Training FAQs

1. How do I learn more about QFD ?

2. What can QFD for do me ?

3. Where can I find the best training ?

4. What are the benefit of QFD training by the QFD Institute and its instructors?

5. Why isn't other QFD training as up-to-date ?

6. QFD Belt Certification

7. How can I tell good QFD training from poor training?

8. Do I need a QFD Green Belt^® even though I am a Six Sigma (Master) Black Belt?

9. When is the next course?

How do I learn more about QFD?

There are many great web sites on QFD as well as many books. Most recommended are books of the men who founded the methodology - Mizuno and Akao.

Mizuno, Shigeru, and Yoji Akao, Ed. 1994. [1978] Quality Function Deployment: The Customer-Driven Approach to Quality Planning and Deployment. Rev. ed. Tokyo: Asian Productivity Organization. ISBN 92-833-1122-1. [Translated by Glenn Mazur]

 

Akao, Yoji, Ed. 1990 [1988]. Quality Function Deployment: Integrating Customer Requirements into Product Design. Foreword by Bob King. Cambridge, MA: Productivity Press. ISBN 0-915299-41-0. [Translated by Glenn Mazur]

Transactions from past QFD Symposia are also a good source of application case studies and research papers. Use Keyword Search (Ctrl+F) to look for the topics of your interest. The transactions copies are available for purchase.

Attending the annual Symposium on QFD is an excellent opportunity for beginners and experts alike to gain an insight into new applications, tools and methods, and solutions, as well as to stay on top of the current trends. The Symposium serves as a forum for anyone who is interested in QFD; you can network, exchange tips with, and ask questions to other QFD practitioners.

The Symposium typically accompanies several pre and post conference workshops and tutorials for people of all levels of QFD proficiency. The public QFD Green Belt^® Certificate Course is an excellent introductory workshop to gain the most up-to-date QFD knowledge in both theory and practice. This course is recommended for those who are new to QFD, those who studied QFD primarily through books and non-QFD Institute seminars, and those who learned QFD many years ago and need a refresher course. It is also a good starting point for corporate training recruiters who wish to find out how QFD can benefit their organizations.

For those who aim to be a project leader or facilitator, the QFD Black Belt^® Certificate Course is opened to the public once a year at the QFD Institute's annual Symposium.

For those who prefer private learning environment and specialized QFD application for their unique project, both QFD Green Belt^® and QFD Black Belt^® Certificate Courses can be scheduled as an in-house training, using a custom-tailored QFD process and curriculum that is optimally developed for your company and project.

The QFD Institute Newsletter is another source for QFD tips, short articles, and timely announcements of upcoming training opportunities. This monthly e-newsletter is sent to the subscribers' inbox. It is a free service that you can opt in or out at any time.

What can QFD do for me?

Benefits of implementing QFD are widely reported and documented. You can sample some of the reasons in the Testimonials as well as papers presented at the past Symposia from numerous industries, organizations, and countries.

For questions on how QFD might help your unique situation or project, please contact the QFD Institute (TEL: +1 734-995-0847).

Where can I find the best training?

The QFD Institute offers world-class QFD courses using the most up-to-date QFD curriculum and teaching method available today. Its QFD Belt program has been developed and continually updated to deliver the highest possible standards of QFD training in the world. As a world center for advanced QFD research using the only Akao-certified QFD training curriculum available outside Japan, you can be confident your instructors and course materials are the best.

QFD Gold Belt^sm - Executives and Managers

QFD Green Belt^® - Team member

QFD Black Belt^® - Facilitator

QFD Master Black Belt^® - Specialist

QFD Grandmaster Black Belt^® - Expert

Advanced Quality Methods (Kansei Engineering, Integration of DFSS and QFD, TRIZ, and more)

QFD Executive Overview

QFD Technical Review

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What are the benefits of QFD training by the QFD Institute and its instructors?

QFD Institute and its instructors strive to present only the best and most current in QFD knowledge, practice and tools. Our instructors have studied QFD directly under Dr. Akao, co-founder of QFD, since mid-1980's.

Every year, they attend privately-held study sessions with Dr. Akao and other pioneers in the field to research, keep themselves up-to-date, and to refine their teaching methods. They have lectured on QFD internationally for many years, delivered keynotes, and have published numerous QFD case studies and articles in English and Japanese. They are organizers of the North American and International Symposium on QFD. This uniquely qualifies them to bring leading edge QFD knowledge to their students and explicate the complete picture of Comprehensive QFD, its origin, transformation, what are facts, what are myths, etc.

