QFD

Stating the increasing interest in warranty management issues, due to growing customer expectations both on product and service, the paper deals with the identification of risks associated to warranty programs. The use of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methodology is suggested as it allows to deeply analyze customer needs. By prioritizing warranty activities according to a customer perspective, the QFD analysis identifies the most risky aspects which, once identified, need to be deeply analyzed by qualitative and/or quantitative risk analysis. Applicability of the method is tested through a case study on an agricultural and gardening equipment.

La calidad, el costo y el tiempo de desarrollo de productos tienen un impacto directo en la productividad, en la participación del mercado y en la rentabilidad de la empresa. A medida que los usuarios alcanzan mayor conciencia sobre sus deseos, es necesario mayor nivel de calidad y una respuesta en el tiempo más rápida. Es decir, si se quiere ganar y mantener participación en el mercado, se debe llegar primero que la competencia con el producto o servicio que desea el cliente. Del balance y optimización que se logre entre calidad, costo y tiempo dependerá la participación en el mercado y el margen de rentabilidad alcanzado por la empresa. Por lo tanto, es importante implantar metodologías como el Despliegue de la función calidad, que permiten planificar el desarrollo de producto en la etapa temprana de diseño y por ende se logra establecer dicho equilibrio. El propósito de este artículo es presentar el desarrollo de la metodología QFD** sus beneficios y limitaciones. Puesto que no s...

The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a strategic management method that links performance measurement to vision and strategies using a multidimensional set of financial and non-financial performance metrics. Although several studies have combined the BSC method with multi-criteria decision analysis methodologies, most of the research efforts do not consider the essentials of strategic and performance management in a systematic and holistic framework capable of handling imprecision and vagueness. The purpose of this study is to present a novel approach for structuring and prioritising the performance measures in the BSC method. The contribution of the proposed approach is fivefold: 1) we use the quality function deployment (QFD) technique to create a linkage between the BSC perspectives; 2) we use the analytic network process (ANP) technique to consider the interactions between the performance measures in each BSC perspective; 3) we integrate the QFD and the ANP techniques to help decision makers understand the relations between the performance measures in different  perspectives and the correlations among the performance measures in the same perspective; 4) we handle the vagueness and ambiguity in decision makers’ judgements with the fuzzy set theory; 5) we present a case study to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach and exhibit the efficacy of the procedures.

El diseño es una actividad comprehensiva, y a menudo surgen cuestionamientos respecto a la posibilidad de enseñarlo. Metodologías específicas que aplican a etapas determinadas o casos particulares han sido desarrolladas con éxito, pero un problema importante surge cuando se trata de un problema abierto que requiere análisis y juicio comprehensivo. Este trabajo presenta  una visión general del proceso de diseño. Las metodologías más ampliamente utilizadas como guía a través de las diferentes etapas del proceso se analizan sucintamente, y se hacen notar sus principales ventajas y limitaciones. Se enfatiza el hecho de que todas estas metodologías contienen huecos que pasan, a menudo, desapercibidos. Este hecho, a veces inducido por los mismos profetas de las metodologías, puede ser causa de fallas críticas en su aplicación, principalmente en países en desarrollo con limitada experiencia colectiva en el campo. Otra causa común de falla en el proceso de diseño y en la materialización de sus productos, es el hecho de que en países con economías en transición existe poco soporte de organizaciones industriales, tecnológicas y científicas a lo largo del proceso. En estas circunstancias, los huecos en las metodologías se vuelven, a veces, muy difíciles de cubrir. El artículo aborda estos problemas para clarificarlos, y presenta algunas propuestas de solución.  Se considera que esta visión holística podría ser útil para mejorar el entrenamiento en esta compleja, pero fascinante disciplina.

A quality tool in achieving the required quality and customer satisfaction of the industrialized building system (IBS) is needed. Aiming to develop a general quality function deployment (QFD) model to enhance the adoption of IBS in housing projects, two sets of structured questionnaires were designed, where the first set for IBS house occupiers and the second set of construction stakeholders. Frequency distribution, arithmetic measure, gap analysis, Pareto analysis, and QFD application were employed to identify the customer satisfaction factors and the IBS adoption strategies. A general QFD model was developed based on the “quality” matrix (Q-Matrix), “function” matrix (F-Matrix), and a combination of “quality” matrix plus “function” matrix (QF-Matrix) derived from this study. Customer satisfaction with IBS products could enhance the demand for this kind of building automation system, thus the model could be used more objectively in developing, designing and managing IBS in the global construction industry, especially in the current economic recession and recovery phase.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a popular planning method often used to transform customer demands/requirements into the technical characteristics of a new or improved product or service. In order to better capture (and represent) the multifarious relationships between customer requirements and technical characteristics, and the relative weights among customer requirements, in this study a hybrid analytic network process (ANP)-weighted fuzzy methodology is proposed. The goal is to synthesize renowned capabilities of ANP and fuzzy logic to better rank technical characteristics of a product (or a service) while implementing QFD. To demonstrate the viability of the proposed methodology a realworld scenario, where a new equipment to squeeze the polyethylene pipes to stop the gas flow without damaging the pipes, is developed. The ranking of technical characteristics of the product is calculated using both crisp and fuzzy weights for illustration and comparison purposes.

