An integrated method of rough set, Kano's model and AHP for rating customer requirements' final importance

Owing to the typical vagueness or imprecision of customer requirements (CRs) in product planning house of quality (PPHOQ), determining the final importance of CRs is very difficult. Combining rough set theory, Kano's model, analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and scale method, an integrated method is proposed to obtain the final importance of CRs in PPHOQ. Firstly, by using relative reduction and relative core in rough set theory, a decision system is built to acquire CRs in PPHOQ Secondly, based on relative positive field in rough set, the decision system is simplified and its corresponding new decision system is established to determine the fundamental importance ratings of CRs. Thirdly, by integrating scale method into AHP approach, calculating formulas of the importance rating of achieving the improvement ratio of satisfaction estimation of a CR are developed, Next, for every CR, based on a combination of its fundamental importance rating, the importance rating of achieving the improvement ratio of its satisfaction estimation, and "its sales point", its final importance rating is determined. Finally, a case study is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the presented method. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.