FREE online courses on Quality by DesignTranslating Customer Needs  

 

Design function should provide for the translation of customers' needs from the product brief into technical specifications of products, materials, processes and services.      

 

This should result in a product that provides customer satisfaction at an acceptable price that enables a satisfactory return on investment for the organization and takes care of other stakeholders' needs.

 

The product design and specification should be such that the product (including service) is easily productable, verifiable and controllable under the proposed production, operational and capable of being installed.

 

For translating the customer needs following aspects should be taken into consideration:

 

Quality requirements of Product

 

The marketing function should find out and provide the quality requirements for the product and should;

• Determine the need for a product or service.
• Accurately define the market demand and sector with details of grade, quantity, price and time estimate of the product and service.
• Accurately determine the customer requirements by review of contract or market needs.
• Communicate all customer requirements to production planning/design functions of the company.

 

Product Brief

 

Product brief is formal statement or outline of the product requirements. It should be prepared by the marketing function and provided to design function.

 

Product brief translates customer requirements and expectations to a preliminary set of specifications as the basis for subsequent design work. Product brief should include:

 

• Performance characteristics (environment and usage conditions, reliability, etc.);
• Sensory characteristics such as style, color, taste, smell, etc.;
• Installation configuration;
• Applicable standards and statutory regulations;
• Packaging requirements;
• Quality assurance and verification.