Quality Function Deployment (QFD) – iPaGa

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was first developed in Japan in 1996 by Dr. Yoji Akao. The definition of QFD itself according to Dr. Yoji Akao is a method for transforming requests from users into a design quality for deploying function forming quality and deploying methods for achieving design quality into specific systems, component parts, and elements in the manufacturing process.

QFD is designed to help planners focus on the characteristics of an existing product or service from the point of view of market segmentation, enterprise, or technology development needs. QFD is also very useful for transforming Voice Of Customer (VOC) into engineering characteristics for a product or service by prioritizing the characteristics of each product or service along with setting development targets simultaneously for that product or service.

The main technique of this QFD is to create graphs and matrices.

Basic Matrix

QFD must start with an understanding of what the customer needs and wants. These understandings (whats) become rows in the matrix, as opposed to columns that represent supplier processes (hows) that are designed to provide products or services in order to achieve consumer desires.

• For whats it’s better to be vague and some of it will be subjective
• The presence of symbols is necessary to indicate an indication of their importance
• The supplier must find a way to determine the requirements in the column hows

Expanding the Matrix

The previous matrix should be expanded again to make it more potential to have high usability. To be able to expand this matrix, of course, it is necessary to have a deeper understanding of what customers need. Such a matrix is ​​also known as house of quality.

• The important relationship of every whats quantified in a new column labeled priorities. This can be done simply by sorting them by customer priority.
• The important relationship of every hows established by emphasizing each symbol and adding up all the columns.
• On the right is described a sales point and areas that need improvement. This section describes the customer’s perception of the level of suppliers and other competitors.
• The correlation matrix shows how the impact of hows x hows which is added under the base matrix. This will show what parameters affect other parameters in the supplier’s production process and what conflicts require trade-offs

Cascading Matrix

Most of the QFD analysis only uses the house of quality. But to go even deeper, you can cascade the matrix to identify traces from customer requirements to process parameters that need to be controlled to meet their needs.

In the picture above, the first matrix is ​​matched with the requirements of the customer as whats meet with hows. Then in the next matrix hows transformed into whats as chart design displays features that confront hows which are the selected parts to be implemented. These selected parts then become whats in the third matrix plotted against hows of the process used to make the parts. Finally the process becomes whats in the last matrix where hows is a process parameter that must be controlled.

Whatever technique is used, be it cascading matrixes, house of quality, or basic matrices, QFD is a labor intensive process. Basically QFD invests time in planning to profit with shorter overall development cycle based on what the customer wants. QFD will also minimize the need for redesign.

Incoming search terms: