QFD on the Web

Considering that in a spreadsheet environment secondary requirements are generally edited far more than primary requirements (the primary requirements list or “quality characteristics hierarchy” is usually pulled automatically from other Houses of Quality in the QFD), have you ever wondered why it is that the secondary requirements are the ones that are flipped on their sides and run across the top of the HOQ?

“Quality Function Deployment” was originally created by two Japanese professors back in the 1960’s (Drs. Yoji Akao and Shigeru Mizuno). Thus, the process was originally given a Japanese name, which was later translated into English. The original Japanese name, “Hin-shitsu Ki-no Ten-kai”, was translated quite litterally into the name “Quality Function Deployment”. Although the name supposedly carries with it a more intuitive meaning in Japanese, it doesn’t seem to have the same readily apparent meaning in English.

There are simple guidelines that can help QFD teams to construct models that will not only champion the voice of the customer, but that will be maintainable as well. Although these guidelines not as simple as cutting off requirements lists at an arbitrary number, the reward for following these procedures will be a sound Quality Function Deployment model that will increase communication, appropriately prioritize efforts, and assist in making sure that a product or service meets all of the needs of its customers.

There are some other terrific resources on the web for QFD information. We recommend a quick look at the following…

At the end of the day, all of these teams had one thing in common: they had modified the QFD tool to work for them in a pragmatic way that they could and would continue to use…