Quality Function Deployment

Published on Jan 03, 2023

Abstract

The QFD analysis include identifying customer needs and expectations, determining how to meet them, defining quantified goals, and methodologies for identifying and resolving conflicting requirements. One of the advantages of QFD analysis is that it deploys the “voice of the customer”, and forces product development teams to focus on customer needs and expectations.

As mentioned, the QFD is a relatively advanced concept, and is probably best employed when used in conjunction with other previously-implemented disciplines.

Organizations that use QFD successfully prepare numerous matrices for the products concept development phase, detailed design work, and various phases of the products manufacture. The approach is the same focus on the customer’s needs and expectations, and develop everything else in a manner than optimally satisfies these needs and expectations. This seminar also includes case study on NOKIA, its observations, voice of the customer research, optimizing, planning, prioritizing, selecting the target customer and benefits.

Quality function deployment is the conversion of the consumer’s demands into quality characteristics and developing a designed quality for the finished product by systematically deploying the relationships between the demands and the characteristics, starting with the quality of each functional part and extending the deployment to each part process.

Dr, Mizuno, professor emeritus of the Tokyo institute of technology, is credited with initiating the quality function deployment (QFD) system. The first application of QFD was at Mitsubishi, heavy industries, ltd., in the Kobe Shipyard, Japan, in 1972. After four years of case study development, refinement, and training, QFD was successfully implemented in the production of mini vans by Toyota.

Using 1977, as a base, a 20% reduction in startup costs was reported in the launch of the new van I October 1979, a 38% reduction by November 1982, and a cumulative 61% reduction by April 1984. Quality function deployment was first introduced in the United States in 1984 by Dr. Clausing of Xerox. QFD can be applied to practically any manufacturing or service industry. It has become a standard practice by most leading organizations, which also require it of their suppliers.

WHAT IS QFD?

A systematic procedure for translating the “VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER” into technical requirements and operational terms, displaying and documenting the translation information in matrix form.

Quality function deployment is a planning tool used to fulfill customer requirements or expectations, often referred to as the voice of the customer. It is employed to translate customer in terms of specific requirements, into directions and actions, in terms of engineering characteristics, that can be deployed through

” Product planning

” Part development

” Process planning

” Production planning

” service

QFD is a team based management tool in which the customer expectations are used to drive the product development process. Conflicting characteristics or requirements are identified early in the QFD process and can be resolved before production.

Organization today uses market research to decide what to produce to satisfy customer requirements. Some customer requirements adversely affect others, and customers often cannot explain their expectations. Confusion and misinterpretation are also a problem while a product moves from a market to design to engineering to manufacturing. This activity is where the voice of the customer becomes lost and the voice of the organization adversely enters the

product design. Instead of working on what the customer expects, work is concentrated on fixing what the customer does not want. In other words, it is not productive to improve something that the customer did not want initially. By implementing QFD, an organization is guaranteed to implement the voice of the customer in the final product.

QFD helps identify new quality technology and job functions to carry out operations. This tool provides a historic reference to enhance future technology and prevent design errors. QFD is primarily a set of graphically oriented planning matrices that are used as the basis for decisions affecting any phase of the product development cycle. Results of QFD are measured based on the number of design and engineering changes, time to market, cost, and quality. It is considered by many experts to be a perfect blueprint for quality by design.

QFD enables the design phase to concentrate on the customer requirements, thereby spending less time on redesign and modifications. The saved time has been estimated at one-third to one-half of the time taken for redesign and modification using traditional means. This saving means reduced development cost and also additional income because the product enters the markets sooner.