QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT

Prof. U.R.Atugade1, Prof. P.P. Awate2, Prof. Mrs. S.P. Shinde3,

Prof. N.V.Harugade4
1
P.G.Student, ADCET Ashta
2,3
Assistant Professor, 4Associate Professor, P.V.P.I.T. Budhgaon

ABSTRACT
Quality Function Deployment is a “method to transform qualitative user demands into quantitative parameters,
to deploy the functions forming quality, and to deploy methods for achieving the design quality into subsystems
and component parts, and ultimately to specific elements of the manufacturing process. Quality now a days
based upon the customer’s actual experience with the product or service measured against his or her
requirement. Quality just does not happen. It must be built into the product or service being marketed. The
present paper deals with the application of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), a tool for listening to
customer’s voice for Quality improvement.

Keywords: Quality Function Deployment, Quality control, Quality Assurance

I. INTRODUCTION

QFD (quality function deployment) is defined as a method for developing a design quality aiming at satisfying
the consumer and then translating the consumer's demand into design targets and major quality assurance points
to be used throughout the production phase. QFD is a way to assure the design quality while the product is still
in the design stage. From this definition, QFD can be seen as a process where the consumer’s voice is valued to
carry through the whole process of production and services.
QFD consists of two components which are deployed into the design process: quality and function. The
“quality deployment" component brings the costumer’s voice into the design process. The "function
deployment" component links different organizational functions and units into to the design-to-manufacturing
transition via the formation of design teams this is a method to help transform customer needs (the voice of
the customer [VOC]) into engineering characteristics (and appropriate test methods) for a product or service. It
helps create operational definitions of the requirements, which may be vague when first expressed. It
prioritizes each product or service characteristic while simultaneously setting development targets for the
product or service.
QFD is designed to help planners focus on characteristics of a new or existing product or service from the
viewpoints of market segments, company, or technology-development needs. The technique yields charts and
matrices.

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1.1 History
QFD was invented in Japan by Yoji Akao in 1966, but was first implemented in the Mitsubishi’s Kobe shipyard
in 1972, possibly out of the teaching of Deming. Then later it was adopted and developed by other Japanese
companies, notably Toyota and its suppliers.
In the USA the first serious exponents of QFD were the 'big three' automotive manufacturers in the 1980's, and a
few leading companies in other sectors such as electronics. However, the uptake of QFD in the Western world
appears to have been fairly slow. There is also some reluctance among users of QFD to publish and share
information - much more so than with other quality-related methodologies. This may be because the data
captured and the decisions made using QFD usually relate to future product plans, and are therefore sensitive,
proprietary, and valuable to competitors. (Hutton, 1997)

II. PROCESSES OF QFD

According to Lockamy and Khurana (1995), the idea of QFD is timing, performance evaluation, and resource
commitment. And the four phases of QFD are:
1. Product concept planning. It starts with customers and market research with leads to product plans,
ideas, sketches, concept models, and marketing plans.
2. Product development and specification. It would lead to the development to prototypes and tests.
3. Manufacturing processes and production tools. They are designed based on the product and component
specifications.
4. Production of product. It starts after the pilot have been resolved
After the products have been marketed, the customer’s voice is taken again.

III. BENEFITS OF QFD

According to Don Clausing, the author of Total Quality Development book, pointed out that the QFD has been
evolved by product development people in response to the major problems in the traditional processes, which
were:
1. Disregard the voice of customer
2. Disregard the competition
3. Concentration on each specification in isolation
4. Low expectations
5. Little input from design and production people into product planning
6. Divergent interpretation of the specifications
7. Lack of structure
8. Lost information
9. Weak commitment to previous decisions

IV. TOOLS OF QFD

Matrix diagrams, which are very useful to organize the data collected, help to facilitate the improvement
process. They can be used to display information about the degree to which employee expectations are being

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met and the resources that exist to meet those expectations. The structure in which QFD uses to organize
information is known as the House of Quality.
In its broadest sense, the QFD House of Quality displays the relationship between dependent (WHATS) and
independent (HOWS) variables (Woods, 1994) [8]. Figure 1 shows the typical House of Quality.
This House of Quality should be created by a team of people with first-hand knowledge of both company
capabilities and the expectations of the employee. Effective use of QFD requires team participation and
discipline inherent in the practice of QFD, which has proven to be an excellent team-building experience.

Fig.1- The Typical House of Quality

4.1 Pugh concept selection

Pugh Concept Selection can be used in coordination with QFD to select a promising product or service
configuration from among listed alternatives.

