Quality function deployment implementation based on analytic network process with linguistic data: An application in automotive industry

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a cross-functional planning tool, which is used to ensure that the voice of the customer is deployed throughout the product planning and design stages. The QFD process involves various inputs in the form of linguistic data, e.g., human perception, judgment, and evaluation on importance or relationship strength. Such data are usually ambiguous and uncertain. This paper aims to implement of QFD under a fuzzy environment. In addition, the analytic network process (ANP), the general form of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used, to prioritize design requirements by taking into account the degree of the interdependence between the customer needs and design requirements and the inner dependence among them. The developed approach is used to study the basic product planning stage of a car design.