An integrated QFDE approach for identifying improvement strategies in sustainable product development

The interest on environmental issues in general and on improvement strategies in sustainable product development in particular is rising more and more due to significant environmental problems that we started to encounter in the last decades. However selecting the right strategies while considering the cost and quality constraints is a hard task to accomplish. In this study, a multi aspect QFD for Environment (QFDE) is proposed to identify the improvement strategies by considering not only the end usersʹ requirements but also the environmental stakeholdersʹ ones. In order to define the priorities of all stakeholdersʹ requirements, Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) Extent Analysis approach is used. The method is applied for the product “hand blender”, a member of Electrical and Electronic Equipment family, which attracts a significant interest because of its negative impacts on the environment and human health. The proposed methodology is suitable for use in early design, since it does not require detailed information about the product, and provides a holistic approach by adding cost and quality parameters to the usual ecodesign improvement strategy selection problem.