EXPERT CHOICE ®    [Exhibitor]

Since 1983, Expert Choice has been improving the decision-making of businesses and government organizations around the world, from helping Fortune 100 companies realize a profit to helping the Joint Chiefs prioritize military threats.

Whether you are working on a budget planning or analyzing which component should go into the next fighter jet, Expert Choice can help you simplify your decision process. Based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Expert Choice software provides a structured approach and proven process for prioritization and decision-making that is based on a clear rationale, aligned with your organizational objectives, improves top-down and bottom-up communication, and even helps you build consensus.

Expert Choice software is used by more than 100 of the Fortune 500 Companies and 30 U.S. Federal Agencies. It is also taught in over 100 universities and used in 60 countries worldwide.

Expert Choice is used in Modern QFD procedures because it produces ratio scale values, which are necessary to obtain accurate customer priorities as well as to do the House of Quality properly.

"QFD Kano Model for College Dormitory"  [Japan]

The Kano model of exciting quality vs. expected quality is a good visual cue explaining the complexities of the relationships between customer satisfaction and product attributes. Although the Model is often cited by experts in quality, design, and marketing, it is one of the least understood concepts.

At the last year's symposium in Austin, Texas, we presented the QFD Institute's ongoing research on Kano Model and QFD, its original concepts, recent applications, and new Kano-QFD models including an automotive example.

This year's symposium will include a case study from Japan on a female students' dormitory. It reports using the Kano Model to find out how various functions and features of a dorm are being perceived differently by the student residents and their parents and how this finding can be used in the planning stage of a QFD project. Dr. Yoji Akao, Ph.D., founder of QFD, will present this research, jointly done with his students, and will discuss how you can integrate QFD and the Kano Model to create customer delights in your product and service.

"The Development of a New Rocket Valve with High Reliability on the QFD Methods"  [Japan]

The growing Asian aerospace industry has been recently capturing headlines for both its dramatic successes and failures.

In 1998, then National Space Development Agency of Japan tapped Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to develop new rockets, perhaps for the company's cutting-edge engineering know-how and superior quality management technology. This paper reports a joint project by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the current national aerospace agency.

Any problems associated with a rocket valve could gravely affect the launch schedule and operational costs of a space project. At the symposium, a case study will be presented where QFD was applied to improve the reliability of a rocket valve design, eventually leading to the development of a new model.

This project was conducted by Kohei Kojima, Minoru Matsuda, and Kimito Yoshikawa of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan; Hideaki Nanri, Koichi Okita, and Masaru Fukuoka of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan; along with Yoji Akao, Ph.D., Yamagata University, Japan. The symposium presentation will be made by Kohei Kojima, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan.

"Using QFD to Involve All Employees in the Corporate Innovation Process"  [USA]

With competition at an all time high, more and more companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF), are seeking ways to capture that next "big" idea.

BCBSF currently has over 9,000 employees within its walls, each with an idea on how the company can increase membership, reduce administrative costs, differentiate products and services from our competitors and expand our distribution channel.

Random idea creations no matter how diverse the source, however, can become a drag on resources and lead to disappointment among those whose ideas are not utilized. When the Voice of the Customer is used to drive idea creation and selection process, then the diversity of our internal resources can be fully harnessed.

"Methodology Design to Update the Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) Curriculum of the Spanish Industrial Engineer Based on QFD"   [Spain/Bolivia]

The education of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) in a university is considered important because, more than a technology, it is a philosophy of integration. Companies will be interested in contracting engineers better prepared in this aspect as it is considered strategic.

Developing a methodology that will allow construction of industrial engineering curricula that teach CIM technology will require the support of methods like QFD and other tools such as Delphi, Affinity Diagrams, Analysis of Systematization of the hierarchy, etc. This research by a Bolivian author completing a Ph.D. study in Spain uses QFD and Delphi methods to design a CIM curriculum, translating industry requirements into design characteristics of an online course.

This research will be presented by Isabel Melina Balderrama Durán, Institut Quimic de Sarria (Chemical Institut of Sarria), Spain.

SYNC Information System   [Exhibitor] http://www.syncinfo.co.jp

SYNC Information System is an independent software and system vendor company, located in the city of Kofu, Japan.

Established in 1992, SYNC Information System develops enterprise information systems. As a total solution provider, the company provides not only software and system development, but also solutions for network infrastructure construction, Dataware Housing and Online Analytic Processing for information analysis.

SYNC Information System also strives for community development, by working with local educational institutions and companies, and through research and collaboration with the local university in the fields of Quality Management, e-Learning Environment and others.

At this time, SYNC Information System's products and services are available only in Japan; however, in the future the company plans to expand their services to the rest to the world.