An interdisciplinary method for the analysis of support products for disabled people with the synergic use of quality function deployment and Analytical Hierarchy Process

This paper proposes a method involving interdisciplinary participation with the purpose of identifying users' needs and analyzing the commercial competition for support products for disabled people. This method joins together quality function deployment (QFD) and Analytical Hierarchy Process technique (AHP). The method was applied to the evaluation of products in support of mobility (ISO9999: 2007) for people with lower limb disability, in order to favor their social inclusion in the city of Cali, Colombia. The users' opinions were collected through a poll that followed the principles of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. It was concluded that the use of QFD and AHP with interdisciplinary teams is more reliable when considering users' needs than the use of the simple weighing method proposed by QFD and some of its variations. The application of QFD from the perspective of users favors radical innovation and not just a specific product.