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1 Introduction

QFD (Quality Function Deployment) tries to understand the role of a product for its customer - to make the product a success in the market place.

Identifying relevant customer requirements is the main problem in QFD projects. The most practical approach is visiting the gemba: the gemba is that place and time, where and when a customer uses the product. Observing the interaction between the customers and his/her product reveals relevant requirements (1).

However, this cannot always be done- think of a new generation product! An alternative then is inventing the gemba by TRIZ.

2 Customer's Voice?

"Listen to the unspoken" is Glenn Mazur's ongoing theme. "Doing nothing wrong is not: doing anything right!" The problem is: what your customer does not say is important. Noriaki Kano visualized this by a simple model (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Kano Model - Supplier's Ability vs. Customer's Perception

Expected requirements are "self-evident" and unspoken. E.g. one can expect that a car will drive and can stop. Even a 100% fulfillment of these functions will never satisfy a customer - it is expected anyway. On the contrary, when these functions are absent or fail, customer will be dissatisfied. Kano calls them dissatisfiers (2).

Revealed requirements are expressed somehow. They are known; the degree of fulfillment correlates with customer satisfaction - like asking for a specific interior of a car. Kano calls them satisfiers.
Exciting requirements are not expected and are not asked for - they are unspoken. However, should they be available in the product, customer can become very excited - like having a GPS-system at no extra cost. Kano calls them delighters.

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