The Virtual Integrated Design Method

Quality function deployment proposes to take into account the “voice of the customer,” through a list of customer needs, which are (qualitatively) mapped to technical requirements in House One. But customers do not perceive products in this space and do not make purchase decisions in this space. Marketing specialists use statistical models to map between a simpler space of customer perceptions and the long and detailed list of needs. For automobiles, for example, the main axes in perceptual space might be categories such as luxury, performance, sport, and utility. A product's position on these few axes determines the detailed customer requirements consistent with the automobile's position such as interior volume, gauges and accessories, seating type, fuel economy, door height, horsepower, interior noise level, seating capacity, paint colors, trim, and so forth. Statistical models such as factor analysis and principal components analysis are used to describe the mapping between these spaces, which we call House Zero. Furthermore, utility functions used to determine market share are auxiliary functions that are often based in perceptual space. Conjoint analysis is often used to capture the product preference and potential market share. This research draws from the formal mapping concepts developed by Nam Suh and the qualitative maps of quality function deployment, to present unified information and mapping paradigm for concurrent product/process design. We call this approach the virtual integrated design method that is tested upon data from a business design problem.