Resumo:
Kansei Engineering is a product development methodology introduced by professor Mitsuo
Nagamachi in Japan, in 1970, which seeks to translate the Kansei (impressions, feelings and
emotional demands) of users, allowing the development of new products and satisfying
consumer needs. In this context, this paper presents the results of an applied research, using a
quantitative approach, with the objective of identifying what are the difficulties encountered
during the process of implementing this methodology, evaluating the degree of these
difficulties and how they relate to each other. The contribution of the research is given in
terms of improved performance, improved product design, less waste, increased quality and
success of Kansei products, in addition to providing the academic community and
professionals in the field with knowledge about the main difficulties that may occur during
the implementation of the methodology. To achieve the proposed objective, after a systematic
literature review addressing the Product Development Process and its Critical Success Factors
(FCS), also on the Kansei Engineering methodology and its generic steps, the main authors of
articles on the subject were identified on the Web of Science and Scopus platforms, located
on the CAPES journal portal. Subsequently, through a survey, the authors were asked about
the degree of difficulty encountered in applying each step of the methodology and in relation
to the FCS. First, the sample of respondents was analyzed for the presence of outliers using
the Mahalanobis multivariate distance method, returning the exclusion of five respondents.
Nagamachi, creator of Kansei Engineering and a second experienced respondent from Kansei
Engineering state that the implementation of the methodology does not present difficulties,
but through the analysis of agreement (Kappa coefficient) with the other respondents in the
sample, it was found that they do not agree with the two authors, indicating that there are
difficulties in specific stages of the methodology implementation process. Investigating a
group that performed the implementation inside the business environment with a second that
performed it outside, through the Mann-Whitney test, it was observed that there was no
statistically significant difference that showed the difference between the two groups
regarding the difficulty of implementing the methodology. . Finally, through Exploratory
Factor Analysis (EFA), of the 28 initial variables, it was possible to reduce 15 variables (8
External Variables and 7 Methodological Variables). Composed of three factors, the External
Variables formed: “Leadership and Structure”, “Development Team” and “Importance of the
Product”. For the Methodological Variables, two groups were formed, called “Evaluate and
Create” and “Plan and Validate”. Thus, it can be concluded that the factors formed show more
adequately the difficulties of implementing the methodology perceived by the respondents,
allowing a more accurate diagnosis of these difficulties before starting the Kansei product
development project.