2. Capturing the voice of the customer through two channels: CTQ and QFD

2.1 CTQ (Critical To Quality) channel

The CTQ channel breaks down the customer's needs and translates them into requirements, generally expressed in terms of quality, cost and lead time. These requirements must then be broken down into characteristics that can be assessed by measurement.

A multi-disciplinary approach is recommended in order to improve the quality of exchanges and the completeness of the requirements definition.

A tool commonly used to apply this approach is the Kano diagram. This diagram asks the following question for each function considered in design and development: "How do you feel if the following characteristic is included in the product? Then a similar question is asked in contradiction: "How do you feel if...