Managing Quality, 6th Edition

Chapter Ten Quality Management Techniques

B. G. Dale, B. Dehe and D. Bamford

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of six core quality management techniques and of ‘Six Sigma’, a strategic improvement approach, often deployed in an organization's improvement process.

1. Quality Function Deployment
2. Design of Experiments
3. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
4. Statistical Process Control
5. Benchmarking
6. Business Process Re-engineering and Value Stream Mapping
7. Six Sigma

Quality Function Deployment

With thanks to I. Ferguson and B. G. Dale (2007)

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a systematic procedure which is used to help build quality into the upstream processes and also into new product development. It helps to avoid problems in the downstream production and delivery processes and will consequently shorten the new product/service development time. The concept helps to promote proactive rather than reactive development by capturing and measuring the ‘voice of the customer’.

QFD is a technique that is used in the first place for translating the needs of the customers into design requirements, being based on the philosophy that the ‘voice of the customer’ drives all company operations. It requires reliable data from the following diverse sources: customers, design functionality, costs and capital, reliability, reproducibility.

It employs a step-by-step approach from customer needs and expectations through the four planning phases of:

• Product planning
• Product development