Quality function deployment: what it is, and its characteristics

Quality function deployment is a popular management model in companies; let's see why.

There is a very varied typology of quality management systems, and each organization chooses the model that best suits it.

Among all the existing alternatives, one of the most striking is the quality management system (QMS), one of the most striking is the deployment of the quality function, a methodology that we are going to discover below.This is a methodology that we are going to discover in these paragraphs in order to be clear about its characteristics and the advantages it offers over other different models.

What is quality function deployment?

The deployment of the quality function is a typology of quality management, whose foundation is to seek quality through the needs observed in the consumers of our product.We adapt our products to improve quality in order to meet the demands of our users. It is also known by the acronym QFD, which stands for Quality Function Deployment. In this way, the company will be constantly adapting to offer the perfect product.

To achieve this goal, the company must adopt changes in its production method to achieve the greatest possible increase in quality at all levels, both in the overall process and in the sub-processes, as well as in specific elements that make up each task in manufacturing the product. Therefore, we would be talking about the deployment of the quality function as a an integral system that is distributed uniformly from the beginning to the end of the manufacturing process..

Its versatility makes the deployment of the quality function a method applicable to the generation of an infinite number of products or services, regardless of the type of market in which they are located. Even so, it is true that it is particularly successful in the new technologies sector. Geographically, it has spread notably in Japanese companies, since Japan is a country characterized by industries that are constantly adapting to the most pioneering models, in search of excellence.

Originally, the deployment of the quality function was thought of as a method suitable for companies that manufacture products, but it was soon discovered that these ideas were just as It was soon discovered that these ideas were equally applicable to up-and-coming industries such as software, which proved that it was a methodology that could be used to improve the quality of products and services.This proved to be an excellent methodology for optimizing processes in a Wide range of industries. This is the quality that has made this quality management system so popular.

Tools

Within the discipline of quality function deployment, there is a whole series of tools with which this system seeks to achieve its objectives. Let's take a look at some of the most important ones.

House of quality

The quality house is probably the concept most associated with the deployment of the quality function, so much so that there is a debate as to whether it is a variant of this method or just a complementary tool for its use. It consists of a diagram that resembles a house, hence its name, in which all the requests that all the requests made by users are placed together with the capacities that the company has to carry them out, so that they can be to carry them out, so that they are all interrelated.

The elements that are related are the "what", i.e. what users want, assigning them a level of importance, with the "how", which would be the variables of our product that, if modified, can respond to the requests made by our customers. By establishing this relationship, we can easily see which variables respond to one or more requests, to what extent they do so and how important they are, so that we can establish an action plan with reasonably solid criteria.

There is a whole series of templates and tutorials so that any company that wishes to do so can make use of this methodology in search of an improvement in the quality of its products and services, as many organizations have already done. The attraction of the house of quality is the simplicity of its approach and its visually intuitive diagram.This makes it perfect for benefiting from the deployment of the quality function in an easily approachable way.

2. Pugh matrix

Another tool frequently used to apply this method is the Pugh matrix, a decision matrix created by Stuart Pugh, after whom it is named. Its function is to compare a series of designs, taking into account all the criteria necessary for our production.. In this way we will obtain a table in which, with a quick glance, we can check the strengths and weaknesses of each of them and the extent to which they meet the wishes of our consumers.

It is a fantastic method to assess in a quantitative way the validity of all our alternatives, and thus be able to make an objective decision, based on real data, which will increase the probabilities of succeeding in the production process and obtain as a result a high quality service or product, as demanded by all users. Hence, Pugh's matrix is also very popular within the methodology of quality function deployment.

3. Modular function deployment

Modular function deployment is another tool related to the QFD method. Through this system, we obtain another type of diagram, where we also compare the customer requests with the design criteria, this time by modules.This time we do it by modules, and without obtaining in the comparison the "roof" so characteristic of the house of quality. This is another good method for estimating and comparing different production design options and choosing the one that benefits us the most.

4. Hoshin Kanri

Hoshin Kanri is another methodology, in this case developed in Japan after World War II, for establishing business strategies in seven steps. It is a full-fledged management system rather than a tool, but it is also related to the deployment of the quality function, as some corporations decide to use them in a complementary manner, taking advantage of the benefits that both techniques provide.

5. Management by objectives

As in the previous case, management by objectives, or management by objectives, is a very extensive method of management, in this case used to establish lines of action and provide a guide for decision making.. It is another system that has been chosen by some companies at the same time as the deployment of the quality function, in search of maximum optimization of processes and a search for the highest quality in the final products created by the company.

Fuzzy QFD

Numerous studies have been conducted that revise the original concept of quality function deployment to relate it to fuzzy logic, giving rise to the so-called fuzzy QFD, or FQFD (from the initial of fuzzy, in English). Fuzzy logic is based on the establishment of relationships between values in a relative way, i.e., between themselves.that is, among themselves, and not around a general scale (A is greater than B, but we do not know if A is a high value by itself).

Fuzzy logic provides an advantage, and that is that it facilitates the comparison between the values that we handle, without the need to have an absolute measurement scale on which to measure each one of them. In this way we can compare all the elements we have in the diagram of the quality function deployment and quickly know which is the most optimal for our purpose.

This variant is gaining popularity in personnel selection systems, in order to make comparisons between the scores of the candidates in different processes, some of which are Some of these processes are complicated to standardize on a scale, so thanks to the fuzzy QFD the procedure is simplified and it is much easier to compare the results between one individual and another, however ambiguous the qualification may be at first.

Moreover, it is another example of how the deployment of the quality function can be adapted to any field of business activity, not only to the mere production of objects, but also to processes as specific as those of personnel selection, since in this sense it is also possible to establish a comparison between what is asked of us (the characteristics of the position) and the variables that we can modulate, which after all is the basis on which this methodology is based.

Bibliographical references:

• Escobar, O., Sofía, E., Rodríguez, C., Julio, C., Velasco, D., Germán, O. (2005). Quality function deployment (QFD): benefits and limitations detected in its application to myoelectric hand prosthesis design. Engineering and Research Journal.
• Gutiérrez, H., Gutiérrez, P., Garibay, C., Díaz, L. (2014). Multivariate analysis and QFD as tools to listen to the voice of the customer and improve service quality. Chilean Journal of Engineering.
• Osorio, J.C., Arango, D.C., Ruales, C.E. (2011). Supplier selection using fuzzy quality function deployment. Revista EIA.