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“Toyota to recall 533,000 Sequoias, Tundras: Faulty component could
make vehicles difficult to steer,” read a
headline in the Associated Press. [Jan. 19, 2007 MSNBC.com]
This follows a series of recalls by the automaker in recent years,
including one last year that resulted in a Japanese government
investigation of company executives for intentionally delaying a
warranty recall. [November 2006, Nihon Keizai Shinbun]
Sony, Toshiba, and Mitsubishi Fuso are also among the industry leaders
who have had a serious quality recall recently. In the U.S., the
struggle to restructure is being played out at The Big Three who were
once pioneers in adopting Japanese quality methods in the 1980s,
including QFD.
There is a lesson: Quality is fragile. Any golden standard can fall
when it retains the status quo, and this includes a company of
unfaultable reputation.
So, it was timely to receive this question from one of our readers. He
has 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 he need to start all over from the QFD Green Belt®
level? Why can’t he 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.
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History
The “4-phase model QFD” refers to an ‘extraction’ of Japanese
Comprehensive QFD that was developed by the U.S. auto industry in
the 1980s in order to address the competitive threat of Japanese
carmakers. They truncated QFD so that the U.S. auto suppliers (who
were in build-to-OEM-print business) could hastily adopt it. In
fact, the creators of the 4-phase QFD model dubbed it
"kindergarten QFD" because its simplicity was meant to be a
starting level, not a graduate course.
Unfortunately, many who were exposed to this early model never
moved beyond this point, never updated their QFD knowledge, and
probably do not realize it is only a fragment of the QFD process.
In the early days of QFD introduction to the West, the 4-phase
application case studies published in the 1980-90s by the U.S.
auto industry became the exclusive source of QFD information for
non-Japanese scholars and practitioners, who then wrote the
first-generation of QFD books and articles in English. Over time,
their books and examples became the main source of QFD information
for still others seeking QFD information in English, perpetuating
this incomplete QFD information.
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Why update QFD now?
The 4-phase model QFD wrongly assumes a House of Quality (HOQ)
matrix is QFD. The matrix is one of the 7 Management Tools used in
various quality studies, not just in QFD. It is a powerful tool
when properly used. In many QFD projects, however, it is
unnecessary. Building a HOQ correctly takes considerable time,
resources, and skill, so should yield more benefit than the
effort. Implementation errors are frequent even in the hand of a
Six Sigma Black Belt coach (see the
previous
issue).
Historically, HOQ was created in Japan in the 1960s when lifetime
employment afforded Japanese companies abundant human resources,
but today's lean organizations make it difficult to secure the
resources needed to complete this detailed QFD study from initial
project planning through quality assurance and control activities.
Many practitioners, expressing that they would like to do more QFD
than they have time for, resolve the issue by quitting in the
middle.
Dr. Akao, founder of QFD, bemoaned these circumstances and
authorized the QFD Institute in 2000 to create a more efficient
model for modern Western companies. The QFD Institute’s QFD Belt
program was thus created.
The QFD
Green Belt® and
QFD Black Belt®
address the issues discussed above and more.
The intent of the QFD Belt program is to
help your business efficiently identify market opportunities and
customer value, incorporate innovative changes in your
product/service development process, and become poised to generate
profits through the transformation brought by QFD, as well as
build internal human resources that can carry out future QFD
projects.
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Why prerequisites for the QFD Black Belt® course?
The goal of the QFD Green Belt® course is to introduce the main
tools of Modern QFD with some hands-on practice. The goal of the
QFD Black Belt® course is to learn how to apply these tools and
lead others on real projects. The two courses have little overlap.
Without solid understanding of Modern QFD, one would not be able
to follow the fast-paced QFD Black Belt® course which covers over
1,200 pages of advanced materials. If your QFD exposure is limited
to the 4-phase model, you will not be able to get as much out of
the QFD Black Belt® course because you will most likely have
difficulty grasping the modern tools.
The QFD Green Belt® and QFD Black Belt® courses have been attended
by senior QFD practitioners as well as first-timers, including
veterans who have been doing the 4-phase QFD since the 1980s and
have even written QFD books. One such long time QFD expert
recently attended our QFD Green Belt® and QFD Black Belt® course
and exclaimed, "Until I took this course, I did not know that the
QFD knowledge I had learned previously from other sources was
wrong even though I had written a book about QFD. Now it makes
sense."
The challenges your business faces today are different from even
three years ago. Shouldn’t your response change, too?
The QFD Belt program goes through rigorous reviews at least twice
a year, to assure the materials and teaching methods reflect
today’s best practice and global business trends. In fact, Dr.
Akao even recommends to the Japanese that they take the QFD Green
Belt® course.
"How does Modern QFD differ from Traditional 4-phase model? Why is
it important even for senior practitioners to start with the QFD
Green Belt® course?"
Read more...
(PDF file)
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