Title: Setting affordable performance targets for consumer products: a method based on fuzzy logic

Authors: E. Nikolaidis

Addresses: Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA

Abstract: The design of a new consumer product starts with setting targets for the most important performance attributes. In most cases, there is no systematic way to account for cost when setting targets. This leads to targets that are too expensive to meet and eventually to waste of resources. A method for target setting that accounts for cost and for the relative importance of performance characteristics to customers is proposed. The method uses fuzzy sets to express the preference of customers to certain values of performance characteristics and cost and to combine the preferences into one measure of overall customer satisfaction. A regression polynomial is used to estimate the cost required to meet given targets. Then the method finds the values of the performance targets that maximize customer satisfaction. The method is demonstrated on target setting for medium-size family cars.

Keywords: affordable targets; performance targets; fuzzy sets; preliminary design; consumer products; fuzzy logic; product design; vehicle design; automobile industry; family cars; medium-size cars; automotive design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.1995.061944

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 1995 Vol.16 No.4/5, pp.384 - 396

Published online: 28 May 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article