Customers are the essence of any business organization. They are viewed as integral part of any business. Intelligent enterprises listen to the voice of the customer in designing their products and services. Quality function deployment (QFD) is a structured and systematic approach designed to translate customers’ needs into appropriate company business objectives. Dr Madu’s new book, House of Quality (QFD) in a Minute, is written to provide a simple and quick introduction of this important tool to students and quality practitioners. This book, therefore, provides a roadmap that leads the reader or manager to quickly understand and get hands‐on application of QFD as a planning tool.
The book uses a holistic approach to find the best fit between marketing and the company’s strategy. According to the author, the use of QFD could help a firm to become competitive by developing products and services that meet customer needs. I will classify the book based on three types of strategies: business, design, and solution.
The premise of a business strategy is that prevention pays. Instead of reacting to problems as they come up, an intelligent enterprise will proactively lay out a business strategy based on customer needs, firm’s ability, and concerns on the bottom line. Three chapters in the book cover this type of strategy: “QFD and strategic planning”; “Stakeholder vs. customer in product design”; and “QFD, cost control and productivity improvement”.
A design strategy can also be set up with the “House of Quality” technique to ensure that products of high quality are introduced to the market in a timely way. Three chapters provide details on preparing a QFD‐based design strategy: “Voice of the customer”, “House of quality”; and “QFD and concurrent engineering”.
QFD can also serve as a solution strategy. The notion here is to do it right the first time, and do it better next time. Business processes, as noted by the author, are open systems. Readers will quickly learn that continuous improvement is actually an ongoing effort. Three chapters are developed to help readers use QFD effectively: “QFD and the benchmarking”; “QFD and the analytical hierarchy process”; and “QFD and statistical quality control”.
A case example is also presented with a detailed “House of Quality” analysis on the door of an automobile. The same case example is used in the different chapters to show how information can flow horizontally to guarantee the success of QFD‐based applications.
The unique qualities of the book can be summarized as follows: it is precise and direct to the point with excellent coverage of this important quality tool and other related areas. It lives up to its name House of Quality (QFD) in a Minute. It is simple and easy to read and will serve as a good reference book on QFD.
To sum up, this book is a must read for students and quality practitioners who want a quick hands‐on application of QFD.
If you have any comments on this review or my previous reviews, please contact me at ckuei@fsmail.pace.edu.
