Logistics Master 's thesis Ye Tian 2011
Department of Business Technology Aalto University School of Economics
Abstract
This study is to apply the quality function deployment (QFD) model in the Chinese heavy construction equipment market to improve the after-sales service. The main objectives of this study are to find out how to translate the customers’ needs into technical measurements by this QFD model for the supplier company and also to find out the priority and importance of each technical measurement to design the after-sales service model for the Chinese heavy construction equipment market. The main literature reviews are focusing on the comparison of the differences of aftersales models in the Western and Eastern markets and how to decrease the customers’ dissatisfaction of after-sales service by using the QFD model. Moreover, in this study there is a specific introduction of the QFD model and its core part, the house of quality (HOQ). And there is also an introduction of the focus group method which is used to define the research attributes in the QFD model. After the literature review and methodology introduction, there is a case study based on the company X from China. This company is a leading company in the Chinese heavy construction equipment market. By applying the data which is collected from the company X and its customers into the QFD model, there is possibility to make the guide that how to improve the after-sales service in the Chinese heavy construction equipment market. In this study, firstly we can know how the QFD model can be used in the service improvements, and then we can know how to improve the after-sales service by utilizing the QFD model in the Chinese heavy construction equipment market and also design the appropriate after-sales service model for this specific market.
Key words: after-sales service, Chinese heavy construction
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