Managing requirements for the development of a novel elbow rehabilitation device

Abstract

The development of new technologies for healthcare must take into consideration customer requirements from different stakeholders. The Voice of the Customer must be identified, analyzed and organized. This study aims to present a new approach of managing requirements from different product value chain stakeholders for a novel elbow rehabilitation device development. The Customer Value Chain Analysis tool was used to identify the product value chain stakeholders and the Quality Function Deployment tool to analyze and prioritize these requirements. The development is described in accordance with the engineering requirement process adapted to this case: 1) elicitation: the requirements come from the literature; benchmarking; questionnaires applied to all parties identified by Customer Value Chain Analysis application; 2) analyses: requirements were understood, and their overlaps, conflicts and prioritization were done by means of Quality Function Deployment (quality, product and part characteristics matrices); and 3) documentation: the identified construct of requirements were: ergonomics, functions, aesthetics, handling, materials, components/elements. The main parts that must be prioritized were: arm support, forearm support, support shaft, joystick, and support base. The association of these two tools is a novel and successful approach of identify different product value chain stakeholders and prioritize technical requirements for health product development.