Quality Function

Deployment

By
Zaipul Anwar
Business & Advanced Technology Centre,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Quality Function Deployment

Hin
Shitsu
Ki
No
Ten
Kai
"A group of courageous people working in harmony pursuing the finest

detail to unlock the organization and roll out products that the multitudes
in the marketplace will value."
Glenn Mazur

Quality Function Deployment

Is a structured method that is intended to transmit and

translate customer requirements, that is, the
Voice of the Customer
through each stage of the product development and
production process, that is, through the product
realization cycle.
These requirements are the collection of customer needs,
including all satisfiers, exciters/delighters, and
dissatisfiers.

What Does QFD Do?

CONCEPT

CUSTOMER

Better Designs in Half the Time!

Plan

Design

Redesign

Manufacture

Traditional Timeline
Plan

Design Redesign Manufacture

Benefits

QFD
QFDIs
IsaaProductivity
ProductivityEnhancer
Enhancer

PROCESS
DESIGN

Why Does QFD

Work?
PRODUCTION
IMPROVE
PRODUCT

1:1

10:1

100:1

PRODUCT
DESIGN

LOW VISIBILITY TIME HIGH VISIBILITY

LOW REWARD
HIGH REWARD

The
The Quality
Quality
Lever
Lever

When is QFD Appropriate?

Poor communications and expectations get lost in the

complexity of product development.

Lack of structure or logic to the allocation of product

development resources.

Lack of efficient and / or effective product / process

development teamwork.

Extended development time caused by excessive

redesign, problem solving, or fire fighting.

Return on Investment from

Using QFD
Companies using QFD to reflect "The Voice of the
Customer" in defining quality have a competitive
advantage because there is/are:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Fewer and Earlier Design Changes

Fewer Start-up Problems
Shorter Development Time
Lower Start-up Costs
Warranty Cost Reductions
Knowledge Transfer to the Next Product
Customer Satisfaction

Brief History of QFD

Origin - Mitsubishi Kobe Shipyard 1972

Developed By Toyota and Its Suppliers

Expanded To Other Japanese Manufacturers
Consumer Electronics, Home Appliances, Clothing, Integrated
Circuits, Apartment Layout Planning

Adopted By Ford and GM in 1980s

Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, ITT
Foundation
Foundation--Belief
BeliefThat
ThatProducts
ProductsShould
ShouldBe
BeDesigned
Designed
To
ToReflect
ReflectCustomer
CustomerDesires
Desiresand
andTastes
Tastes

Quality Function Deployments

House of Quality

Correlation

Matrix
3

Customer
Needs

Establishes the Flowdown

Relates WHAT'S & HOW'S
Ranks The Importance

Importance Rankings

The
House
of
Quality

Design
Attributes
5
4

Relationships
between
Customer Needs
and
Design Attributes

Customer
Perceptions

Costs/Feasibility
8

Engineering Measures

The House of Quality

Key Elements
Informational Elements

Two
Two Types
Types of
of Elements
Elements in
in Each
Each House
House

Levels Of Granularity

QFD Flowdown

Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Environment
Environment

Software
Software
Environment
Environment

Service
Service
Environment
Environment

Customer Wants

Customer Wants

Customer Wants

Technical Requirements

Product Functionality

Service Requirements

Part Characteristics

System Characteristics

Service Processes

Manufacturing Process

Design Alternatives

Process Controls

Production Requirements

Flowdown
Flowdown
Relates
Relates The
The
Houses
Houses To
To Each
Each
Other
Other

Building the House of Quality

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Identify Customer Attributes

Identify Design Attributes / Requirements
Relate the customer attributes to the design attributes.
Conduct an Evaluation of Competing Products.
Evaluate Design Attributes and Develop Targets.
Determine which Design Attributes to Deploy in the
Remainder of the Process.

1. Identify Customer Attributes

These are product or service requirements IN THE CUSTOMERS TERMS.

Market Research;
Surveys;
Focus Groups.
What does the customer expect from the product?
Why does the customer buy the product?
Salespeople and Technicians can be important sources of information
both in terms of these two questions and in terms of product failure and
repair.
OFTEN THESE ARE EXPANDED INTO Secondary and Tertiary Needs /
Requirements.

Whats
Key Elements -

What Does The Customer Want

Customer Needs
CTQs
Need 1
Ys
Need 2
Need 3 s
ts
Needh4aat
h
W
Need
W5
Need 6
Need 7

Voice of the
Customer

Customer Requirements

Key Elements:

How Important Are The

Whats TO THE CUSTOMER
Customer Ranking of their
Needs
Need 1
5
Need 2
Need 3
Need 4
Need 5
Need 6
Need 7

Voice of the
Customer

5
eerr ee
3 om
m nncc
o
t
t
s
4s orrttaa
u
u
CC ppo
2
m
IIm
4
1

2. Identify Design Attributes.

Design Attributes are Expressed in the Language of the
Designer / Engineer and Represent the TECHNICAL
Characteristics (Attributes) that must be Deployed
throughout the DESIGN, MANUFACTURING, and
SERVICE PROCESSES.

