When dealing with quality, the most essential aspect is always listening to the so-called “Voice of the Customer” (abbreviated as VOC from the English words “Voice Of Customer”).
The VOC serves as a constant reminder that we must ensure compliance not only with internal requirements or what we believe to be customer needs, but also with the actual desires of our clientele, which we may have never verified. While adherence to technical specifications is absolutely necessary, it is equally crucial that products are user-friendly and, in some way, even “appealing” to customers.
There are many ways to capture the voice of the customer. A simple starting point is the analysis of complaints, although, as we know, complaints only tell part of the story. By relying solely on their analysis, we learn nothing about what the customer might want but has never been offered. A more comprehensive approach to listening to customers is to combine complaint analysis with a survey, a direct interview, or, where applicable and feasible, a workshop where customers can test products and provide feedback.
Two other options to determine exactly what people want are the use of focus groups and benchmarking. Someone purchasing a simple nail, for instance, might want to use it to join two pieces of wood or to hang a hat on the wall. They might need it for a piece of furniture in their living room or to build a tool shed for their garden.
Let’s not stop at assumptions—let’s dig deeper. Capturing the voice of the customer is the first step in translating their needs into technical specifications. One tool that can be used to capture the VOC is the Kano model, created in 1980 by Noriaki Kano, which is used to enhance customer satisfaction during the product development phase.
It is based on a graphical method that ensures customer needs are met or even exceeded, delighting them with products that surpass their expectations. The Kano model uses two orthogonal axes: horizontal and vertical. A product or process positioned in the middle of the vertical axis meets the basic needs of the customer but does nothing more.
Moving upwards along this axis, we go beyond simply satisfying the customer’s needs and reach the point of delighting them. The horizontal axis, on the other hand, represents the level at which the required attributes to meet customer needs have been implemented. Naturally, basic needs and delight factors can change over time, making it risky to settle for merely meeting primary customer requirements. This level of performance can only be considered acceptable and can easily be surpassed by any competitor who does even slightly better.
For this reason, it is always advisable to strive to fulfill even those desires that the customer is not yet aware of. This is the only way to ensure a long-lasting and profitable presence in the market. Another interesting application of the Kano model is in quality policy; in this context, the model can be used to capture the voice of the customer and translate it into customer expectations and needs that can be converted into actionable features.
One way to implement this is by applying the Quality Function Deployment tool, which is often used in conjunction with the Kano model. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was created by Yoji Akao in the 1960s and utilizes a diagram called the “House of Quality” to analyze customer-required qualities, identify relationships among them, and transform customer requests into features useful for developing a design that meets all requirements.
In simple terms, QFD provides the structure to translate customer needs into technical specifications. The so-called “House of Quality” is a graphical representation resembling a stylized house, similar to how a child would draw one. The left side of the house contains a list of customer desires and needs; the right side holds data from benchmarking research (a tool that compares one's performance with the best organizations in the field or direct competitors) and an assessment of how well the company can meet customer needs compared to competitors.
At the center of the house is the matrix that links the left and right sides, highlighting the company’s ability to meet customer requirements. Still in the center, but above the matrix, are the technical factors (technical requirements and specifications), and at the very top, forming the triangular roof, are the correlations between the requirements. The requirements identified in the House of Quality are then translated into product specifications to ensure customer satisfaction through QFD’s cascading model.
Essentially, the technical factors identified in the first House of Quality are transferred to the left side of a new House of Quality, where the required features are now listed in place of the technical factors. Once the new QFD is completed, a third House of Quality is generated to evaluate process operations. Finally, a fourth and last House of Quality is created to identify production requirements.