Free Custom «How You Would Implement Quality Function Deployment» Essay Paper

Quality function deployment entails the keen translation of specific customer requirements into well placed requirements that will be used in ascertaining the relative stages of product production process and development. The typical building environment relies upon the application of appropriate mechanisms to guarantee a desired finished product. Hence, in this case this will typically entail: the determination/definition of product characteristics; translation of the product characteristics prescribed detail; translation of details into a working process design; handling specific task procedures and descriptions; incorporating quality function deployment; and proper choice of tools that will achieve the objectives.  

Phases of Quality Function Deployment

Phase 1: Product Planning (Crowson 17)

The first step typically entails identifying, defining, and pre-determining the final product characteristics desired by the clientele, and which will be produced by the Brick Company. There are critical elements to be considered when designing product characteristics, which should be based on customer requirements. This assists in delineating some of the existing differences in terms of customer preferences in accompaniment of other technical features and product performance attributes.

Phase 2: Product Design (Crowson 17)

The identified product characteristics need to be converted into the specific details as determined by the target customer. This involves, “systematic identification, deployment, and verification process to ensure requirements are met by the design; trade-offs are consciously made” (O’Neill and Belair 60). During this phase it is critical to identify the specific design requirements focusing on the product features. Moreover, the functional entities are only achievable after the designers of the Brick Company have established the target requirements of the products and other priorities that need to be taken into account.

Phase 4: Process Planning (Crowson 18)

This involves the translation of the prioritized customer requirements and needs into a set of proper product level requirements with due consideration of the associated metrics, targets, priorities, and limits (O’Neill and Belair 60). The formulation of the process would therefore entail considering the critical product fundamentals that need to be taken care of. Hence, it will be important to give consideration to sustainable process components, which the Brick Company can effectively include as a subject of its processing and other functional requirements.

Phase 4: Process Control Planning (Crowson 17)

This entails formulating specific descriptions for each process that would lead to production of the final product. Moreover, when doing this it is important to design specific procedures for each process, and avoid replicating procedures from untested models. It is also important to develop functional technical aspects of the process while focusing on the relative functional capabilities. Once this is done it is critical for the management to conduct a bench mark analysis of the specific steps, and also conduct periodic appraisal to ascertain if the processing elements are indeed achieving the desired final brick quality. Moreover, it would be critical to establish an auditing system to ascertain if the assigned process control points are producing the desired change in the entire processing cycle.

Other Dimensions Factors

The implementation of additional dimensional factors will be relevant in assessing the achievement of desired product characteristics. This is especially with regard to the aspect of ensuring that:  the mechanisms in use are intrinsic; focusing on contextual traits; ensuring accessibility factors; and proper representation of a larger clientele group. Hence, this will also check the existing feasibility levels of the customer, in addition to other constraints which are essentially unknown with regard to real time processing dynamics that are a common nature for manufacturing entities.

Customer Satisfaction:

Application of the Kano Model

According to this model customer requirements are essentially classified into three distinct groups, which include satisfiers, dissatisfiers, and exciters or delighters (Tague 17). This will lead to the determination of the one-dimensional attributes of the customers, analysis of the must-be attributers of the customers, and consideration of some of the attractive attributes. In essence, satisfiers are requirements customers are willing to state when probed, dissatisfiers represent those elements customer never mention yet they expect to see, and dissatisfiers are those elements that the customer cannot easily imagine (Tague 18). Illustrating these components would entail the preparation of a two dimensional chart.

The House of Quality

This model or design entails establishing what customers want from the product, how the company plans to achieve that based on technical requirement. According to Crownson Richard The House of Quality model requires one to “learn which requirements are most important to customers, spot customer requirements that are not being met by technical requirements and vice versa, compare the product or service to the competition, analyze potential sales points, and develop an initial product or service plan” (22).

Monitoring and Control

The basic steps leading to the actual integration of the final quality function deployment cycle in the final product will entail following the previous business strategic analysis, formulating an evaluation process for the final products, and foreseeing the actual implementation process and the relative choice of desired action points. This will entail the application of a functional and open system, which ensures feedback is circulated and received at each processing stage, with an aim of redirecting the initially identified quality team into specific tasks and functions that need focus.