Quality Function Development

What is QFD?

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a method developed in Japan beginning in 1966 to help
transform the voice of the customer [VOC] into engineering characteristics for a product. Yoji Akao, the
original developer, described QFD as a "method to transform qualitative user demands into quantitative
parameters, to deploy the functions forming quality, and to deploy methods for achieving the design
quality into subsystems and component parts, and ultimately to specific elements of the manufacturing
process. The author combined his work in quality assurance and quality control points with function
deployment used in value engineering.

QFD Team.

New product team and Existing product team.

Similarities:

 Composed of members from marketing, design, quality, finance and production.

 Utilize time and inter-team communication.
 Using “time” effectively is essential in getting the project done on scheduled.
 Using “inter-team communication” will alleviate unforeseen problems.

House of Quality.

The house of quality, a part of QFD, identifies and classifies customer desires, identifies the
importance of those desires, identifies engineering characteristics which may be relevant to those
desires, correlates the two, allows for verification of those correlations, and then assigns objectives and
priorities for the system requirements. This process can be applied at any system composition level (e.g.
system, subsystem, or component) in the design of a product, and can allow for assessment of different
abstractions of a system. The house of quality appeared in 1972 in the design of an oil tanker by
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The output of the house of quality is generally a matrix with customer desires on one dimension and
correlated nonfunctional requirements on the other dimension. The cells of matrix table are filled with
the weights assigned to the stakeholder characteristics where those characteristics are affected by the
system parameters across the top of the matrix. At the bottom of the matrix, the column is summed,
which allows for the system characteristics to be weighted according to the stakeholder characteristics.
System parameters not correlated to stakeholder characteristics may be unnecessary to the system
design and are identified by empty matrix columns, while stakeholder characteristics (identified by
empty rows) not correlated to system parameters indicate "characteristics not address by the design
parameters". System parameters and stakeholder characteristics with weak correlations potentially
indicate missing information, while matrices with "too many correlations" indicate that the stakeholder
needs may need to be refined.
Iterative QFD.

Tips for Success of QFD.

Start at the Beginning

An organization focused on increasing revenue may immediately jump into developing a new product or
seek a new market for an existing product. The development is rushed into motion as teams are
assembled, market data is collected, designs chosen and prototypes built. The result can produce a
poorly planned product that does not coincide with the business strategy, differentiate itself from
competitors or deliver value to the customer. Instead, the effort can waste money and resources. The
initial steps to develop a new product should include determining if an opportunity exists to provide
better value than is currently available from an existing product. The new product should also fit with
the organization’s business plan. Next, the organization should gain a thorough understanding of the
market and its characteristics. This will help determine the expected profitability of the new product
before expenses associated with engineering, production and marketing are incurred. Unfortunately,
some organizations shortcut these critical steps, precluding them from effectively capturing and
understand the voice of the customer, prioritizing customer requirements, determining trade-offs when
requirements conflict (i.e., lightweight, yet sturdy), and translating vague requirements (i.e., easy to use)
into specific targets.
Utilize Best Practices

A relatively simple and inexpensive process has emerged to bring structure, organization, weights and
measures to the decision making process. Quality function deployment (QFD) is employed throughout a
growing number of product development and service industries to guide the planning process. QFD is
largely credited as a key force behind the radical transformation of the Japanese automotive industry in
the 1980s. The QFD chart organizes and assigns weights to desired performance parameters allowing
organizations to clearly see the tradeoffs and compromises that often take place when deciding what
features to include in a new product. Once the performance parameters are defined the organization is
poised to set specific targets. This process includes consideration of many factors such as product
strategy, technical competitive assessments, development costs, and investment risk. At the end of this
activity, the organization can generate new concepts that best meet key customer and business
requirements. To produce successful products, it is essential that the entire organization share and
effectively communicate the role of the customer. The product team should collectively own the
strategy for addressing customer needs, applying technical know-how and resources and applying a
shared understanding to evaluate and select the best solutions. QFD serves this purpose and is most
effective when applied to three types of activities – planning, evaluation and deployment.

The Planning Matrix:

The starting point for a planning matrix is a crisp definition of the customer segment. The objective is
not simply to develop performance parameters and targets, but to enable the organization to form a
strategy for approaching the customer. The combination of this information drives the determination of
significance for each performance parameter and identifies which parameters are critical for product
success. The critical few parameters form the content of the design scorecard to monitor success.
The Evaluation Matrix: Before each product solution is accepted, it must pass a filter of set requirements
such as industry regulations and basic functionality. This process identifies solutions that provide the
desired competitive advantage without violating any expectations. The evaluation matrix includes a
description of the expected technology needs for the new product. Organizations should carefully
consider the impact of the technology as it may require a time schedule that misses the window of
opportunity to match customer requirements. If too much time passes between collection of the voice
of the client and implementation, the client requirements may have changed.
The Deployment Matrix: The deployment matrix identifies which subsystems are involved in delivering
specific targets and to what degree they are involved. The matrix provides visibility to the connectivity
of key deliverables derived from customer needs.

Conclusion: A Tool for Success

The benefits of QFD are numerous. Employing the QFD process aligns team members and management
by providing visibility and buy-in at each step before moving forward with the project. It enhances
management support by tying project decisions to strategic direction and prevents teams from
operating in a vacuum since their activities are tied to the enterprise planning effort. In addition, QFD
enhances the effectiveness of Six Sigma by providing clear visibility to critical parameters and
maintaining a connection with the initial market strategy at all levels of the development effort.

Traditional product planning starts with analyzing the performance of an existing product and improving
its features. The QFD tool can play a key role in transforming products to meet continually changing
customer needs.