QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT (QFD)
05.12.2013
Açelya Ecem Yıldız, Çağıl Köseoğlu
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
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Table of Contents
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Introduction
History of QFD
Definition of QFD
Steps of QFD
Benefits of QFD
Problems regarding the implementation of QFD
QFD Resources
Functional Fields of QFD
Applied industries of QFD
Methodological development of QFD
Quality Function Deployment in Construction Industry
Benefits of QFD in Construction
Limitations of QFD in Construction
Application of QFD in Construction Industry
QFD Application- Example
Recommendations for Implementation of OFD in Construction Industry
Conclusion
References
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
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Introduction
 QFD is an ideal opportunity to move away from “we
know best what the customer
wants” to a new culture of “let’s hear the voice of the customer” (Zairi and Youssef,
1995).
 Major focuses; customer orientation, cross functional management and process rather than
product orientation
 In the House of Quality as it was named by Hauser and Clausing (1988), the different steps of
the planning phase for a new product are summarized.
 During this phase the customer requirements (WHATs) are translated into design
characteristics (HOWs) on the basis of market research and past experiences (the WHY
scores) (Govers, 2001)
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History of QFD
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


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
born in Japan as a strategy for assuring that quality is built into new products
first used in 1972 by Kobe Shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd
the use of QFD in Japan has increased over the years
however, its extension to the West was very slow.
first examples in the USA did not emerge until 1986
in USA, companies such as Ford and Rank Xerox first introduced it
Then, AT&T Bell Labs, Digital Equipment, Procter & Gamble and Hewlett-Packard
Countries/regions used QFD
in the UK the uptake of QFD is very recent
Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Danmark
Finland
Germany
Hong Kong
Indıa
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Korea
Malaysia
Netherlands
Scotland
Singapore
Slovenia
Sweden
Taiwan
Turkey
UK
US
4
Definition of QFD
Hauser and Clausing (1988)
“focuses and coordinates skills within an organization, first to design, then to manufacture and market
goods that customers want to purchase and will continue to purchase.
The foundation of the [QFD] is the belief that products should be designed to reflect customers’
desires and tastes – so marketing people, design engineers, manufacturing staff must work closely
together from the time a product is conceived”
Akao (1990)
“a method for developing a design quality aimed at satisfying the customer and then translating the
customers’ demands in to design targets and major quality assurance points to be used throughout the
production phase”
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House of Quality: a 9-step model
Step 5
Generate Technical
Measures (HOWs)
Step 1
Identify
Customers &
Collect Customer
Needs (WHATS)
Step 2
Step3
Step 4
Determine
Step 6
Identify Competitiors,
Determine
Relative
Determine
Conduct Customer
Final
Importance Relationships Between Competitive Analysis & Set Importance
Ratings of
WHATs and HOWs
Customer Performance
Ratings of
WHATs
Goals for WHATs
WHATs
Step 7
Determine Initial
Technical Ratings of
• Based on the study of Hauser and Clausing
HOWs
(1988)
Step 8
• Modification by Chan and Wu (2005)
Conduct Technical
Competitive Analysis
& Set Technical
Performance Goals for
HOWs
Step 9
Determine Final
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
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House of Quality: Step 1
Step 5
Generate Technical
Measures (HOWs)
Step 1
Identify
Customers &
Collect Customer
Needs (WHATS)
The producing company
should know who are
the customers for the
product concerned.
Step 2
Step3
Step 4
Determine
Step 6
Identify Competitiors,
Determine
Relative
Determine
Conduct Customer
Final
Importance Relationships Between Competitive Analysis & Set Importance
Ratings of
WHATs and HOWs
Customer Performance
Ratings of
WHATs
Goals for WHATs
WHATs
Step 7
Determine Initial
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 8
 Three types of customers, internal customers (shareholders,
Conduct Technical
Competitive Analysis
managers and employees), intermediate customers (wholesale
& Set Technical
people and retailers), and ultimate customers (recipients of
Performance Goals for
HOWs
service, purchasers, institutional purchasers)
Step 9
Determine Final
Technical Ratings of
 The main focus is on the ultimate customers who could be
HOWs
identified through previous information and marketing research.
 Available methods to collect customer needs include focus group,
individual interviews, listening and watching, and using existing
information.
