Product architecture definition based upon customer demands

Abstract

The product architecture developed by a design team will have a tremendous impact upon customer satisfaction and market acceptance of a product. Yet most work in product architecture centers around configuring them for cost savings, manufacturability, and other production-driven concerns. Here, we propose a customer need basis for defining a product architecture. Customer needs analysis can provide 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. Alternatively, one can also trace a few products through their use in time, and establis..