Hauser, John R. (1993), "How Puritan Bennett Used the House of Quality," Sloan Management Review, 34, 3, (Spring), 61-70. Reprinted in Taiwan Philips News (in Chinese), 23, 1, (Feb), 1994.

Managers don't need any more vague advice about paying better attention to customers. They need the practical, step-by-step methods described in this article. In 1990, a medical equipment manufacturer needed to redesign one of its products to beat an aggressive competitor. It used a method called the "House of Quality," which relates market research information directly to product design, thereby helping the company focus effectively on the most important product benefits. The new design revolutionized the product and was a phenomenal success. Here's how the company did it.