QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT

Developed by Dr. Yoji Akao in Japan in 1966, Quality Function Deployment (QFD)[1] embeds the voice of the customer (VoC) into the design process, ensuring consistent deployment of customer requirements. The Gemba (a Japanese term meaning “real place”) is a visit to a company during which these customer needs are evidenced and compiled in order to create value for the customer. While QFD uses market research, focus groups, interviews, and surveys to collect VoC, Gemba visits are not scripted or bound by what one wants to ask.

Converting customers’ needs into specific product or service design features or functional requirements establishes the formal integration of the QFD processes and value engineering in describing customer expectations in terms of function.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The integration of project management into the value methodology of PISERIA is self-evident as all value improvements take place project by project. When an organization observes a problem, it tasks a team with performing a value study or assigns a team to initiate a project. Therefore, the value study is referred to as a “project.”

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Project work is differentiated from regular work, the latter often referred to as “operational work.” Operations are ongoing and repetitive, while projects are temporary and unique. However, both are performed by people; constrained by limited resources; and they are planned, executed, and controlled.

A project is a one-time multitask job that has definite starting and ending points; a well-defined scope of work; a budget, and a temporary team that will be disbanded once the job is completed.

Here are different perspectives on the definition of projects and project management:

“A project is a multitask job that has performance, cost, and time requirements that is done only one time.”—James P. Lewis “A project is a problem scheduled for solution.”—Dr. Joseph M. Juran “For the purpose of Value Studies, a project is the subject of the study.”— SAVE International

“Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.”— PMBOK Guide, Project Management Institute