Integrating Kano's model in the planning matrix of quality function deployment

The quality of a product or service is ultimately judged in terms of customer satisfaction. Focusing on listening to the voice of the customer (VOC), quality function deployment (QFD) has been used as a quality improvement and product development technique in many fields. To achieve total customer satisfaction in an effective way, QFD practitioners should go beyond merely listening to the VOC. This paper presents an integrative approach by incorporating Kano's model into the planning matrix of QFD to help accurately and deeply understand the nature of the VOC. Based on the Kano model analysis, an approximate transformation function is proposed to adjust the improvement ratio of each customer attribute. Customers' raw priorities are thereby adjusted accordingly for achieving the desired customer satisfaction performance. An example is presented to illustrate the use of Kano's model in QFD. Some benefits as well as further improvements regarding this approach are discussed.