Quality Function Deployment

(QFD) and House of Quality

By Julie VanLaanen
Turning the customers desires into
Engineering Specifications!!

January 25,

Consumption

Identify a
Need
Define the
Goal

Distribution

Manufacture
(Construction)

Solution
Description

The Design Process

- Multi-disciplinary Teamwork
- Highly integrated
- Iterative

Prototype

Task
Specifications

Ideation

Analysis

January 25,

Research

Conceptual
Design

Quality Function Deployment

A methodology for defining the customers
desires in the customers own voice,
prioritizing these desires, translating them
into engineering requirements, and
establishing engineering targets for meeting
those requirements. QFD produces a
technical design specification that can be
used to determine best design choices.
January 25,

Companies that have sent employees

to QFD training
3M, AT&T, Boeing, Chevron, Continental Rehabilitation
Hospital, DaimlerChrysler, EDS, Ford Motor Co., General
Motors, General Dynamics, Gillette, Hayes Brake,
Hewlett-Packard, Hughes Aircraft, Hyundai Motor
Company, IBM, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Kawasaki
Heavy Industry, Kodak, Lockheed-Martin, Motorola,
NASA, NATO, NEC, Nissan Motors, Nokia, Pratt &
Whitney, Poland Ministry of Finance, Proctor & Gamble,
Raytheon, Samsung, Seagate Technology, Sun
Microsystems, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, U.S.
Department of Defense, Visteon, Volvo, Xerox **
**Referenced from the QFD Institute Website

January 25,

Why Use Quality Function

Deployment?
In a large project with large teams from
several disciplines (engineering, marketing,
manufacturing, field service, etc.) product
definition and conception may vary from
interest group to interest group.
QFD makes sure everyone is viewing the
product in the same way.
January 25,

Design without Quality Function

Deployment

January 25,

Get the design it right, or find

another job.

January 25,

The Quality Function

Deployment Method
Identify the Customer(s)
Determine Customer Requirements/Constraints
Prioritize each requirement
Competitive Benchmarking
Translate Customer Requirements into Measurable
Engineering specifications
6. Set Target values for each Engineering Specification
7. Critique design options based on the above to arrive
at the best design choice.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

January 25,

Experiment with the QFD Process

through an example:
Designing a Refrigerator
You are a team of engineers working for the New World Refrigerator
Company. You have been asked to redesign the companys main
product, a frost-free refrigerator used in home applications. Your
boss wants the new refrigerator to be more marketable. Present
customer complaints about the old refrigerator include: the
refrigerator is unreliable and noisy, the shelves cant hold large
containers and cannot be rearranged, and the refrigerator is difficult
to clean. Marketing has expressed an interest in the new refrigerator
having a water and ice dispenser. Field service has indicated they
have experienced failures when refrigerators fall off the delivery
truck and have complaints the are difficult to install.

January 25,

Step 1: Identifying the

Customer(s)

Who wants the product?

Who will build the product and how?
Who will sell the product?
Who will use the product?

January 25,

QFD Example
Designing a Refrigerator
Step 1: Identify All Customer(s)

Families using the refrigerator

Marketing Specialist
Shop resellers
Manufacturing Team
Engineering Team

January 25,

Step 2: Determining Customer

Requirements
Develop a list of all the customer
requirements and constraints IN THE
CUSTOMERS OWN WORDS.
What is the difference between a customer
requirement and a customer constraint?

January 25,

Constraint vs. Requirement

Functional Requirements are statements of the
specific performance of the design: What
the product should do.
Constraints are external factors that in some
way limit the selection of system or
subsystem characteristics.

January 25,

Types of Requirements
Basic Needs Requirements so fundamental they
are often not expressed, however they are crucial
and must be identified. If not met, customer is NOT
happy.
Performance Needs Requirements which provide
increased satisfaction as performance improves.
Excitement Needs Requirements that cause
immediate happiness. Creation of excitement
features will differentiate your product from the
competition.
January 25,

QFD Example
Designing a Refrigerator
Step 2: Determine Customer Requirements/Constraints

Refrigerator must look cool (excitement)

Refrigerator must function reliably (basic)
Refrigerator should dispense water and ice (excitement)
Children should be able to access contents (performance)
Refrigerator should be quiet (performance)
Shelves should be flexible (performance)
Surfaces easy to clean (basic)
Refrigerator should have low energy consumption (excitement)
Large items should fit in refrigerator (basic)
Low cost (basic)
Fits easily into kitchen (basic)
Easy to deliver and install (basic)

January 25,

Step 3: Prioritizing the

Requirements
Each Requirement/Constraint should be listed in
order of importance. This helps the designer
decide how much effort, time, and money should
be invested to achieve the Requirement/Constraint
Prioritizing can be done in many ways, we will
demonstrate the use of a Binary Comparison to
generate a weighting factor
January 25,

Binary Comparison
Compare each requirement/constraint to all others, using a 0
and 1 to determine which is most important.
Sum up score for each requirement and use percentages to
determine order of importance.

