THE VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER - PART 2 - BENCHMARKING BATTERY CHARGERS AGAINST THE CONSUMERS IDEAL PRODUCT

The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Evaluatio n and Transfer is exploring how the end users of assistive technology devices define the ideal device. This work is called the Consumer Idea l Product program. In this work, end users identify and establish the importance of a broad range of product design features, along with the related product support and service provided by manufacturers and ven dors. This paper describes a method for systematically transforming en d-user defined requirements into a form that is useful and accessible to product designers, manufacturers, and vendors. In particular, produ ct requirements, importance weightings, and metrics are developed from the Consumer Ideal Product battery charger outcomes. Six battery char gers are benchmarked against these product requirements using the metr ics developed. The results suggest improvements for each product's des ign, service, and support. Overall, the six chargers meet roughly 45-7 5% of the ideal product's requirements. Many of the suggested improvem ents are low-cost changes that, if adopted, could provide companies a competitive advantage in the marketplace.