Translating Customer Expectations

with Quality Function Deployment

(QFD)

Sheryl Vogt
Vogt Consulting, Inc.
April 24, 2013

Agenda
Welcome
Introduction of MBB Webcast
Series

Larry Goldman, MoreSteam.com

Todays Session

Sheryl Vogt, Vogt Consulting

Open Discussion and Questions

MoreSteam.com
Founded in 2000
Trained 400,000 Lean Six Sigma
professionals
Served over 2,000 corporate customers
(including 50+% of the F500)
First firm to offer the complete Black Belt
curriculum online
Courses reviewed and approved by ASQ
and PMI
Academic Partnerships with Ohio State
University, Cal Poly and George
Washington University
3

Todays Presenter
Sheryl Vogt
President, Vogt Consulting, Inc.
Develops and delivers LSS programs and
training for manufacturing, service,
healthcare, and government organizations.
Mentored hundreds of Black and Green
Belts on their projects.
Previously worked as a Black Belt and
Master Black Belt for GE.
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and M.S. in
Industrial Engineering Purdue University
4

Todays Topic Simple QFD

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a
complex but powerful tool that is used for
product development
Today we will focus on a simplified version that
can be used for process design

QFD Simplified for Process

History and purpose of Quality Function
Deployment (QFD)
Simplified version that can be used for process
design
Some examples

History of QFD
Developed in the 1960s by two professors in
Japan
Purpose was to design customer satisfaction
into products
Refined in 1970s
Caught on in the US in the 1980s and 90s for
product design

House of Quality

Importance
Competitive
Goals/Targets

The House of Quality

Action

Competitive Data

Complaints

Importance

Customer Needs

Requirements

Quality Function
Deployment (QFD) is
recognized for the matrix
which translates customer
requirements (the voice of
the customer) into technical
requirements
The matrix is often referred
to as the house of quality.

Why is QFD Good?

Its a Translation Tool

Translating Customer Requirements

Customer Needs
Y=f(x)

Customer Requirements
Functional Requirements
Y=f(x)

Design Specs
Process Specs

Y=f(x)

Y=f(x)

Produce

Customers are Hard to Understand

Great Tool but

Very long and tedious method
Correct application requires rigor and time
Hard to translate from product to process

Typical Team Reaction

Had this experience?

Adapting Tools to our Needs

QFD is a great tool for
product development
or even complex
process development

Most of us spend more

time on small pieces of
internal processes

Simplified Approach
What if we could apply the idea in a
much simpler way?
Translate customer requirements
without confusing out teams
Lets make the tool work for us, not
us working for the tool

A Translation Tool
CUSTOMER NEEDS
CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS

DESIGN
SPECIFICATIONS

IMPORTANT
DIFFICULT
NEW
HIGH
RISK

QFD is actually more than one

matrix. It is a whole process of
translating customer requirements
into specifications.

PROCESS SPECS
Produce

Y=f(x)

IMPORTANT
DIFFICULT
NEW
HIGH
RISK

PROCESS
SPECIFICATIONS
DESIGN
SPECIFICATIONS

Y=f(x)
REQUIREMENTS

HIGH
RISK

DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

TEHCNICAL

Y=f(x)

IMPORTANT
DIFFICULT
NEW

FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

TECHNICAL
REQUIREMENTS

CUSTOMER
REQUIREMENT

CUSTOMER
NEEDS

CUSTOMER
REQUIREMENTS

Y=f(x)

IMPORTANT
DIFFICULT
NEW
HIGH RISK

A Translation Tool
CUSTOMER NEEDS
CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS

DESIGN
SPECIFICATIONS

IMPORTANT
DIFFICULT
NEW
HIGH
RISK

QFD is actually more than

one matrix. It is a whole
process of translating
customer requirements into
specifications.

PROCESS SPECS
Produce

Y=f(x)

IMPORTANT
DIFFICULT
NEW
HIGH
RISK

PROCESS
SPECIFICATIONS
DESIGN
SPECIFICATIONS

Y=f(x)
REQUIREMENTS

HIGH
RISK

DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

TEHCNICAL

Y=f(x)

IMPORTANT
DIFFICULT
NEW

FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

TECHNICAL
REQUIREMENTS

CUSTOMER
REQUIREMENT

CUSTOMER
NEEDS

CUSTOMER
REQUIREMENTS

Y=f(x)

IMPORTANT
DIFFICULT
NEW
HIGH RISK

Components of the House of Quality

8

Importance

Competitive

Goals/Targets

Action

Competitive Data

3
Complaints

Importance

Requirements
Customer Needs

1. Identify Customer Needs

2. Competitive Comparison of
Customer Ratings
3. Measurable Customer
Requirements
4. Correlations
5. Calculated Importance
6. Competitive Benchmarks
7. Target Limits
8. Measurement Conflicts

