Title: Quality function development: a new paradigm for involving customers in product development process

Authors: J.R. Sharma, A.M. Rawani

Addresses: Institute of Management Technology, 35 KM Milestone, Katol Road, Dorli, Nagpur 441502, India. ' Mechanical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Raipur (CG), India

Abstract: The success of new products is determined particularly by the extent to which the producer succeeds in developing products that meet consumer demands. This implies that product development has to be fast in order to incorporate the latest trends in the product. Over the last few years an impressive body of research has accumulated on the topic of product development and the purpose of this article is to synthesise and to assess our understanding of involving users in the development process. In this paper, an attempt is made not only to analyse existing models of product development but also introduces an integrated concept and methodology to address these issues. The paper is composed of product development background, related literature review and list of steps for model development. The concepts presented in this paper are not yet widely practiced. Nevertheless, this work integrates several theories and practices into a useful framework.

Keywords: customer oriented product development; voice of business; VoB; voice of customer; VoC; voice of engineer; VoE; quality function deployment; QFD; user involvement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJQI.2009.026461

International Journal of Quality and Innovation, 2009 Vol.1 No.1, pp.16 - 36

Published online: 11 Jun 2009 *

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