Abstract: This article proposes to implement the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) House of Quality for strategic planning of computer security for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). The House of Quality (HoQ) applied to computer security of SME is a framework to convert the security needs of corporate computing in a set of specifications to improve computer security. Keywords: House of Quality, QFD, Computer Security, SMEs.

The aim of this research is to develop an intranet-based integrated information system for direct inward dialing services for the public switching telephone network of a large telecommunication conglomerate in Thailand.  To meet the high quality expectation of the account executives and engineers, the concept of service quality characteristic and the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methodology are used in the development process.  The service and technical detailed information required is collected through questionnaires and transformed into prioritized technical requirements using QFD phase 1.  The four desired service quality characteristics, namely the physical, functional, lifetime, and service elements, are set as requirements for the information system.  The intranet-based system is developed using Microsoft FrontPage and Microsoft Access.  Test results show that the users find the system to conform well to the four major service quality characteristics.  The system also leads to reliable and efficient services and high user satisfaction.  As a result of the implementation, the field services needs of the account executives/engineers drops from 83 to 56 times per month, representing a 33% improvement.  The case example demonstrates that the service quality characteristics and QFD approaches are indeed useful for user-oriented information system development and should be incorporated in other similar information system development projects.

A new category of tools known as CAI (computer-aided innovation) is an emerging domain in the array of computer-aided technologies. CAI has been growing as a response to greater industry demands for reliability in new products. Some initial CAI ideas and concepts focused on assisting product designers in the early stage of the design process, but now a more comprehensive vision conceives CAI systems as beginning at the fuzzy front end of perceiving business opportunities and customer demands, then continuing during the creative stage in developing inventions and, further on, providing help up to the point of turning inventions into successful innovations in the marketplace. CAI methods and tools are partially inspired by Innovation Theories, such as TRIZ, QFD (Quality Function Development), Axiomatic Design, Synectics, General Theory of Innovation, Mind Mapping, Brain Storming, Lateral Thinking, and Kansei Engineering, among others. The goal of these new CAI tools under development is to assist innovators, inventors, designers, process developers and managers in their creative performance, with the expectation of changes in paradigms through the use of this new category of software tools. CAI, therefore, stands out as a departure from the usual trends. The latest approaches are presented and analyzed to derive conclusions regarding the present status and the future of these emerging tools.

This paper attempts to develop a medical tourism service quality construct that will be used for evaluation of the medical tourism service providers in India. Cross-sectional survey of medical tourists at seven hospitals including Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited and non-accredited hospitals across India is carried out and 332 responses are collected from seven hospitals. The data were collected between March 2010 and June 2010. Analysis of data helps to propose a 36-item scale. Ten dimensions of perceived medical tourism service quality are identified viz., accessibility/convenience, treatment satisfaction, courtesy, physical environment features, technical quality of care competency, promptness, facility premises, alternative therapy, finance factors for medical services and pharmaceutical services. Reliability, validity, and factor structure of the construct are evaluated. The interrelationship between medical tourism design requirements is identified using interpretative structural modelling (ISM). These aforesaid dimensions are treated as voice of customers (VoC) and 11 design requirements (medical tourism design requirements) from extensive literature review are treated as design requirement for employing quality function deployment (QFD) in order to prioritise the design requirements.

Nowadays, with increasing competition among companies,
producing product or a service that is consistent with customers’
requirements is an important problem. In other words, companies should
identify customers’ requirements in a suitable manner and should
implement them in technical requirements of their products. Also, for
feasibility of technical product requirements, the conflicts between these
requirements must be eliminated in the shortest possible time. This
research introduces a tool for designing transformers on the basis of
customers’ requirements in Iran Transfo Rey Corporation. For this
purpose first the researcher used Fuzzy Quality Function Deployment
(QFD). In the process of House of Quality (HOQ) the Fuzzy Analytical
Hierarchy Process (FAHP) was used for weighting the customers’
requirements and Super Decisions Software was used for calculating the
reliability of the questionnaire. In the HOQ output, the importance of
technical designing was expressed on the basis of customers’
requirements. But there was a conflict between these technical
requirements. Therefore, we used TRIZ tools based on the importance of
these requirements for elimination the conflicts in the shortest possible
time, and this means transferring technology.

This article proposes to implement the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) House of Quality for strategic planning of computer security for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). The House of Quality (HoQ) applied to computer security of SME is a framework to convert the security needs of corporate computing in a set of specifications to improve computer security.

The aim of this paper is to improve the quality function deployment (QFD) method by utilizing requirements of both the major customer and the service provider. The QFD method was first applied to the shipbuilding industry and the main goal of the method is to improve the production processes by using customer requirements in connection with the related technical measures of the product. However, one of the critical criticisms of the QFD is based on the lack of proper budget assessment and the satisfaction of the producer (or service provider). The multi-layer QFD design is proposed to collect responses from both customer and the service provider so as to ensure satisfaction of all parties including financial feasibility of the intended improvements. Hence, the agency problem between parties will be eliminated.