|11 |QUALITY |
| |FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT (QFD) |
INTRODUCTION
Dr. Mizuno, professor emeritus of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, is credited with initiating the quality function deployment (QFD) system. The first application of QFD was at Mitsubishi, Heavy Industries, Ltd., in the Kobe Shipyard, Japan, in 1972. After four years of case study development, refinement, and training, QFD was successfully implemented in the production of mini-vans by Toyota. Using 1977 as a base, a 20% reduction in startup costs was reported in the launch of the new van in October 1979, a 38% reduction by November 1982, and a cumulative 61% reduction by April 1984. Quality function deployment was first introduced in the United States in 1984 by Dr. Clausing of Xerox. QFD can be applied to practically any manufacturing or service industry. It has become a standard practice by most leading organizations, who also require it of their suppliers. Quality function deployment (QFD) is a planning tool used to fulfill customer expectations. It is a disciplined approach to product design, engineering, and production and provides in-depth evaluation of a product. An organization that correctly implements QFD can improve engineering knowledge, productivity, and quality and reduce costs, product development time, and engineering changes. Quality function deployment focuses on customer expectations or requirements, often referred to as the voice of the customer. It is employed to translate customer expectations, in terms of specific requirements, into directions and actions, in terms of engineering characteristics, that can be deployed through
Product planning Part development Process planning Production planning Service
Quality function deployment is a team-based