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Quality Function Deployment (QFD) proposes to take into account the “voice of the customer,” through a list of customer needs, which are (qualitatively) mapped to technical requirements in House One. But customers do not perceive products in this space, nor do they not make purchase decisions in this space. Marketing specialists use statistical models to map between a simpler space of customer perceptions and the long and detailed list of needs. For automobiles, for example, the main axes in perceptual space might be categories such as luxury, performance, sport, and utility. A product’s position on these few axes determines the detailed customer requirements consistent with the automobiles’ position such as interior volume, gauges and accessories, seating type, fuel economy, door height, horsepower, interior noise level, seating capacity, paint colors, trim, and so forth. Statistical models such as factor analysis and principal components analysis are used to describe the mapping between these spaces, which we call House Zero.

This paper focus on House One. Two important steps of the product development process using House One are: (1) setting technical targets; (2) identifying the inherent tradeoffs in a design including a position of merit. Utility functions are used to determine feature preferences for a product. Conjoint analysis is used to capture the product preference and potential market share. Linear interpolation and the slope point formula are used to determine other points of customer needs. This research draws from the formal mapping concepts developed by Nam Suh and the qualitative maps of quality function deployment, to present unified information and mapping paradigm for concurrent product/process design. This approach is the virtual integrated design method that is tested upon data from a business design problem.

Processes, in practice, may involve more than one quality characteristic that are of interest. It is quite possible for such quality characteristics to not be independent of each other since the magnitude of one of the characteristics may influence the magnitude of the other characteristics. Under this setting, it is of interest to determine the optimal settings of the process parameters (usually the process mean and the process standard deviation of each quality characteristic) under various objectives. Some of the objectives may be conflicting to each other. In general, it may be possible for the decision-maker to prioritize the objectives. Using such a prioritized scheme, it is of interest to determine the optimal settings of the process mean and standard deviation for each quality characteristic that is being monitored. Such solutions could be labeled as “satisficing” solutions. Sensitivity analyses of the decision variables to the chosen objectives and parameter values are also investigated.

Academic libraries have long been central to the campus ecosystem. From one-room collections housed in multi-functional buildings of the colonial college campus to the modern-day cathedrals where collections, patrons, and technologies collide, academic libraries have been a steadfast, yet flexible pillar of the higher education system. Employing a case study approach, this chapter reveals how one institution, the Ohio University Libraries (OUL), has reimagined the use of library space in response to twenty-first-century demands.

A visioning process undertaken by OUL culminated in a master plan intended to serve as a guide to space utilization and renovation strategies for nearly every floor of the seven-story facility. Beyond the master planning process, external demand for space within the library emerged organically. Given these two realities, OUL’s actions over the last decade have been guided by two main approaches to the use and redesign of space: (1) repurposing space for library-oriented initiatives and (2) co-locating complementary student support services within the library. Collectively, the examples highlighted in this chapter reveal how OUL has redesigned library space and continues to be an innovative environment in response to changing demands.

Photographs are primary source documents that, like manuscripts and printed documents, carry layers of embedded information. As an example of a research strategy that can be used to study the time, place, and context of the development of early photographic businesses in America, a project to research and geo-reference the early photographic studios in New York City using information culled from imprints, census records, city directories, and other period sources is described. This case study example will focus on analyzing photographs and photographers operating in New York City and Brooklyn from the birth of popular photography in the 1840s to ca 1870s, and what researchers can learn about the development of the urban environments during this era. The study will provide an example of a research trajectory, brief background on the processes and early photographic business development, and note some of the research challenges that arise using historic photographs to study urban environments.