Simplified House of Quality

8

Importance

Competitive

Goals/Targets

Action

Complaints

Importance

Competitive Data

Requirements
Customer Needs

1. Identify Customer Needs

2. Competitive Comparison of
Customer Ratings
3. Measurable Customer
Requirements
4. Correlations
5. Calculated Importance
6. Competitive Benchmarks
7. Target Limits
8. Measurement Conflicts

HOWs - Product
Features

WHATs - Customer
Needs

Importance: 5 High, 1 Low

Similar to C&E but Not Quite

Feature Raw Score

Feature Rank

Target

HOWs - Product
Features

WHATs - Customer
Needs

Importance: 5 High, 1 Low

Critical Elements

Feature Raw Score

Feature Rank

Target

Needs, Requirements, and Specifications

Focus Today
Needs Something a Customer would say they wanted
you could hear this coming from a customers
mouth
Requirements Something measurable you can tell
how you are doing in comparison but generic
doesnt imply a solution
Specifications Something measurable from a
specific design or process design parameters and
process parameters

Examples
RESPONSIVENESS

MINUTES ON HOLD
EASY TO ERASE

AUTOMATIC ROLL-OVER

PRESSURE TO ERASE

Product is
a Pencil

Service is
a Call Center

ROLLOVER IN 2 MIN

ERASER

ERASER (SOFTNESS)
ERASER HOLDER (TENSION)

HOWs - Product
Features

WHATs - Customer
Needs

Importance: 5 High, 1 Low

Customer Needs

Feature Raw Score

Feature Rank

Target

What are Customer Needs

A complete set of customer wants and

needs

Expressed in their own language

Organized into a hierarchy
Prioritized by importance and current
performance or satisfaction

Voice of the Customer is both

qualitative and quantitative

Capturing Customer Needs

Look for existing information

Historical data
Complaints
Standards and Regulation
System specifications

Conduct Surveys
Conduct Team Meetings and Focus Groups
Conduct individual interviews

Do you know what data you already have?

Mixed messages
Laptop wish-lists: Customer Needs, Functional
Requirements or Design Specifications?
Light
Fits onto Airplane table, with
space for my diet Pepsi
Easy to carry
At least 2 GHz
Enough space for all of my
software
No cheap plastic housings
8X DVD+/-R/RW drive
No sweat or tears operation
Intel Core i3

Bright Screen
At least 1366 x768
resolution
Fast
6 cell Lithium-Ion battery
An easy to use mouse
Minimum 500 Gigabytes
Hard disk space
Free game software
As small as possible
Doesnt run out of juice

Mixed messages
Laptop wish-lists: Customer Needs, Functional
Requirements or Design Specifications?
Light
Fits onto Airplane table, with
space for my diet Pepsi
Easy to carry
At least 2 GHz
Enough space for all of my
software
No cheap plastic housings
8X DVD+/-R/RW drive
No sweat or tears operation
Intel Core i3

Bright Screen
At least 1366 x768
resolution
Fast
6 cell Lithium-Ion battery
An easy to use mouse
Minimum 500 Gigabytes
Hard disk space
Free game software
As small as possible
Doesnt run out of juice

Mixed messages
Laptop wish-lists: Customer Needs, Functional
Requirements or Design Specifications?
Light
Fits onto Airplane table, with
space for my diet Pepsi
Easy to carry
At least 2 GHz
Enough space for all of my
software
No cheap plastic housings
8X DVD+/-R/RW drive
No sweat or tears operation
Intel Core i3

Bright Screen
At least 1366 x768
resolution
Fast
6 cell Lithium-Ion battery
An easy to use mouse
Minimum 500 Gigabytes
Hard disk space
Free game software
As small as possible
Doesnt run out of juice

Mixed messages
Laptop wish-lists: Customer Needs, Functional
Requirements or Design Specifications?
Light
Fits onto Airplane table, with
space for my diet Pepsi
Easy to carry
At least 2 GHz
Enough space for all of my
software
No cheap plastic housings
8X DVD+/-R/RW drive
No sweat or tears operation
Intel Core i3

Bright Screen
At least 1366 x768
resolution
Fast
6 cell Lithium-Ion battery
An easy to use mouse
Minimum 500 Gigabytes
Hard disk space
Free game software
As small as possible
Doesnt run out of juice

Needs or Requirements
Its our job to sort that out

Affinity Diagrams or CTQC trees

are helpful tools

VOC Affinity Diagram

Break for Questions ( and snacks)

33

Importance: 5 High, 1 Low

WHATs - Customer
Needs

HOWs - Product
Features

Entering Customer Needs

Needs Something a Customer would say they wanted

you could hear this coming from a customers mouth
but not measureable or specific

Importance: 5 High, 1 Low

WHATs - Customer
Needs

HOWs - Product
Features

Entering Customer Needs

Dont forget
the
importance
rating

Relative Importance of Needs we usually use a scale of

1-5 or 1-10. (You may need to understand which
customers matter most before you do this)

HOWs - Product
Features

WHATs - Customer
Needs

Importance: 5 High, 1 Low

Requirements

Feature Raw Score

Feature Rank

Target

What is a Customer Requirement?

Something that measures whether the
customer need is met
Not a solution, but may point the way to
solutions
Should not be design / implementation
specific

What measures might the customer use to

determine whether the need is met?

Sometimes we get many of these in our VOC

Developing the List

Use tools to group like needs together & identify
high level requirements
Affinity diagram

Tree diagram

Make sure requirements are clearly

stated
Try to keep requirements to five words
or less

Brainstorm (this is the creative part)

Need to a Customer Requirement

Customer requirements means customer needs
translated into quantified characteristics CTQs or CTSs

Fast
Service
Business
Goal

5 or better
performance

Measure
Functional
Requirement
(Product/Process/
Service
Characteristic)

Target/
Nominal
Value

Cycle Time

Specification/
Tolerance
Limit(s)

From
Request to
Response
5 Days
+/- 3 Days

Customer Need + Measure + Target

Entering Customer Requirements

Requirements Something measurable you

can tell how you are doing in comparison but
generic doesnt imply a solution

HOWs - Product
Features

WHATs - Customer
Needs

Importance: 5 High, 1 Low

Similar to C&E but Not Quite

Feature Raw Score

Feature Rank

Target

Relationship Score
Scoring is like the C&E Matrix

1, 3 and 9

The criteria for each score:

Blank = No relationship
1 = The customer requirement only remotely
affects the customer need
3 = The customer requirement has a moderate
effect on the customer need
9 = The customer requirement has a direct and
strong effect on the customer need

Requirements Rating

Rate the customer requirements by multiplying the

customer need rating with the relationship score and
summing by customer requirement.

QFD Results Requirement Weights

Pareto Chart showing Importance of Measures
2500

80

1500

re

60

1000

40

500

20

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New Process Goals

Score
Percent
Cum %

443.8 431.5 254.8 221.9 193.2 134.2 123.3 119.2 86.3 75.3 74.0 61.6
20.0 19.4 11.5 10.0 8.7 6.0 5.6 5.4 3.9 3.4 3.3
2.8
20.0 39.4 50.9 60.9 69.6 75.7 81.2 86.6 90.5 93.9 97.2 100.0

Percent

100

2000

One Last Step

Customer requirements means customer needs
translated into quantified characteristics CTQs or CTSs

Fast
Service
Business
Goal

5 or better
performance

Measure
Functional
Requirement
(Product/Process/
Service
Characteristic)

Target/
Nominal
Value

Cycle Time

Specification/
Tolerance
Limit(s)

From
Request to
Response
5 Days
+/- 3 Days

Customer Need + Measure + Target

Simplified QFD Results

Now we have translated our Customer Voices
into something we can measure how well our
new processes will meet the needs of our
customers.

Examples

Quick Process Time

Efficient

++

Best Margins

++

Aligns with Business

Importance: 5 High, 1 Low

+++ +++

++

+++

+++ +++ +++

+++
+

Appropriate Approval

+++ +++

+++ +++

++

Complete Information

Compliant to Internal and SO

Accurate Margin

Redundancy

+++ +++ +++

Meets Compliance

3. Increase
amount of
value added
time

Value Added Time

2. Accurate
margin
projections

WHATs - Customer
Needs

Cycle Time Request to

Response

1. Completeness
of information

HOWs - Product
Features

Quote Approval Process

++

Feature Raw Score

60

75

67

82

55

147

63

Feature Rank

Target

Customer Need
1 Open Communication
2 Buy-in
3
4 Valid Selection Process
5 Sustainable Results
Complete
Information
Communicated
Management
Support
Employee
Involvement
Benefits easy to
understand
Visability of
benefits
Data Supported
Selection
Involvement from
PDC's on
Selection
Data Supporting
Improvement of
Metrics

3
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
3
9
3
3
3
9
1
1
9
9
3
3
1
1

1
1
9
9
9
9
3
9
3
9
9
3
9
3
9
1
3
3
3
9
3
3

252

252
192
144
144
180
108

168

108

56

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Feed Back on
Practice Sharing

Communicattion
Communication
totoall
all affected
affected
parties
parties

10
4
Timely
Communication

Total
Priority Ranking
8
6

92

Best Practice Sharing

11

Summary
QFD (Quality Function Deployment) is a very
powerful tool to translate the customer voice into
something measureable
We can use a simplified version in smaller process
design projects
The result is a good translation of customer needs
that teams can do easily and much more quickly

Thank You for Joining Us

51

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52

Resource Links and Contacts

Questions? Comments? Wed love to hear from you.
Sheryl Vogt, President Vogt Consulting
[email protected]
Larry Goldman, Vice President Marketing MoreSteam.com
[email protected]

Watch for upcoming programs throughout the year!

Archived presentations and other materials:
http://www.moresteam.com/presentations/

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