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House of Quality: Step 2
Step 5
Generate Technical
Measures (HOWs)
Step 1
Identify
Customers &
Collect Customer
Needs (WHATS)
Step 2
Step3
Determine
Step 6
Identify Competitiors,
Relative
Determine
Conduct Customer
Importance Relationships Between Competitive Analysis & Set
Ratings of
WHATs and HOWs
Customer Performance
WHATs
Goals for WHATs
Step 7
Determine Initial
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 8
Conduct Technical
Competitive Analysis
& Set Technical
Performance Goals for
HOWs
Step 9
Determine Final
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 4
Determine
Final
Importance
Ratings of
WHATs
Customer needs (WHATs)
usually are of different
degrees of importance so
focus more on the important
WHATs.
 Expressed as customers perceptions on the relative
importance of the WHATs and then averaging their
perceptions.
 The appropriate ways of obtaining customers’ perceptions
are by individual interviews and mail surveys.
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House of Quality: Step 3
Step 5
Generate Technical
Measures (HOWs)
Step 1
Identify
Customers &
Collect Customer
Needs (WHATS)
Competitors who produce
the similar products should
be identified
Step 2
Step3
Step 4
Determine
Step 6
Identify Competitiors,
Determine
Relative
Determine
Conduct Customer
Final
Importance Relationships Between Competitive Analysis & Set Importance
Ratings of
WHATs and HOWs
Customer Performance
Ratings of
WHATs
Goals for WHATs
WHATs
Step 7
Determine Initial
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
 Knowing the company’s strengths and constraints in all
Step 8
Conduct Technical
aspects of a product and in comparison with its main
Competitive Analysis
& Set Technical
competitors is important to sustain competitiveness
Performance Goals for
HOWs
Step 9
 This kind of information can be obtained by asking the
Determine Final
Technical Ratings of
customers to rate the relative performance of the
HOWs
company and its competitors on each WHAT and then
to aggregate the customers’ ratings.
 Useful ways of conducting this kind of comparison
analysis are also via mailed surveys and individual
interviews.
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House of Quality: Step 4
Step 5
Generate Technical
Measures (HOWs)
Step 1
Identify
Customers &
Collect Customer
Needs (WHATS)
Step 2
Step3
Determine
Step 6
Identify Competitiors,
Relative
Determine
Conduct Customer
Importance Relationships Between Competitive Analysis & Set
Ratings of
WHATs and HOWs
Customer Performance
WHATs
Goals for WHATs
Step 7
Determine Initial
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 8
Conduct Technical
Competitive Analysis
& Set Technical
Performance Goals for
HOWs
Step 9
Determine Final
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 4
Determine
Final
Importance
Ratings of
WHATs
Customer needs with higher relative
importance perceived by customers and
higher
competitive
priorities
and
improvement ratios should receive higher
attention.
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House of Quality: Step 5
Step 5
Generate Technical
Measures (HOWs)
Step 1
Identify
Customers &
Collect Customer
Needs (WHATS)
Step 2
Step3
Determine
Step 6
Identify Competitiors,
Relative
Determine
Conduct Customer
Importance Relationships Between Competitive Analysis & Set
Ratings of
WHATs and HOWs
Customer Performance
WHATs
Goals for WHATs
Step 7
Determine Initial
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 8
Conduct Technical
Competitive Analysis
& Set Technical
Performance Goals for
HOWs
Step 9
Determine Final
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 4
Determine
Final
Importance
Ratings of
WHATs
 The company’s technicians or product
development team should develop a set of
HOWs to capture the customer needs in
measurable and operable technical terms.
 HOWs could be generated from current product
standards or selected by ensuring through
cause– effect analysis that the HOWs are the
first-order causes for the WHATs
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House of Quality: Step 6
Step 5
Generate Technical
Measures (HOWs)
Step 1
Identify
Customers &
Collect Customer
Needs (WHATS)
Step 2
Step3
Determine
Step 6
Identify Competitiors,
Relative
Determine
Conduct Customer
Importance Relationships Between Competitive Analysis & Set
Ratings of
WHATs and HOWs
Customer Performance
WHATs
Goals for WHATs
Step 7
Determine Initial
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 8
Conduct Technical
Competitive Analysis
& Set Technical
Performance Goals for
HOWs
Step 9
Determine Final
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 4
Determine
Final
Importance
Ratings of
WHATs
 The relationship between a HOW and a
WHAT is usually determined by analyzing
to what extent the HOW could technically
relate to and influence the WHAT.
