topics of user based view of quality and
measuringdesignquality,thepresentmanuscript istobeconsideredaworkingpaperastheresearchon
thetopicisstillongoing.Amongtheapparentlimitsofourwork:
- firstof all, taken independently, themethodologies adopted (QFD,Kanomodel, theMatzler and
Hinterhuber method) are not innovative; it is the overall framework that is a somehow new
contribution; for this reason, the selection of the specific techniques and tools is critical for the
successoftheoverallmethodology,andinthefutureprobablyothertoolswillbeincludedinthe
frameworkandimplemented;
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- theapplicationtoonesinglecaseisnotenoughtoprovethatthemethodologycouldactuallywork
indifferentsectorsandindifferentconditions–soseveralotherapplicationcasesarerequired;
- finally,basedonthesinglecasestudy,wewerenotabletoassessnumericallythebenefitscoming
fromthemethodologyapplication.
Therefore, future research directions are devised: the overall framework will be expanded to include
severalother“classic”qualitymanagementtools;themethodologywillbetestedinanumberofcasesof
designofnewconsumergoods.Furthermore,atooltomeasurebenefitsresultingfromtheapplicationof
themethodologywillbedevelopedandappliedtoeverysinglecasestudy–itwillmeasurebenefitsbothin
a qualitative way (increased customer satisfaction, perception of the design team of having been
supported,…)andinaquantitativeway(lowercosts,shortertimetomarket,lessfailures,…).
Asafutureextension,themodelcouldbeappliednotonlytothedesignofnewproductsbutalsotothe
interestingfieldofservicedesign.
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