Customer requirement prioritization on QFD: a new proposal based on the generalized Yager’s algorithm

The focus of this paper is on the prioritization of customer requirements (CRs) in the quality function deployment (QFD) process. There are numerous techniques for this task, which are based on different types of judgements (e.g., in the form of preference orderings, relative importance ratings, paired comparisons), generally collected by questionnaires/interviews. Unfortunately, many of these techniques violate some properties of the scales on which judgements are defined and/or are not flexible and user-friendly for respondents. This paper introduces a prioritization technique based on a recent algorithm— denominated as generalized Yager’s algorithm— aimed at fusing the preference orderings by multiple respondents into a single ordering. This technique can be applied even when (1) some CRs are tied or omitted in the individual preference orderings, and (2) respondents have a hierarchical importance ranking. Also, the procedure is automatable and relatively robust and provides a solution which is consistent with the preference orderings. The description is supported by a realistic application example, concerning the prioritization of QFD’s CRs in the design of an aircraft seat.