Visual quality and sustainability considerations in tolerance optimization: A market-based approach

Steven Hoffenson, Andreas Dagman and Rikard Söderberg

International Journal of Production Economics, 2015, vol. 168, issue C, 167-180

Abstract: During the late stages of product development, dimensional tolerances are chosen to balance quality requirements with manufacturing costs. Designers typically judge how much variation in the product dimensions should be allowed while still maintaining the perception of high quality for the product or brand, but this is rarely based on a quantitative understanding of how consumers actually perceive variation and quality. Likewise, environmental sustainability priorities, which can also be affected by dimensional tolerances through production waste and product lifespan, are often chosen without knowing how such attributes are received by consumers. This paper presents a survey-based technique for understanding how tolerance and pricing decisions influence market demand and manufacturer profits, accounting for consumer perceptions of visual quality and environmental friendliness. A case study of a mobile phone design is explored, including variation propagation simulation, manufacturing cost and environmental impact estimation, online choice-based conjoint (CBC) survey design and administration, consumer demand model construction, and profit maximization for the markets in China, Sweden, and the United States. The results show how consumers make trade-offs in purchasing decisions when choosing among mobile phone attributes including price, environmental friendliness, and visual quality, and different scenarios are compared based on survey design, country of interest, and the company׳s global product strategy.

Keywords: Tolerance analysis; Perceived quality; Consumer choice; Design for sustainability; Design optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527315002315
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:proeco:v:168:y:2015:i:c:p:167-180

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2015.06.023

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Production Economics is currently edited by Stefan Minner

More articles in International Journal of Production Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().