Sustainable Wooden Toy Design for Children Based on the Kano-AHP-VIKOR Integrated Approach

Abstract

With the intensification of global environmental challenges and the rising environmental awareness among parents, traditional children’s toys face growing criticisms regarding excessive resource consumption, poor recyclability, and inadequate sustainability. Wooden toys, in particular, encounter new obstacles in material innovation, structural optimization, and functional upgrading. To address the conflicting requirements of functionality, safety, and sustainability in wooden toy design, this study proposes a quantitative decision-making framework integrating the Kano model, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and VIKOR method. Unlike traditional design approaches that rely on intuition, this study first quantified user attributes through the Kano model, identifying “material traceability” as a high-priority “Attractive” attribute alongside “Must-be” safety requirements. AHP is then utilized to construct a hierarchical weighting system, revealing a “Safety-First, Ecology-Second” preference structure among stakeholders (Weights: Safety 0.482 > Ecology 0.273). Finally, the VIKOR method was used to rank five alternative schemes, identifying a modular furniture-toy combination as the compromise optimal solution due to its superior performance in high-weight indicators. This research provides a verifiable pathway for translating vague sustainable concepts into actionable design indicators.