These must be MEASURABLE since the Output will be

Controlled and Compared to Objective Targets.

The ROOF of the HOUSE OF QUALITY shows,

symbolically, the Interrelationships between Design

Attributes.

WHAT'S

HOW'S

Need 1
Need 2
Need 3
Need 4
Need 5
Need 6
Need 7

5
5
3
4
2
4
1

Satisfy the
Customer Needs

HOW 7

Hows
Hows

HOW 6

HOW 5

HOW 4

HOW 3

HOW 2

How Do You Satisfy the Customer Whats

Product Requirements
Translation For Action
Xs

HOW 1

Hows

Key Elements

HOW 7

HOW 6

HOW 5

HOW 4

M M

M
L

65
45
21
36

57 41 48 13 50

8
52

M
6

4
1 mm

3 mils

M
8 atm

40 psi

HOW 3

HOW 2

H L

12 in.

5
5
3
4
2
4
1

3 lbs

Need 1
Need 2
Need 3
Need 4
Need 5
Need 6
Need 7

HOW 1

Strong Positive
Positive
Negative
Strong Negative

21

Conflict
Resolution

Information
Correlation Matrix

Correlation
Correlation
Matrix
Matrix

Impact Of The Hows On Each Other

3.Relating Customer & Design Attributes

Symbolically we determine whether there is NO relationship, a WEAK

one, MODERATE one, or STRONG relationship between each Customer
Attribute and each Design Attribute.
The PURPOSE it to determine whether the final Design Attributes
adequately cover Customer Attributes.
LACK of a strong relationship between A customer attribute and any
design attribute shows that the attribute is not adequately addressed or
that the final product will have difficulty in meeting the expressed
customer need.
Similarly, if a design attribute DOES NOT affect any customer attribute,
then it may be redundant or the designers may have missed some
important customer attribute.

Need 1
Need 2
Need 3
Need 4
Need 5
Need 6
Need 7

5
5
3
4
2
4
1

Untangling The
Web

H L
H
M

HOW 7

HOW 6

M
p

hhiip L
M nnssM

ttiioo
a
l
a
RReel
L

HOW 5

Transfer Function
Y = f(X)

9
3
1

HOW 4

Strong
Medium
Weak

HOW 3

H
M
L

HOW 2

Between the Whats and the

Hows
HOW 1

Relationship

Key Elements:

Strength of the Interrelation

M
M

4. Add Market Evaluation & Key Selling Points

This step includes identifying importance ratings for each customer

attribute AND evaluating existing products / services for each of the
attributes.
Customer importance ratings represent the areas of greatest interest
and highest expectations AS EXPRESSED BY THE CUSTOMER.
Competitive evaluation helps to highlight the absolute strengths and
weaknesses in competing products.
This step enables designers to seek opportunities for improvement
and links QFD to a companys strategic vision and allows priorities
to be set in the design process.

5. Evaluate Design Attributes of Competitive

Products & Set Targets.

This is USUALLY accomplished through in-house testing and then

translated into MEASURABLE TERMS.
The evaluations are compared with the competitive evaluation of
customer attributes to determine inconsistency between customer
evaluations and technical evaluations.
For example, if a competing product is found to best satisfy a customer
attribute, but the evaluation of the related design attribute indicates
otherwise, then EITHER the measures used are faulty, OR else the
product has an image difference that is affecting customer perceptions.
On the basis of customer importance ratings and existing product
strengths and weaknesses, TARGETS and DIRECTIONS for each design
attribute are set.

HOW 7

HOW 6

HOW 5

HOW 4

M M

M
L

65
45
21
36

57 41 48 13 50

8
52

4
1 mm

M
8 atm

40 psi

HOW 3

HOW 2

H L

3 mils

5
5
3
4
2
4
1

12 in.

Need 1
Need 2
Need 3
Need 4
Need 5
Need 6
Need 7

HOW 1

Hows
Note the Units

3 lbs

Information: How Much

Target Values for the

21

How
How Much
Much

Consistent
Comparison

Need 1
Need 2
Need 3
Need 4
Need 5
Need 6
Need 7

5
5
3
4
2
4
1

H L
H
M

L
M M

HOW 7

HOW 6

HOW 5

HOW 4

HOW 3

iioonn
t
t
c
iirreec
D
t D
ggeet
r
r
a
TTa

HOW 2

HOW 1

Target Direction

Information :

Information On The HOW'S

More Is Better

Less Is Better

Specific Amount

M
L

65
45
21
36

L
L

57 41 48 13 50

The Best
Direction

8
52

M
6

21

6. Select Design Attributes to be Deployed in the

Remainder of the Process
This means identifying the design attributes that:
have a strong relationship to customer needs,
have poor competitive performance,
or are strong selling points.
These attributes will need to be DEPLOYED or TRANSLATED

into the language of each function in the design and

production process so that proper actions and controls are
taken to ensure that the voice of the customer is maintained.
Those attributes not identified as critical do not need such
rigorous attention.

