Title: Robust design approach with fuzzy-AHP for product design to enhance aesthetic quality

Authors: H.C. Yadav; Rajeev Jain; A.R. Singh; P.K. Mishra

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad 211004, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kalaniketan Polytechnic College Jabalpur, Jabapur 482001, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad 211004, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad 211004, India

Abstract: Visual shape parameters and aesthetic aspects of a product are one of the decisive factors for the success of a product in the market. Since designers are responsible for the visual appearance of a product, they tend to be critical in their decisions concerning the type and the values of the shape parameters. Inclusion of aesthetic aspect in product design and development has been challenging task for the researchers. Fuzzy based approach has been appropriate methodology to convert the customer emotion into usable design data. This study presents an integrative design approach incorporating the fuzzy AHP, Taguchi method and grey relation analysis (GRA) to obtain the optimal combination of shape parameters and aesthetic aspects. The method has been illustrated to evolve a profile of car.

Keywords: product design; aesthetic design; fuzzy AHP; robust design; grey relation analysis; GRA; Taguchi methods; analytical hierarchy process; automotive aesthetics; visual shape parameters; customer emotion; product development; vehicle design; automobile industry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDE.2012.050289

International Journal of Design Engineering, 2012 Vol.5 No.1, pp.65 - 90

Published online: 30 Aug 2014 *

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