Productivity and Quality Improvement
2.6 Quality Function Deployment
The term quality function deployment (QFD) is a loose translation from the Japanese name for this method: hin shitsu (quality), ki nou (function), and
ten kai (deployment). QFD is a systematic process for identifying the desires, wants, and needs of customers (the so-called “voice of the customer”). The data that are collected is then translated into the appropriate technical requirements that must be met at each stage of product development and production (i.e., planning, product design and engineering, prototype evaluation, production process development, production, marketing strategies, and sales) [8]. The result is a new set of target values for designers, production people, and even suppliers to strive to achieve in order to produce the output desired by customers.
The creation of QFD is generally attributed to Yoji Akao working in Mitsubishi’s Kobe shipyard in Japan in 1966. The original approach was adopted and developed by other Japanese companies, notably Toyota and its suppliers [9]. By 1972, the power of the approach had been clearly demonstrated and in 1978, the first book on the subject was published in Japanese. In 1986, a study by JUSE revealed that of the 148 member companies surveyed, 54% were using QFD [10]. According to Akao, QFD “is a way to assure the design quality while the product is still in the design stage [11].” When appropriately applied, Akao suggested that QFD demonstrated the reduction of development time by one-half to one-third.
The first serious exponents of QFD in the United States were the “big three” automotive manufacturers in the 1980s, and a few leading companies in other sectors such as electronics. However, the uptake of QFD in the Western world appears to have been fairly slow. Users of QFD appear to be reluctant to publish and share information—much more so than with other quality-related methods. This reluctance may be because the data captured and the decisions made using QFD usually relate to future product plans, and therefore, are sensitive and proprietary.
QFD provides a visual language and makes use of a set of interlinked engi- neering and management charts, which include the so-called seven management tools [12]. Customer/user values are established and transformed into design, production, and manufacturing process characteristics. The result is a systems engineering process that ensures product quality as defined by the customer/
user.
QFD is particularly valuable when design trade-offs are necessary to achieve the best overall solution, for example, because some requirements conflict with others. QFD also enables a great deal of information to be summarized in the form of one or more charts. These charts capture customer and product data gleaned from many sources, as well as the design parameters chosen for the new product. In this way, a solid foundation is provided for further improvement in subsequent design cycles. QFD is sometimes referred to as the “house of quality” from the characteristic house shape of a QFD chart (see Figure 5.1).
FIGURE5.1 House of quality chart.
Achieving a technological breakthrough is key both to designing new products and to solving some of the most difficult problems in the production process. This area has seen the largest growth in the last few years with the discovery of the Russian theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) [13].
While quality function deployment (QFD) was conceived primarily for application in manufacturing and production processes, the four-phase QFD process could be adapted to public service programs as follows.
1. Gather the voice of the customer. Put these data in words that are accurately understood by the public agency that is to deliver the service, and analyze this information in terms of the capability and strategic plans of the organization.
2. Identify the priority areas (or processes) where breakthroughs will likely result in dramatic improvements in the services (e.g., in terms of constituent/customer satisfaction).
3. Identify and design the improved process, including any new technol- ogy that may be required to achieve the breakthrough.
4. Deliver the improved service and new technology at the highest possible quality standards.
QFD has been applied by various federal and state agencies (most notably, NASA and the Navy), and has particular potential for customer-focused public and nonprofit organizations.
Among the main benefits of using QFD are improved communications and a sharing of information within a cross-functional team charged with developing a new product or service. This team typically will include people from a variety of functional groups. In the private sector, these cross-functional teams might include representatives from marketing, sales, service, distribution, product engineering, process engineering, procurement, and production. Comparable cross-functional teams could be established in the public sector. QFD also focuses on identifying “holes” in the current knowledge of the design team and on capturing and displaying a wide variety of important design information in one place in a compact form. It supports efforts to increase understanding, achieve consensus, and improve decision making, especially when complex relationships and trade-offs are involved. QFD creates an informational base that is valuable for repeated improvement cycles [14].