What is QFD?

• A method of transferring customer needs

and requirements into technical
specifications for new product and service
development.
 Brief
History
• Dr. Yoji Akao and Shigeru Mizuno
• First implemented at Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries, Kobe Shipyard in
1972
• Toyota strongly influenced adoption of QFD
in North America
– Between 1977-1984 achieved a 61% reduction in product development cost,
a 33% reduction in product development cycle, and virtual elimination of
rust related warranty problems.
 Overview of Development
Process
• Four Stages of The Development
Process:
– Design
– Analysis
– Development
– Full Launch
Overview of Development Process
(Cont’d)
Design
• Development • Service or
strategy product not
• Idea generation profitable
• Need to rethink the
and screening
• Service package new offering or
production
or product
architecture
Analysis processes
formulation • Post-launch
• Production review
• Detailed review
feasibility of market Development
potential and
production
costs • Detailed Full Launch
specifications
• Process
design • Market
• Marketing promotions
program design • Sales personnel
• Personnel briefed
training • Distribution
• Testing and pilot processes
runs activated
• Old services or
products
withdrawn
• Production of
new offering
Figure 2.2 and ramp-up
Quality Function
Deployment
Capturing/Applying Customer
Data
 Capturing/Applying Customer
Data
How do we define a customer?

 “Who must be satisfied with the product

in order for the product to be considered
successful?"
 Defining Customers
• Users who are concerned with functionality.
• Management who is concerned with financial
and strategic issues.
• Distribution and Purchasing Agents who
are concerned with purchase transaction
and availability issues.
• Internal workers who are concerned with how
the product will affect the quality of their work
life.
 Capturing Customer
Requirements
• One on one customer
• interviews Focus groups
• In-context customer visits
 Benchmarking
• Why Benchmark?
– Establishes a definition to the level of real
performance required to produce the desired
level of perceived performance
– Develop a product or service which will excite
the customer and get him/her to purchase your
product
 Benchmarking
• Who Should we benchmark?
– The same products or services for which
they captured performance perceptions
– A good policy is to benchmark products across
the whole spectrum of performance
– Benchmarking all of the competitive products
is not required; just check representative
products
 Benchmarking
• How do we capture the results?
– Translate the raw benchmark data directly and
associate that data with the appropriate
measure
– Translate the raw benchmark data into the
same scale as was used to capture the
perceived performance ratings
 Target
Values
The final goal of many QFD projects is
to set the target values for the
design measures.
Benchmarking values must meet or
exceed target values
 Defining
Actions
• The final result of the QFD process
– To develop a comprehensive product
specification
– Answers the question:
“What actions do we need to take to achieve
the targets that we have set in order to
satisfy our customers?"
 Different Modes of
Application
• Four Phase Approach
– Translate customer wants into
Product characteristics
– Translate Product characteristics into
Part Characteristics
– Part characteristics into Product
Characteristics
– Finally, Product into Production Controls
Different Modes of Application
Four Phase Approach
 House Of
Quality
• A popular assembly of several
deployment hierarchies and tables,
including the
– Demanded Quality Hierarchy
– Quality Characteristics Hierarchy
– Relationships Matrix
– Quality Planning Table
– Design Planning Table
 House Of Quality
(Cont)
• This technique is a type of conceptual
map providing means to the inter-
functional planning and coordination in
product improvement and development.
• This method brings the customer needs in
the focus to design/ redesign the product
and service
 To Build The House Of
Quality
• Identify Customer Wants
• Identify How The Good/Service Will
Satisfy The Customer’s Wants
• Planning Matrix
• Interrelationship matrix
• Technical correlation (Roof) matrix
• Technical priorities, benchmarks and
targets
 Step
1
• Identify Customer Wants

– A structured list of requirements derived

from customer statements
 Step
2
• Identify How The Good/Service Will
Satisfy The Customer’s Wants

– A structured set of relevant and

measurable product characteristics.
 Step
3
• Planning Matrix

– Illustrates customer perceptions observed

in market surveys

– Includes relative importance of customer

requirements, company and competitor
performance in meeting these
requirements
 Step
•
4
Interrelationship matrix
– Illustrates the QFD team's perceptions of interrelationships
between technical and customer requirements
– An appropriate scale is applied, illustrated using symbols
or figures.
– Filling this portion of the matrix involves discussions and
consensus building within the team and can be time
consuming
– Concentrating on key relationships and minimizing the
numbers of requirements are useful techniques to reduce
the demands on resources
 Step
5
• used to identify where technical
requirements support or impede each other
in the product design

• Can highlight innovation opportunities

 Step
•
6
 Technical priorities, benchmarks and targets
 Used to record the priorities
assigned to technical requirements
by the matrix
 Measures of technical
performance achieved by
• competitive products
 The degree of difficulty involved in
developing each requirement
 The final output of the matrix is a set of target values for each
technical requirement to be met by the new design, which are
linked back to the demands of the customer
Exampl
e
 Benefits Of Adopting
QFD
• Reduced time to market
• Reduction in design changes
• Decreased design and manufacturing
costs
• Improved quality
• Increased customer satisfaction
Team Exercise

Team 1 – Develop a QFD for a new automatic dishwasher

Team 2 – Develop a QFD for a microwave oven