Product design on the basis of fuzzy quality function deployment

In the implementation of quality function deployment （QFD）, the determination of the target values of engineering characteristics is a complex decision process with multiple variables and multiple objectives that should trade off, and optimize all kinds of conflicts and constraints. A fuzzy linear programming model （FLP） is proposed. On the basis of the inherent fuzziness of QFD system, triangular fuzzy numbers are used to represent all the relationships and correlations, and then, the functional relationships between the customer needs and engineering characteristics and the functional correlations among the engineering characteristics are determined with the information in the house of quality （HoQ） fully used. The fuzzy linear programming （FLP） model aims to find the optimal target values of the engineering characteristics to maximize the customer satisfaction. Finally, the proposed method is illustrated by a numerical example.

Measuring Exterior Housing Quality in Four Older-Urban Neighbourhoods in Windsor, Ontario

Four theoretically-deduced hypotheses about geographical and temporal variations in exterior housing quality within a neighbourhood are summarized as a renovation- or deterioration-of-self effect, a contagion-down-the-street effect, a distance-from-riverbank effect, and a distance-from core effect. These hypotheses are tested with data for the exterior conditions of hundreds of single- detached (-like) houses that have been individually surveyed twice with the same instrument in four older-urban neighbourhoods in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Each surveyed house’s rated conditions of 12 exterior attributes are in particular utilized to calculate its overall exterior quality as a percentage above or below normal. Findings are that houses’ exteriors had average “normal” weathered conditions for Canada. Even so, overall exterior housing qualities in three neighbourhoods exemplified a hypothesized deterioration-of-self effect and proximity-to-core effect, as they had especially declined from their original survey to their resurvey for houses located near to a core such as downtown or a casino. In addition, the hypothesized distance-from-riverbank effect was observed in one neighbourhood where overall exterior housing quality linearly deteriorated with farther distance from a riverbank. Finally, overall exterior housing qualities had no observable contagion-down-the-street effect, and so, residents were not reacting positively or negatively to their neighbours’ maintenance and improvement of their homes’ exteriors. The practical implications of the study’s findings are discussed in the conclusion.

DESIGN ATTRIBUTES OPTIMIZATION MODEL FOR CUSTOMIZED PRODUCT AND ITS APPLICATION

By formulating the design of customized product as a multi-objectiveoptimization problem, a method for designing customized product according to the relative importanceof customer needs is proposed. This method searches for the optimal design that maximizes customersatisfaction by establishing mapping from design attributes to the degree of customer satisfactionon-each customer need. A window product is taken as an example for case study. The result indicatesthat this method is feasible.