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One reader wrote to us:
"In our business, the customer normally provides the
specifications for a product or we follow technology trends.
Is QFD suitable for this type of industry and if so, how we
go about it?"
Let us discuss the two scenarios presented here: 1) design
to customer specification, and 2) redesign to technology
trends.
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1.
In designing to customer specification, QFD has been
shown to help in many ways such as identifying the
most critical customer needs out of a large list,
and then deploying to Technology Mapping, Knowledge
Management and Transfer, so forth.
For example, QFD can help you identify and fulfill
the most critical customer specs even
"when all you have to work with is a large
specification document from an OEM (customer)
describing a product they want you to make..."
( "Using
a Spec Document, the Customer Voice Table, and a QFD
Matrix to Generate a Critical-to-Quality List" by
Bruce White, Imation (2006 Symposium on QFD).)
The basic process steps outlined below is just one
example of such QFD use. |
QFD can be also used to document intrinsic
engineering knowledge by visually mapping the
contributions of technical capabilities to
fulfilling customer needs.
For example, Technology Mapping and QFD was a topic
at the 2008 Symposium. In "Use
of QFD & Technology Road Mapping to Develop a Mobile
Data Collection System" by
Dr. Kim Stansfield and Mr. Jeff Cole of CSC Computer
Sciences, the authors described
"how they systematically analyzed the requirements
of the stakeholders for a mobile subsystem using
SIPOC and QFD Analysis, and how the solution was
identified using a Technology Road Map such that it
met all of the requirements, and was different than
the solution tentatively proposed by the customer.
The approach provided context to the design team and
the senior customer management team, allowing the
design team to proof in advance the first release of
the system, and provided additional communication to
all parties concerning the future growth of the
system."
This naturally expands to the area of Knowledge
Management which Dr. Akao will again address at the 16th
International Symposium on QFD on
September 24, 2010
in Portland Oregon.
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QFD's intrinsic framework for Knowledge Management
should be useful for companies expanding rapidly or
needing to transfer the expertise of senior
engineers to the younger generation of workers. The
tools in QFD are versatile for any industry and
excellent for documentation, organization, and
communication of complex system ideas in a visually
accessible form.
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2.
In designing to customer specification, has the
customer ever specified wrong? While we say the
customer is "king" it does not mean that we must
only do as they say, because the customer will not
be satisfied if we fulfill the incomplete or
erroneous specification even if it came from them.
With QFD, we have the tools to translate the
specification back to its underlying customer needs,
and thus engage the customer into clarifying and
improving their specifications, including validating
a new concept and technology.
For example, a presentation at the 2001 Symposium, "QFD
Killed My Pet (Project) - Using QFD to Confirm
Market Needs for New Technology" (Dwight
Delgado, Fusion UV Systems, et. al.) described how
the use of QFD saved the company from investing in
an expensive new technology that the market was not
ready to pay for, saving them millions of dollars.
3.
In redesigning to technology trends, we can use
methods like Reverse QFD to better fine tune our
product to unspoken customer needs. Since the
technology is pushing the design, there are going to
be latent requirements that the customer does not
know to specify or they assume so basic that its
fulfillment is unspoken and expected (such as a
working antenna when holding a cell phone). These
requirements can easily change depending on the
customer and his usage of yours, and his product.
The 2007 ISQFD presentation "Building
Diversity: Using QFD to Involve Employees in the
Corporate Innovation Process" by
Kathy Hines, QFD Black Belt®, Blue Cross Blue Shield
of Florida, et. al., stated:
"QFD Technology Deployment is used to assure the
quality of new technology concepts as they are
being developed, and one variation of this is
reverse QFD. In reverse QFD, concepts are
generated internally and then mapped back into
customer needs, which can then be prioritized by
customers..."
Figure 1 diagram below illustrates the former.
4. Another
category of QFD benefit is to understand unspoken
customer needs. When building to specification, it
is often the case that most competitors try to
compete on low price once they can meet the
customer-provided spec. This should not be a long
term strategy, however, because there will always be
lower cost competitors emerging. What creates
product differentiation is to address exciting,
unspoken needs that even the customer may not know
can be addressed. This differentiation can lead to
higher profits. QFD has the tools to examine what
the customer specifies to uncover what he could not
specify, but needs.
For example, by specification, an electronic
component manufacturer who made linear amplifiers
could not change the pin outs, the supplied voltage,
the physical footprint, or the heat dissipation.
However, by using QFD to examine the use of the
product in which the linear amplifier was to be
installed, we were able to add certain functions and
parameters to the firmware of the amplifier, thus
making the chip more suitable for its intended
applications.
In another example, while implementing QFD with an
automotive supplier, we uncovered the need for a
more reliable pull-up resistor, but could not
redesign the PCB to accommodate a higher wattage
component. We then applied TRIZ (an
innovation method that is now integrated into QFD)
to come up with a solution that met both the
reliability needs of the customer and the footprint
needs of the PCB. This company also used QFD to
improve their testing and validation process.
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As OEMs look more to their supply chain for
competitive differentiation, QFD provides specific
tools and methods for suppliers and components
manufacturers to:
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Fulfill customer requirements beyond the stated
needs and specification;
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Identify what needs are most important to the
end users and the areas that would give them
unique advantage over competitors; and
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Identify how to satisfy them with technical
capabilities, while keeping in line with the
project goals.
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Learn QFD tools in these examples
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