More important, they are the developers of the only QFD curricula in English authorized by Dr. Akao. The course materials are continuously updated for both public and in-house courses and custom-tailored to your company's needs and development process for in-house training. Many consulting firms also rely on the QFD Institute's training program to train their QFD consultants and trainers. (Companies that have sent their employees to the QFD Institute's training.)

Why isn't other QFD training as up-to-date?

In the beginning...

When Dr. Akao introduced QFD to the US in the 1980s, the auto industry saw a way to regain lost customers using the same techniques their Japanese competitors used. 

Component suppliers opted for a bare-bones approach to QFD to quickly address design improvements using a standardized 4-matrix analysis. This cookie-cutter approach (one of its leading proponents even dubbed it kindergarten QFD) in the hands of a poor trainer is often abbreviated further to just one matrix - the so-called House of Quality. "A House of Quality is Not QFD." -Yoji Akao, QFD Master Class, 1994.

Forced inclusion of all the data in a single chart results in a huge matrix that gives inconclusive results. One misguided QFD study cited over a million data cells in the House of Quality that needed to be cross-checked. This is not good QFD. On the other end of the scale are those that try to do more than 30 matrices! No wonder many abandon QFD as being too difficult and time consuming. But, nothing could be further from the truth.

Too short, too long, isn't anything just right?

Study Japanese QFD thoroughly as we have, and you will see that each company has unique QFD approaches that need tailoring. There is no "right" number of matrices. The House of Quality or other matrices alone do not make QFD and they may even be unnecessary. If you do build the matrices, to do it correctly and to analyze correctly require the guidance from someone who has this thorough understanding. The QFD Institute created its training approach and materials with Dr. Akao and his associates. -  We know what works, what does not, and how to custom-tailor QFD to best fit your organization.

Certified for what?

The QFD Institute was sanctioned by Dr. Akao in 2000 to certify several levels of QFD expertise. These include QFD Green Belt^®, QFD Black Belt^®, QFD Master Black Belt^®, QFD Red Belt^® and QFD Gold Belt^® for management and executives.

The QFD Institute's QFD Belt Certificate program emphasizes mastery proven through competent application. In both in-house and public QFD Belt courses, students receive a provisional QFD Belt Certificate upon successful completion of the course. Full status is earned upon successful review of the students' QFD project using their tailored QFD process, submitted within a specified timeframe. The Certificate holders are additionally required to attend the periodic QFD Green Belt® Update Course and QFD Black Belt® Update Course in order to keep their Certificate status current as well as to keep their skills at the cutting edge.

This assures the integrity of The QFD Institute's QFD Belt Certificate, ascertaining that full certificate holders who are licensed to certify others below their level are using the most up-to-date and comprehensive materials available anywhere in the world, according to the QFD Institute's Excellence in Training principles. A QFD Belt status may be verified by contacting the QFD Institute office.

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How can I tell good QFD training from poor training?

Good QFD training will teach you the differences between QFD for manufactured and assembled products, service and business process, food and chemical products, software, and small business. It will show you how to position your new product according to customer, competition, and corporate strategy.

A good QFD trainer knows how to custom-tailor QFD to your industry, product type, and organization. With custom-tailoring, QFD will be integrated into your product development process, whether you follow Six Sigma, PACE^®, Concurrent Engineering, or other product development approaches.

QFD training, that uses bare-bones approach or gives the impression that the House of Quality or the 4-phase matrix analysis are all you need, may be inadequate or outdated.

Do I need a QFD Green Belt® even though I have a Six Sigma (Master) Black Belt?

"I have been doing the '4-phase model QFD' process for over 15 years, leading QFD workshops and DFSS projects and earning a Six Sigma Black Belt. Why should I need to start all over from the QFD Green Belt® level? Why can’t I jump in the QFD Black Belt® program?"

This is a legitimate question that should not be treated lightly. The legacy issue, in fact, is one of the reasons why the QFD Belt Certificate program was created. It also raises the issue why it is imperative for today’s business to update their quality practices, especially QFD. This article explains why.

Also, read:

How is Modern QFD different from Traditional 4-phase model QFD?

Is your QFD math up to Six Sigma level?

Avoid common QFD application errors in DFSS

When is the next course?

If QFD sounds like the answer to many of your organizations problems, come learn more. Public courses are available as well as in-house training tailored to your unique requirements.

Calendar of public events.

To inquire about training, please feel free to call +1 734.995.0847 or email to the QFD Institute.

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