4.2 Modular Function Deployment

Modular Function Deployment uses QFD to establish customer requirements and to identify important design
requirements with a special emphasis on modularity. There are three main differences to QFD as applied in
Modular Function Deployment compared to House of Quality.
 The benchmarking data is mostly gone.
 The checkboxes and crosses have been replaced with circles
 The triangular “roof” is missing.
There are also other minor differences between the application of QFD in Modular Function Deployment as
compared to House of Quality, for example the term "Customer Attribute" is replaced by "Customer Value", and
the term "Engineering Characteristics" is replaced by "Product Properties". But the terms have similar meanings
in the two applications.

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4.3 Relationship to other techniques
Quality Function Deployment is closely related to Hoshin Kanri. The Hoshin process came before QFD and
both are used to document the objectives and needs of an organization.

4.4 QFD implementation

A successful story of QFD can be seen at the Chrysler Motors Corporation. The QFD at Chrysler Motor
Corporation was formally launched in September 1986, but its first application was begun in June 1986.
Chrysler implemented the QFD in four-stage process: (1) spreading awareness, (2) developing successful case
study and examples to motivate subsequent teams, (3) company-wide training and education on QFD techniques
and philosophy, and (4) adopting QFD as business philosophy.
In the beginning, QFD idea was not widely accepted in the company. For many QFD was perceived as requiring
additional time and effort. Such opinions led to organizational and perceptual barriers regarding the successful
implementation of QFD.
Due to various resource constraints, Chrysler management was sometimes unable to authorize first-hand
customer research. In such cases teams were encouraged to document what they knew concerning the customer
requirement, based on their experiences. Often team members simulated customers by actually evaluating
competing vehicles, and reviewing customer ratings.
The result of using QFD in Chrysler, in the launch of LH platform for mid-size cars was successful. The total
product design cycle took approximately 36 months, versus the historical cycles ranging from 62 to 54 months.
Only 740 people were required in the QFD program, while 1600 people were required in the historical
environment. Also, by focusing on the customer requirement instead of only cost, Chrysler made innovative
design changes that are gaining acceptance in marketplace

4.5 QFD Assurance

This facilitates the identification of system response needed to implement specific actions necessary to prevent
defects from being produced or processed any where in the organization .In the present paper an attempt is made
to apply the concept of QFD to Centrifugal Pump to develop Planning matrix, Cross-functional matrix,
Deployment matrix, Process plan and quality control charts, Work instructions.
In developing the matrices a likert scale of 1 to 5 is used to establish the relationship between customer
expectations and product characteristics. The numerical values assigned indicates the degree of relationship as
0--------------- no relationship
1 --------------- Weak relationship
3 -------------- Medium relationship
5 -------------- Strong relationship
The vertical section of the planning matrix contains customer expectations like probability, reliability etc., and
horizontal axis incorporates alternate design features closely related to the customer needs such as shaft, motor,
coupling etc. The varying degrees of correlation between customer needs and a design feature are established by
developing a weighted scale of 1-5. The individual needs are ranked for importance and the cumulative effect on
each of the design features is obtained.

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Deployment matrix, which identifies critical component characteristics affecting final product characteristics,
is developed. Process plan and quality control charts incorporating control point, checkpoint and monitoring
method are developed for centrifugal pumps.
The cross-functional matrix shows the relationships between individual components of the product and
different functions of manufacturing organization. Numerical values assigned indicate the degree of
relationship. The individual components of the product are ranked for importance. From the cross functional
matrix it is evident that besides design and production, procurement, installation and operation and maintenance
play a significant role in meeting the ultimate customer satisfaction. The work instructions are developed for
design, production, procurement, inspection and testing department.

V. CONCLUSION

QFD is a good system to be implemented in organization or industry, which can be seen from the examples
mentioned above. QFD does not design to replace the existing organization design process by any means, but
rather support the organization’s design process. And it also helps bring the customer’s voice into the production
process to reduce the unnecessary cost. Cutting production time is also very beneficial to the companies.
However, QFD has not been widely accepted in the USA compared to Japan (42% or more of Japanese
companies have adopted QFD to improve their quality). In the future we hope QFD can be more adopted and
researched in the American manufacturing and service organizations.

REFERENCES

[1] Akao, Y., ed. (1990). Quality Function Deployment, Productivity Press, Cambridge MA.
[2] Clausing, D., (1994). Total Quality Development, ASME Press, New York, NY.
[3] Day, R. G. (1993). Quality Function Deployment: Linking a Company with Its Customers, ASQC Quality
Press, Milwaukee WI.
[4] Dean, E. B. (1998). Quality Function Deployment from the Perspective of Competitive Advantage,
http://akao.larc.nasa.gov/dfc/qfd.html
[5] Hutton, D. (1997). Quality Function Deployment (QFD): The House of Quality,
http://www.dhutton.com/samples/sampqfd.html
[6] Lockamy, A., and Khurana A., (1995). Quality Function Deployment: Total Quality Management for
New Product Design, International Journal Quality and Reliability Management, Universal Press Ltd.
(UK) 1995.

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