Voice of Customer through a Logical System (VOCALS): A New Paradigm in Product Quality Improvement

Abstract

In the present scenario of open-door economic policies, industries have to be one step ahead of customers' expectations. Quality can be defined as meeting customers' expectations and providing superior value. Meeting customers' expectations requires these expectations to be understood. In this paper, the authors have attempted to develop VOCALS-Voice of Customer Through a Logical System. The Voice of Customer (VoC) is a term used to define the stated and the un-stated customers' needs. VOCALS is a way to determine the customers' needs right at the start, practically employed by the authors for a Customer Driven Product Development through Quality Function Deployment (CDPD-QFD). The paper discusses the gathering of customers' voice and their development into structured, evaluated and quantified customer requirements. The paper attempts to develop VOCALS in an illustrative manner and suggests ways and means to improve and innovate the quality of understanding customers' requirements that drives the design and development of product. The outcome of the study is a system that is objective, scientifically derived and aids not only quality enhancement programs but a variety of product development programs.