Need 1
Need 2
Need 3
Need 4
Need 5
Need 6
Need 7

(CI *Strength)
TI = column

CI 45 5
5
3
4
2
4
1

36
12

45
2
1

5
9

HOW 7

HOW 6

HOW 5

HOW 4

HOW 3

HOW 2

Which Hows are Key

Where Should The Focus Lie
CI = Customer Importance
Strength is measured on a 9, 3, 1, 0
Scale

HOW 1

Key Elements:
Technical Importance

15
3
6

4 36

ccee
n
n
M
rrttaa
o
ppo
m
IIm

l
ccaal
i
i
hhnn13 50
c
57 41 e48
c
TTe

Ranking The
HOW'S

21

Need 1
Need 2
Need 3
Need 4
Need 5
Need 6
Need 7

CC = (CIrow*Strength)

C H L
5I
3
4
2
4
1

H
M

HOW 7

HOW 6

HOW 5

HOW 4

HOW 3

HOW 2

Captured
Is A What Really A How

HOW 1

Completeness

Key Elements :

Are All The Hows

65

iiaa
r
r
e
21riitte
M M L
CCr
s
36
s
s
ees
n
n
e
L
eette M 8
l
l
pp
52
L oH
m
m
o
CC
4
L
M

57 41 48 13 50

45

21

Have
Have We
We Captured
Captured
the
the HOW'S
HOW'S

Using the House of Quality

The voice of the customer MUST be carried THROUGHOUT the
production process.
Three other houses of quality are used to do this and, together
with the first, these carry the customers voice from its initial
expression, through design attributes, on to component
attributes, to process operations, and eventually to a quality
control and improvement plans.
In Japan, all four are used.
The tendency in the West is to use only the first one or two.

Design Attributes
Component Attributes

Quality Control Plan

Process
Operations

Process Operations

Component
Attributes

Design
Attributes

Customer
Attributes

The
The Hows
Hows at
at One
One Level
Level
Become
Become the
the Whats
Whats at
at the
the
Next
Next Level
Level

The Cascading Voice of the Customer

HOWS
WHATS

NOTES:
Design Attributes are also called Functional Requirements
Component Attributes are also called Part Characteristics
Process Operations are also called Manufacturing
Processes and the Quality Control Plan refers to Key
Process Variables.

Th
e

Fo

ur

H
ou

se
s

Critical to Quality
Characteristics
(CTQs)

of

ua

Key Manufacturing
Processes

lit
y

X
Key Process Variables

Common QFD Pitfalls

QFD On Everything
Set the Right Granularity
Dont Apply To Every Last Project
Inadequate Priorities
Lack of Teamwork
Wrong Participants
Lack of Team Skills
Lack of Support or Commitment
Too Much Chart Focus
Hurry up and Get Done
Failure to Integrate and Implement QFD

 Review
ReviewCurrent
CurrentStatus
Status
At
AtLeast
LeastQuarterly
Quarterly
Monthly
Monthlyon
on11Yr
YrProject
Project
Weekly
Weeklyon
onSmall
SmallProjects
Projects

HOW 7

HOW 6

HOW 5

HOW 4

HOW 3

M M L
L

21

36
8
52

21

12 in.

57 41 48 13 50

3 lbs

1 mm

45

8 atm

65

40 psi

L
3 mils

HOW 2

HOW 1

52
4

36
8

H L

21

5
5
3
4
2
4
1

65
45

Need 1
Need 2
Need 3
Need 4
Need 5
Need 6
Need 7

The Static QFD

Points to Remember
The
Theprocess
processmay
maylook
looksimple,
simple,but
butrequires
requireseffort.
effort.

Many
Manyentries
entrieslook
lookobviousafter
obviousaftertheyre
theyrewritten
writtendown.
down.
IfIfthere
thereare
areNO
NOtough
toughspots
spotsthe
thefirst
firsttime:
time:ItIt Probably
Probably
Isnt Being Done Right!!!!

Isnt Being Done Right!!!!

Focus
Focuson
onthe
theend-user
end-usercustomer.
customer.
Charts
Chartsare
arenot
notthe
theobjective.
objective.Charts
Charts are
are the
the means
means
for
for achieving
achieving the
the objective
objective. .
Find
Findreasons
reasonstotosucceed,
succeed,not
notexcuses
excusesfor
forfailure.
failure.
Remember
Remembertotofollow-up
follow-upafterward
afterward