Fuzzy logic and optimization models for implementing QFD

In design and quality improvement, the engineering characteristics that affect product performance are identified and improved to maximize customer satisfaction. This is usually done empirically in conventional implementation of quality function deployment. The limited resource and increased market competition and product complexity require more accurate and optimal solutions. A new approach is proposed to address the difficulties due to the uncertainty of data and lack of quantitative tools. It prioritizes engineering characteristics through a fuzzy ranking procedure and optimizes the improvements using a mixed integer program. Numerical experiments are designed to verify the models and investigate computational efficiency.