Applying Refined Kano Model to Classify and Rank Customer Requirements, Case Study: Automotive Industry in Portugal

Companies aim to increase the quality of products and competitiveness to gain and retain more customers. This study proposes a novel approach to identifying and prioritizing customer requirements (CRs) to improve black uniformity as a characteristic that refers to luminance differences on the surface of a display by evaluating the CRs. The refined Kano model was applied to find the significant CRs to develop the product. Firstly, 112 CRs were identified in 5 main categories (1) technical, (2) quality, (3) delivery, (4) sustainability, and (5) cost. Then, the refined Kano questionnaire was designed to categorize the CRs. An example is performed to validate the method on the automotive display’ CRs. The findings showed that mechanical and delivery needs are critical CRs. Today, climate change is a significant challenge and a severe customer concern. Although sustainability’s CRs not classed as essential items in the production process, suppliers must be diligent in providing them. The results help to improve the automotive industry and other production systems.