Understanding the customer's needs and wants is a top priority for the manufacturing and service industries. A very simple, but extremely effective tool to accomplish this is the Kano Analysis. Knowing customer requirements is imperative to the growth of any company, as a satisfied customer will stay with your product and will likely bring in more customers over time. The Kano Analysis is used by Six Sigma implementation teams in charge of development of products and services to accomplish their goals.

The Six Sigma team is always on the lookout to match the customer's requirements to the maximum possible extent of the maximum number of customers. When customers purchase a product, their experiences will be different. They will provide certain specifications for the expected quality and the features of the product. When a company provides a customer with the products, the customer needs find the product suitable to their needs; otherwise, he may react to it differently, depending if they are satisfied or not. If the product is as per his needs, the customer will be satisfied. If the product is unable to provide the requirements stated by the customer, the customer will be dissatisfied - or maybe even angry. Likewise, there can be situations where the customer specifies a few things and gets even more things which gives them delight, as the product is above his expectations.

The Kano Model addresses these levels of satisfaction into three categories: dissatisfiers, satisfiers and delighters. The dissatisfiers, those whose basic needs are unspoken requirements, are expected to be present without any special instructions. For example, an airline flight that is on time is expected and not requested. When the requirements are satisfiers, it means that the needs are specifically mentioned. Their provision can increase or decrease the satisfaction levels. For example, if a passenger were provided with a club lounge with internet access as per his requirement, he will be satisfied. If these things are not provided, that would make him dissatisfied. The third category is delighters, or satisfaction of excitement needs, where needs are satisfied beyond expectation. For example, when passengers flying on an airline are given services when needed urgently, even if the airport is closed, the guest would be highly delighted.

With all of this in mind, it is well known that customer needs and desires change over time. And the seller of services or products may not always be aware of that fact. Customers are fickle and will change their minds. And the provider who realizes that will carefully craft his product or service to accommodate that factor, as he attempts to capture satisfaction levels of a larger group instead of dealing with targeted requests.

Nonetheless, it is important for companies to do their best to maintain an open forum of communication with their customer base. Remembering that the basic tenet of business is to satisfy the customer's needs, the company must do all it can to fill that requirement, or there will be an erosion of customer trust, leading to financial losses. Six Sigma, utilizing the Kano Model, is the tool that can train companies to recognize and listen to the customer, which is invaluable to the success of the business.