TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluation of alternatives for product customization using fuzzy logic
AU - Tsai, Hung Cheng
AU - Hsiao, Shih Wen
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to the National Science Council of the Republic of China for supporting this research under grant NSC91-2213-E-006-091, and LERADO corporation for the aid of constructing 3-D geometric models.
PY - 2004/1
Y1 - 2004/1
N2 - Many consumers purchase multi-functional products according to their individual preferences. Consumers are normally aware of their basic needs, but often have no idea of product types, functions, usage and terminology showing important information. This paper presents a method to translate customer needs into applicable alternative combinations for the products of customers' desire. In this research, the theory of the analytic hierarchy process is utilized to evaluate the importance of customer needs, which are generally rated and described by qualitative expressions. A fuzzy inference model is employed to establish the relationship between customer needs and alternatives for a multi-functional product. Then a fuzzy synthetic distance method is used to perform optimal searching for possible alternative combinations in the product. Based on the above-mentioned methods and associated algorithms, a consultative interface is setup on the Internet for a case study to demonstrate effectiveness. Although a baby stroller is taken as an example in this study, this method can also be used on other products.
AB - Many consumers purchase multi-functional products according to their individual preferences. Consumers are normally aware of their basic needs, but often have no idea of product types, functions, usage and terminology showing important information. This paper presents a method to translate customer needs into applicable alternative combinations for the products of customers' desire. In this research, the theory of the analytic hierarchy process is utilized to evaluate the importance of customer needs, which are generally rated and described by qualitative expressions. A fuzzy inference model is employed to establish the relationship between customer needs and alternatives for a multi-functional product. Then a fuzzy synthetic distance method is used to perform optimal searching for possible alternative combinations in the product. Based on the above-mentioned methods and associated algorithms, a consultative interface is setup on the Internet for a case study to demonstrate effectiveness. Although a baby stroller is taken as an example in this study, this method can also be used on other products.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ins.2003.08.001
DO - 10.1016/j.ins.2003.08.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0242440173
SN - 0020-0255
VL - 158
SP - 233
EP - 262
JO - Information sciences
JF - Information sciences
IS - 1-4
ER -