The Six Sigma Handbook, Revised and Expanded, 2nd Edition

3.8. LINKING CUSTOMER DEMANDS TO BUDGETS

Once customers have made their demands known, it is important that these be translated into internal requirements and specifications. The term "translation" is used to describe this process because the activity literally involves interpreting the words in one language (the customer's) into those of another (the employee). For example, regarding the door of her automobile the customer might say "I want the door to close completely when I push it, but I don't want it swinging closed from just the wind." The engineer working with this requirement must convert it into engineering terminology such as pounds of force required to move the door from an open to a closed position, the angle of the door when it's ...