January 25,

QFD Example

Designing a Refrigerator
Step 3: Prioritize Customer Requirements

January 25,

Step 4: Competitive
Benchmarking
Benchmarking provides a standard, or point of reference
and range, that can be used to judge quality, value,
and performance.
It provides a perspective on what the best-in-class
product is and what makes it so.
Final outcomes from benchmarking include discoveries
about where the product and industry appear to be
headed in the future (industry trends.)
January 25,

What do you look for while

Benchmarking your product?

Functions performed
Targeted Market Segment
Cost
Reliability/Warranty
Geometry, Space Requirements
Material used on individual parts
Ergonomics
Where they were manufactured - Assembly in low-labor cost

countries can enable the use of complex assembly processes with many inexpensive
parts, whereas assembly in high-labor rate countries requires designs with complex
multi-functional snap-fit parts

January 25,

Where to find Benchmark

Information?
Stores and other locations with similar products
Libraries
Thomas Register of Companies (
www.thomasregister.com)
Consumer Reports (www.consumerreports.com)
Trade Magazines
Patents (www.patents.ibm.com)
World Wide Web
Similar Technology
Yellow Pages
January 25,

Competitive Benchmarking
Once you have obtained data about potential
competitors, you need to compare each
competing product with your customer
requirements and constraints. Some
comparisons are objective, some subjective.

January 25,

QFD Example

Designing a Refrigerator
Step 4: Competition Benchmarking

Identify Competitors
Test and Analyze Competitor Products
Reverse Engineer Competitor Products
Rate Competitor Products against customer
requirements/constraints

January 25,

QFD Example

Designing a Refrigerator
Step 4: Competition Benchmarking
Identify Competitors
Maytag, Whirlpool, GE, Frigidaire, Amana

Analyze Competitor Products

Efficiency Ratings, Noise Measurements,
Temperature range, Physical size, Weight, Cost, etc.

Rate Competitor Products against customer

requirements/constraints
January 25,

Step 5: Translating Customer Requirements

into Engineering Specifications
Youve got a list of general requirements, youve spoken with
your client and have their vision, and you researched a ton
of market information. But normally the information you
gathered isnt specific enough in an engineering sense.
Low cost
Reliable
Strong
Sustainable
What do those words mean in the engineering world?
January 25,

Step 5 and 6: Translating Customer Requirements

into Engineering Specifications and setting
engineering target values
As an Engineer, you must take your customers requirements and constraints and
translate them into measurable engineering specifications:
Low cost
Production cost under $250
Retail cost under $500
Reliability =>
MTBF of 200,000 hours
Warranty against failure of 3 years
Quiet
Noise in front of Refrigerator below 30 decibels
Size
Standard footprint of 24 inch depth

Easy to clean
% of space rated easy to clean (may need to do some testing)

January 25,

Step 6: Set Engineering Targets

for Design Specifications
Determine reasonable Engineering Targets for
each of your Design Specifications
1. Ascertain how the competition meets the
engineering targets
2. Remember targets are not set in stone
they can change as the product develops
Engineering targets must be measurable and
or testable to be useful.
January 25,

Visualizing your QFD

You have all this information. How do you
organize it?
1. Create an Engineering Specification
Document
2. Create a Competitive Benchmarking
Document
3. Show information in a House of Quality

January 25,

January 25,

QFD Example

Designing a Refrigerator
Put prioritized Customer Requirements into a House of Quality Chart

January 25,

Competitive Benchmarking Scale

Below is a possible scale for rating the
competitions product based on customer
requirements.
1 = the design does not meet the requirement
2 = the design meets the requirement slightly
3 = the design meets the requirement somewhat
4 = the design meets the requirement mostly
5 = the design completely meets the requirement

January 25,

QFD Example

Designing a Refrigerator

January 25,

House of Quality Example

Designing a Refrigerator

January 25,

Taken From: Six Sigma web site at:

http://www.isixsigma.com/offsite.asp?
A=Fr&Url=http://www.npdsolutions.com/refrigppm.html

January 25,

Example of a
completed
House of Quality

January 25,

Referenced from Sixsigma Financial

Services at:
http://finance.isixsig
ma.com/offsite.asp?
A=Fr&Url=http://w
ww.npdsolutions.com/apupp
m.html

January 25,

References
Presentation from Dr. David Munoz and Dr. Bob Frost
Web Research
Product Design: Techniques in Reverse Engineering and
New Product Development by Kevin Otto & Kristin Wood
pp 259-300.
QFD Institute
Six-sigma Financial Service at
http://finance.isixsigma.com/offsite.asp?A=Fr&Url=http:
//www.npd-solutions.com/apuppm.html
Six Sigma web page www.isixsigma.com

January 25,

Homework
On the web under Assignments is the QFD Assignment

Each team needs to create a QFD and a House of Quality

document
These documents will be updated throughout the semester and
used in your final Proposal as your design specification
document

January 25,