An analytical Kano model for customer need analysis

In an effort to address the inherent deficiencies of traditional Kano method, this paper proposes an analytical Kano (A-Kano) model with focus on customer need analysis. Kano indices in accordance with the Kano principles are proposed to incorporate quantitative measures into customer satisfaction. Accordingly, two alternative mechanisms are proposed to provide decision support to product design, (1) the Kano classifiers are used as tangible criteria for categorizing customer needs, and (2) the configuration index is introduced as a decision factor of product configuration design. The merit of product configurations is justified using a Kano evaluator, which leverages upon both the customer's satisfaction and the producer's capacity. A case study of dashboard in automotive design is also presented. It is demonstrated that the A-Kano model can effectively incorporate customer preferences in product design, while leading to an optimal tradeoff between customer's satisfaction and producer's capacity.