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Quality function deployment expert comes onboard

An ITI product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jul 21, 2005

Noted quality function deployment (QFD) authority Hans Hjort is working with ITI to help clients ensure new product success.

Noted quality function deployment (QFD) authority Hans Hjort is working with ITI to help clients ensure new product success.

Hjort brings his 15 years of product development experience and his 18 years of facilitating QFD development teams to educate companies on how to plan, choose and design winning products and improve time to market.

QFD is today gaining popularity in the development of new products and services.

This may be attributed to renewed interest in applying design for six sigma along with a more clear appreciation of its role as an integral part of the overall product planning and implementation process as well as the enabler for the CPM (critical parameter management) process of design for six sigma.

"Many companies attempted to implement QFD in the past have, for any number of reasons failed to obtain the expected benefits", explained Hjort.

"In these cases the application of QFD is typically abandoned completely or had its role reduced to that of a data documentation tool instead of the proactive planning tool it was meant to be".

The most prominent mistakes in applying QFD typically include: market strategy (or product strategy) not driven by the QFD process; once the planning matrix was complete it was business as usual (no visible linkage back to the VOC from downstream activities); QFD used to confirm product decisions already made (did not drive new ideas); development team failed to link the project decisions to the overall business strategy and internal criteria for success; too many product specification changes during the development process; and development team had a difficulty agreeing on project direction and decisions.

"Common mistakes can be avoided with a knowledgeable approach to QFD allowing organisations to reap benefits similar to those experienced by a couple of recent efforts by major companies", said Hjort.

"In one example, a QFD-aided product development effort increased market share from 50% to 75% while transforming the product in the mind of customers from a 'commodity' to an 'asked for' product".

"In another example the use of QFD facilitated an exceptional co-operative spirit within all affected areas for the client".

"The result was a quick recapture of lost market share without sacrificing profitability".

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