Track: Defense and Aviation

Abstract

Today, companies that produce economically, taking into account the social and environmental effects of production processes, as well as meeting customer needs, are more successful. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a methodology that listens and analyzes customer voices then transforms them to engineering characteristics. In this study, an extended QFD is proposed by considering not only customer needs but also sustainability requirements. While defining the priorities of all requirements, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used. The proposed approach is applied for a composite horizontal stabilizer. The horizontal stabilizer is a fixed aircraft wing section that is used to maintain the aircraft in longitudinal balance, provide stability for the aircraft and keep it flying straight. It is a composite-based aircraft component. With the increasing popularity of composite materials for aircraft construction, it is crucial to make suitable product design for customer needs and sustainability requirements. The proposed methodology is appropriate for use in product design to handle customer needs and social, economic, environmental aspects of production together. In literature, integration sustainability with QFD is few studied. New discoveries of the proposed approach are illustrated in detail using a case study of a composite horizontal stabilizer that is used in a military aircraft.