An integrated approach to the elicitation of customer requirements for engineering design using picture sorts and fuzzy evaluation

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Product definition is widely accepted as one of the key factors to be considered in the early stage of product design and development. It has a direct impact on the success of a new product in the marketplace. Frequently, product definition is solicited through the voice of the customer (VoC). As such, an organization will obtain a prominent competitive edge over its competitors if it is able to effectively capture the genuine VoC or the requirements of a customer. Sorting techniques provide a means to elicit customer requirements. Although a number of sorting techniques were developed, few of them are able to handle the uncertainty and imprecision inherited from the VoC and subjective judgment because of their crisp decision making. An integrated approach is described, which is based on repeated single-criterion sorts and fuzzy evaluation, for the elicitation of customer requirements. The details of the integrated approach are presented. The approach is validated using a case study on the design of a wooden golf-club head. The details of the validation are discussed.