Quality function deployment’s impact on product development

Abstract

Posits that advocates of quality function deployment (QFD) claim that it leads to better product designs, lower product costs, and shorter development times. Presents a study which aims to learn if organizations that apply QFD to product development achieve these benefits. Data from a survey of 80 QFD projects undertaken by 40 firms are used to examine these critical relationships. When leaders from these project teams were asked to compare results from product development efforts without QFD to results with QFD, they claimed that product designs and customer satisfaction improved significantly with QFD. Product costs and time‐to‐market showed only modest improvements. Benefits in time and costs may increase as QFD teams get better training and more experience. Describes the development and costing of a model of QFD implementation issues, product development outcomes, and customer satisfaction. Concludes that QFD’s implementation issues, specifically the organizational dimensions, have a significant impact on product design outcomes and resource consumption.