The first phase in the
implementation of the Quality Function Deployment process involves putting
together a “House of Quality”
Step 1: Customer Requirements – “Voice of the Customer”
The first step in a QFD project is
to determine what market segments will be analyzed during the process and to
identify who the customers are. The team then gathers information from
customers on the requirements they have for the product or service. In order to
organize and evaluate this data, the team uses simple quality tools like
Affinity Diagrams or Tree Diagrams.
Step 2: Regulatory Requirements
Not all product or service
requirements are known to the customer, so the team must document requirements
that are dictated by management or regulatory standards that the product must
adhere to.
Step 3: Customer Importance Ratings
Step 4: Customer Rating of the Competition
Understanding how customers rate
the competition can be a tremendous competitive advantage. In this step of the
QFD process, it is also a good idea to ask customers how your product or
service rates in relation to the competition. There is remodeling that can take
place in this part of the House of Quality. Additional rooms that identify
sales opportunities, goals for continuous improvement, customer complaints,
etc., can be added.
Step 5: Technical Descriptors – “Voice of the Engineer”
The technical descriptors are
attributes about the product or service that can be measured and benchmarked
against the competition. Technical descriptors may exist that your organization
is already using to determine product specification, however new measurements
can be created to ensure that your product is meeting customer needs.
Step 6: Direction of Improvement
As the team defines the technical
descriptors, a determination must be made as to the direction of movement for
each descriptor.
Step 7: Relationship Matrix
The relationship matrix is where
the team determines the relationship between customer needs and the company’s
ability to meet those needs. The team asks the question, “what is the strength
of the relationship between the technical descriptors and the customers needs?”
Relationships can either be weak, moderate, or strong and carry a numeric value
of 1, 3 or 9
Step 8: Organizational Difficulty
Rate the design attributes in terms
of organizational difficulty. It is very possible that some attributes are in
direct conflict. Increasing the number of sizes may be in conflict with the
companies stock holding policies, for example.
Step 9: Technical Analysis of Competitor Products
To better understand the
competition, engineering then conducts a comparison of competitor technical
descriptors. This process involves reverse engineering competitor products to
determine specific values for competitor technical descriptors.
Step 10: Target Values for Technical Descriptors
At this stage in the process, the
QFD team begins to establish target values for each technical descriptor.
Target values represent “how much” for the technical descriptors, and can then
act as a base-line to compare against.
Step 11: Correlation Matrix
This room in the matrix is where
the term House of Quality comes from because it makes the matrix look like a
house with a roof. The correlation matrix is probably the least used room in
the House of Quality; however, this room is a big help to the design engineers
in the next phase of a comprehensive QFD project. Team members must examine how
each of the technical descriptors impact each other. The team should document
strong negative relationships between technical descriptors and work to
eliminate physical contradictions.
Step 12: Absolute Importance
Finally, the team calculates the
absolute importance for each technical descriptor. This numerical calculation
is the product of the cell value and the customer importance rating. Numbers
are then added up in their respective columns to determine the importance for
each technical descriptor. Now you know which technical aspects of your product
matters the most to your customer!
The Next stage
The above process is then repeated
in a slightly simplified way for the next
ere project phases. A simplified matrix involving steps 1, 2, 3, 5, 6,
7, 9 & 11 above is developed. The main difference with the subsequent
phases however, is that in Phase 2 the process becomes a translation of the
voice of the engineer in to the voice of the part design specifications. Then,
in phase 3, the part design specifications get translated into the voice of
manufacturing planning. And finally, in phase 4, the voice of manufacturing is
translated into the voice of production planning. QFD is a systematic means of
ensuring that customer requirements are accurately translated into relevant
technical descriptors throughout each stage of product development. Therefore,
meeting or exceeding customer demands means more than just maintaining or
improving product performance. It means designing and manufacturing products
that delight customers and fulfill their unarticulated desires. Companies
growing into the 21st century will be enterprises that foster the
needed innovation to create new markets.
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