Conjoint analysis: A useful tool in the design process

Customer satisfaction and delight are core values within the quality movement. Achieving customer satisfaction and delight in an economic way by finding the quality attributes most valuable to customers has become a key issue in today's design activities. Conjoint analysis is considered an excellent tool for this purpose. Conjoint analysis has recently been introduced as a tool supporting the use of QFD in the design process. The purpose of this article is to illustrate a possible work flow for conjoint analysis and to give an example of the kind of information that can be collected by using the technique. Each step in the work flow is illustrated using a recent survey regarding the development of a total quality management course curriculum.