Khoo, LP, Chen, C, Yan, W. (2002). An Investigation on a Prototype Customer-Oriented Information System for Product Concept Development. Computers in Industry, 49(2), 157-174.

Format: Peer-reviewed article

Type: Research — Non-experimental

Experience level of reader: Advanced

Annotation: Authors created an instrument (Customer-oriented information system — COIS) to establish a closer link between the new product functional attribute hierarchy (FAH) envisioned by the internal team, and the individual customer requirements through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The idea is to systematize the process using a relational database to eliminate the semantic gaps that arise between stakeholder groups.

Setting(s) to which the reported activities/findings are relevant: Large business, Small business (less than 500 employees)

Knowledge user(s) to whom the piece of literature may be relevant: Manufacturers

Knowledge user level addressed by the literature: Organization

This article uses the Commercial Devices and Services version of the NtK Model

Measure: Authors recognize the important role customers play in in NPD, but also recognize the communication barriers between manufacturers and customers. They propose linking a series data capture tools in a Customer-oriented Information System (COIS). It consists of a Functional Attributes Hierarchy (FAH) which the designers use to capture key product attributes. Customer requirements are separately collected and organized in an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to be correlated to the FAH. Lastly, all the material is entered into a relational database which can avert the semantic gaps between the data model and the engineering designs, to better and more accurately capture customer input.
Project team created a software system to capture and reconcile input from corporate and customer sources, and then apply the system to one case example.
Occurrence of finding within the model: Step 4.11, Step 5.3