Integration of green quality function deployment and fuzzy theory: a case study on green mobile phone design

• Published in: Journal of cleaner production 2015-12, Vol.108, p.271-280
• Main Authors: Wu, Yung-Hung, Ho, Chao Chung
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Environmental protection; Fuzzy logic; Green design; Life cycle; Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
• ISSN: 0959-6526; 1879-1786
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.09.013

In recent years, due to global climate change, the imbalance between economic development and environmental protection has become a topical subject. The cause of such imbalance is that environmental protection is not included in the product design and research and design phase by enterprises. Through green quality function deployment, this study integrated life cycle analysis into green design during the product research and design process, and applied the fuzzy theory to reduce customers' subjective judgment in semantics. A research and design model for green design was developed. The fuzzy green quality function deployment showed that customers considerably concern about ‘whether toxic materials are used in mobile design and production (15%)’, ‘whether there is excessive energy consumption in the circuit design (14%)’, and ‘whether the design of the battery can affect the environment (12%)’. This study developed a product research and design tool that considers the environment, quality, cost, and customer demand. Using fuzzy theory and quality planning, this study determined the importance of product design in technical attributes. It is expected that limited corporate resources can be applied in the key technical factor, thus developing a product research and design model to balance economic development and environmental protection. •This study integrated product life cycle into green design at the R&D stage.•This study predict environmental impacts by integrating green design and fuzzy QFD.•The model is applied to a real case study of a mobile phone design.•The QFD model incorporates the ‘voice’ of customers for greening into mobile phone design decisions and operations.