Quality Function Deployment

Question 1

What is QFD

Answer 1

Quality Function Deployment: A customer oriented method that helps companies make sure that their products or services meet customer needs and expectations

Question 2

How is QFD customer centered?

Answer 2

Focuses on understand customer needs:

• Implicit and explicit needs
• Not only one customer, but multiple stakeholders are involved that has different needs

Question 3

Describe the procedure of QFD

Answer 3

The QFD procedure steps can be defined as What’s How’s and how much. The framework creates a good overview of different product/service requirements that the user values

1. What: Identify the customer needs
   - Includes implicit and explicit needs
   - For example coffee: hot, tasteful, warm
2. How: Take customer needs and turn into specific technical actions/features /technical requirements)
   - Service temp, coffee grain size, volume
3. How much: Define how to measure the technical requirements
   - Quality levels, performance standards

Question 4

What is AHP?

Answer 4

Analytic Hierarchy Process. A structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions

• Involves breaking down a different complex decision into smaller manageable parts comparing to certain criteria
• Scores are assigned to each part of the decisions, together determining which option is the best

Question 5

What is the differentiation between positive and negative quality?

Answer 5

Negative quality: The failure to satisfy customer expectations

Positive quality:
- Explicit quality: needs customer has requested
- Implicit quality: Need customers generally dont require but expect to be present
- Attractive quality: Aspects that a customer doesnt require but can be favorable when customers judge a product

Question 6

What is quality?

Answer 6

• Features of a process that meets customer needs and thereby provide customer satisfaction
• Freedom from errors

Question 7

Two areas from Akao considering quality in QFD?

Answer 7

1. Quality deployment area (Technical): Identifying all the qualities or features a product or service must have to meet customer expectations
2. Quality function deployment area (operations view): Concerns all the company functions involved in the development process of a new product/service