House of Quality (QFD) in a Minute – Quality Function Deployment (2nd ed.)

Citation

Lu, M.H. (2007), "House of Quality (QFD) in a Minute – Quality Function Deployment (2nd ed.)", The TQM Magazine, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 379-379. https://doi.org/10.1108/09544780710756269

As today's global marketplace becomes increasingly competitive, businesses need to continuously reassess their business strategies based on the customers' needs. Among many quality management tools, the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) stands out as the most appropriate tool for managers to use in order to keep their competitive advantage in their markets. QFD is a structured and systematic approach designed to translate customers' needs into appropriate company's business objectives.

House of Quality (QFD) in a Minute – Quality Function Deployment (2nd edition) written by Dr Christian N. Madu, a well established researcher, scholar and consultant in quality management, is to provide a straight‐to‐the‐point approach to introduce this important quality management tool to students and quality practitioners. This book provides a systematic way of introducing, and analyzing the various quality control tools with QFD as a planning tool. Built upon these unique qualities, this second edition has added a new chapter of QFD and Six sigma, and enhanced the chapters with short case studies and short questions for review.

According to Dr Madu, the application of QFD could help a firm's competitive position in the market by developing products and services that will more accurately meet their customers' needs. The book discusses the application of QFD with other management and quality control tools. QFD and the Voice of the Customer/House of Quality/the Analytical Hierarchy Process/Benchmarking/Strategic Planning will help companies to understand their customers better and plan their strategies accordingly; QFD and Statistical quality control/Six sigma/Stakeholder vs. Customer in product design/concurrent engineering/cost control and productivity improvement will aid companies in designing the right products at the right time and to serve their customers.

The unique qualities of the book have proven themselves as providing the readers with a straight‐to‐the‐point approach with cases and questions for further inquiries in the strategic quality management field.