Quality function deployment: a main pillar for successful total quality management and product development

Quick response to customer needs is an important dimension on which a company may compete. However, quick response in and by itself does not achieve much of a competitive advantage unless timeliness is integrated with quality, flexibility and cost efficiency. Discusses the meaning and origins of the quality function deployment (QFD) technique, its reported benefits and problems, its relationship to continuous improvement programmes such as total quality management, statistical process control(SPC), concurrent engineering (CE), and benchmarking. Also examines several case studies of companies based in the UK, in their attempt to introduce QFD for new product development. Highlights reported benefits up to date and how QFD starts to challenge existing cultures of developing new products. Finally presents some guidelines on QFD implementation and lists all the critical factors reported to impinge most on its successful implementation.