Integration of Kansei Engineering and Conjoint Analysis to Product Design

Abstract

Continuous product development is critical for every company. For that reason, understanding what a consumer wants and is willing to buy is a constant endeavour for every company. The study was a case study of a synthetic rattan furniture manufacturer in Indonesia, exploring new design for its sofa product. The study used combination of Kansei engineering and conjoint analysis to propose new sofa design. Kansei engineering was done with affinity diagram workshop and principal component analysis addressing visualised consumer preferences' attribute. Using Kansei engineering a new sofa model was proposed stressing consumer preference on 'minimalist', 'bulky' and 'calm' features. Afterwards, the study was enriched with conjoint analysis addressing non-visualised aspects of consumer preferences and concluded that 'price', 'warranty' are the two most important attributes. From the conjoint models, the studied company can estimate the overall utility value based on different level of 'price', 'warranty period', 'rattan type', 'fabric type', and 'foam type'.