The state‐of‐the‐art of the Brazilian QFD applications at the top 500 companies Available to Purchase

Since Quality Function Deployment (QFD) has been applied all over the world, a number of surveys have been conducted in various nations in order to evaluate the extent to which the method is applied as well as its main difficulties and benefits. Reports on the design, development and findings of a survey carried out in Brazil, where QFD is completing ten years of application. The companies reported the QFD experienced difficulties, driven data sources, perceived benefits and other relevant aspects of its implementation. The principal difficulties are relative to the size of the matrices, commitment of group members and lack of experience. Companies are more likely to report qualitative benefits associated with improved cross‐functional communication and teamwork. The final picture shows that companies that applied QFD are restricted to a limited population. Reveals a considerable lack of knowledge about the method expressed by many survey respondents. However, identifies five companies with a high level of QFD application.