Quality Function Deployment…The Voice Of The Customer!

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a technique for optimising the process of developing and producing new products on the basis of customer need. It is a team-based methodology used to identify and translate customer requirements into technical specifications for product planning, its design, process, and production. In simple terms, it is used to transform customer requirements into company requirements.

First introduced in Japan by Yoji Akao, the term Quality Function Deployment was derived from its Japanese counterpart for this methodology, hin shitsu (quality), ki nou (function), ten kai (deployment). The concept was first applied to the design of an oil tanker at the Kobe Shipyards of Mitsubishi Heavy Industry. It was soon implemented in the automobile industry. QFD is defined as a method for developing a design quality aimed at capturing the customer's need and transforming the same into design targets and major quality assurance points to be used throughout the production phase.

The QFD method was created by the Japanese to support the development process for complex products by linking the planning elements of design and the construction process to specific customer requirements. Over the years, QFD helped many companies to effectively meet customer requirements. This gave them the competitive edge. In recent years, QFD has been successfully applied both in the manufacturing and service-based sectors.

Short and long term benefits of QFD:

Industry experiences reveal that short-term benefits of QFD include reduction in cross-functional barriers associated with product development teams and increased inter-departmental interactions. Long-term tangible benefits include reduction in cycle times and development costs along with increased productivity. The most important benefit of QFD has been its effectiveness in capturing, prioritising and stabilizing customer requirements into the appropriate technical requirements for every stage of product/service development and production. These include marketing strategies, planning, product design and engineering, prototype evaluation, production process development, production and sales.