QFD
Quality Function Deployment
The challenge of participating on a world manufacturing platform has forced many companies to actively pursue a range of productivity enhancing strategies to remain competitive. Success brought about through the application of TQM and Continuous Improvement strategies is now well documented - but there is room for still greater improvement.

Special and Common causes of complaint

Through the application of TQM and Continuous Improvement strategies, organisations initially achieve tangible productivity improvements using a structured problem solving approach. But continued application of defect detection techniques like these often reflect a reduction in effectiveness over a period of time. This can be clearly illustrated by the following diagram:

After having identified and eliminated many of the more obvious “special” causes of variation improvements become increasingly more difficult to realise. This is because many causes of problems are endemic to the design of the product and the process itself. These are called “common” causes of variation and are often difficult to identify and eradicate.

What is QFD?

By definition QFD is a planning tool which addresses various facets of a product from the concept stage to final production.

It was developed specifically to help multi-disciplined teams address the “voice of the customer” throughout the product development program.

Sometimes referred to as “The House of Quality”, or more aptly “Customer Driven Product Development”, QFD is best described as a technique used to help prioritise the expectations of the customer and to ensure that these are adequately addressed in the final product.

With this in mind, the purpose of QFD is to direct the application of specific quality improvement tools, techniques and resources to issues which are:

• important to the customer
• difficult to achieve
• new to the organisation
• high risk / high gain

It has the effect of identifying the “significant few” issues from the “insignificant many” and help to prioritise activities accordingly.

•	faster to market
•	fewer and earlier product changes
•	shorter product development times
•	fewer start-up problems
•	lower start-up costs
•	retention of proprietary knowledge

Tools and techniques

Many tools are used to support the QFD approach. Some are relatively new, eg. Pugh Concept Selection, Taguchi Methods, DFM/DFA, etc. But many are also well tried and tested. Techniques such as SPC, FMEA, VA/VE, etc., are integral to the QFD approach and are used to achieve the customers perception of quality.

Can QFD help you?

QFD is a process which should not be engaged without a full understanding of its implications to the organisation and a knowledge of which techniques can best help your products.

For expert consultation, training and facilitation in this field contact:

Lou Travella
Design 4 Excellence
Ph/Fx: 61 3 5221 6413
EMAIL: INFO@DESIGN4EXCELLENCE.COM.AU