Applied Research Of Product Improvement Methodology Based On Kano’s Model And Usability Engineering

Under the heavy impact from advanced technology, a manufacturing industry hasto constantly design new productsto obtain a competitive advantage. Innovation degreeof product improvement is moderate, but its high efficiency and low cost are importantadvantages. In this context, it’s vital to find a method to obtain the factors for productimprovement, and this method is a key to get new features which fit customer’s needsand are beyond their expectations. Analyzing related theories, it is found that most oftheories focus on new product design. Although the rest is related to productimprovement and the major way is to test existing product, it cannot help older productto get free from existing features. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore a productimprovement methodology,which is high efficiency and low cost,and can get rid ofregular thinking.In order to achieve this aim, a quantitative methodology of analyzing customers’needs to help improve product based on usability engineering and Kano’s model isproposed. After researching the definitions of usability factors from the usabilityresearch results, a total of17factors were derived, including5fundamental factors and14expanding factors which are defined in this study. These factors are the basic data forusability evaluation, providing an exact and comprehensive reference. After researchingquantitative analysis method of Kano, a "Satisfaction-Usability (S-U)" relation functionis defined,which is based on two-dimensional relationship of Must-be Requirements,One-dimensional Requirements,and Attractive Requirement. The S-U function can helpunderstand customers’ needs in a more accurate way.Based on a case to upgrade a bone-conduction earphone for a technical company inShenzhen,this study gives a detailed introduction on the progress of obtainingcustomers’ needs. A total of15target users were recruited to test the usability of thisbone-conduction earphone. Then26target users were recruited to participate in Kanotest.After that,19quality attributes were proved to impact satisfaction. And S-Ufunction were built to get overall satisfaction degree S, which are evaluationcriterions to help make decision. In the final stage, there were13target usersparticipating in usability evaluation of new product. The results shows that thenew generation product is better than the old one both in market and in customers’ satisfaction, concluding that the effectiveness and feasibility of thismethodology.This study helps the technical company build product scenarios andknowledge-base of target users. The user-centered method to capture customers’ needswas also introduced into design department of this company.