Product architecture definition based upon customer demands

Abstract

The product portfolio architecture developed by a design team will have a tremendous impact upon customer satisfaction and market acceptance of the set of products offered by the firm. Yet most work in architecture centers around cost savings, manufacturability, and other production-driven concerns. Here, we propose a customer need basis for defining the architecture of a portfolio of products. Customer needs analysis provides a list of requirements for a product to sell. At any moment in time, one can assess a market population to establish target values for product features and represent those targets as probability distributions. Similarly, one can also trace the product through its use o..