An application of QFD to identify critical points in product development process through data gathered from technical assistance – an experiment in an information technology firm
Cristina Abijaode Amaral Nascimento, Lin Chih Cheng
Abstract
This article discusses the application of QFD – Quality Function Deployment – for identifying deficient factors in product development process, starting from the negative quality of products. The improvement of product development process is directly related to the identification of deficiencies, which makes the corrective and preventive decision making process possible. The deficiency indicators are the negative quality of products, named critical events, represented by the data gathered from technical assistance, post sale or customer services. Consideration is made on the availability and potentiality of the data gathered from technical assistance and the feasibility of the QFD method for classifying these data. QFD deals, primarily, with the deployment when relating data from technical assistance to its critical characteristics; secondly, it deals with the critical characteristics within the development process; and thirdly, it deals with the stages of development related to the factors that are responsible for the deficiencies within the development process. The conclusions point to the pertinence of such application of QFD as well as to the importance of management at the operational level of product development.