 All these relationships form a matrix with
the WHATs as rows and the HOWs as
columns.
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House of Quality: Step 7
Step 5
Generate Technical
Measures (HOWs)
Step 1
Identify
Customers &
Collect Customer
Needs (WHATS)
Step 2
Step3
Determine
Step 6
Identify Competitiors,
Relative
Determine
Conduct Customer
Importance Relationships Between Competitive Analysis & Set
Ratings of
WHATs and HOWs
Customer Performance
WHATs
Goals for WHATs
Step 7
Determine Initial
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 8
Conduct Technical
Competitive Analysis
& Set Technical
Performance Goals for
HOWs
Step 9
Determine Final
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 4
Determine
Final
Importance
Ratings of
WHATs
Initial technical ratings of HOWs are decided
by two factors,
- final importance ratings of WHATs
- the relationships between the HOWs and
the WHATs.
These ratings indicate the basic importance of
the HOWs developed in relation to the
WHATs.
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
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House of Quality: Step 8
Step 5
Generate Technical
Measures (HOWs)
Step 1
Identify
Customers &
Collect Customer
Needs (WHATS)
Step 2
Step3
Determine
Step 6
Identify Competitiors,
Relative
Determine
Conduct Customer
Importance Relationships Between Competitive Analysis & Set
Ratings of
WHATs and HOWs
Customer Performance
WHATs
Goals for WHATs
Step 7
Determine Initial
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 8
Conduct Technical
Competitive Analysis
& Set Technical
Performance Goals for
HOWs
Step 9
Determine Final
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 4
Determine
Final
Importance
Ratings of
WHATs
 It is hard to colledct technical parameters and know-hows
of the competitors’ products
 However, the producing company should make every
effort to acquire this information to not fail!
 If technical parameters of competitors’ products could
not be obtained, careful technical assessments should be
made to give reliable scores
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
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House of Quality: Step 9
Step 5
Generate Technical
Measures (HOWs)
Step 1
Identify
Customers &
Collect Customer
Needs (WHATS)
Step 2
Step3
Determine
Step 6
Identify Competitiors,
Relative
Determine
Conduct Customer
Importance Relationships Between Competitive Analysis & Set
Ratings of
WHATs and HOWs
Customer Performance
WHATs
Goals for WHATs
Step 7
Determine Initial
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 8
Conduct Technical
Competitive Analysis
& Set Technical
Performance Goals for
HOWs
Step 9
Determine Final
Technical Ratings of
HOWs
Step 4
Determine
Final
Importance
Ratings of
WHATs
higher initial
technical ratings, higher technical
competitive priorities and higher
improvement ratios indicate working
focuses and market opportunities for
Those
HOWs
with
the producing company !!!!
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Benefits of QFD
Zairi and Youssef (1995) and Zucchelli (1992)
 To define product specifications meeting the customer’s requirements, while paying attention
to the competitors
 To ensure consistency between the customer’s requirements, and the measurable
characteristics of the product
 To inform and convince all those responsible for various stages of the process of the relationship
between the quality of the output of each phase and the quality of the finished product
 To ensure consistency between the planning and the production process
 To get things moving more quickly because planning takes place at an earlier stage and mistaken
interpretations of priorities and objectives are minimized
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
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Benefits of QFD
Akao (1990)
QFD enables organizations;
 To translate customer requirements into meaningful (technical) requirements at each stage of
the development and production processes.
 To offer a structured method to tap into all the knowledge on NPD in any organization and
facilitates its management and control.
 To bring people together from various disciplines and facilitates the formation of teams capable
of meeting customer requirements.
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Problems regarding the implementation of QFD
Ernst & Young identified the following problems associated with QFD implementation:
 Engineers think that QFD is a “false science”, too focused on the mechanics of scoring. QFD
however is an effective tool of capturing and displaying data and serves as a communication
vehicle for generating
 structured discussions among team members, in order to meet customer requirements (the
expertise is in the hands of the team members and not the tool!).
 It takes a long time to develop a QFD chart fully.
 Team members get caught in the details of the exercise while the market window closes on them
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
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Problems regarding the implementation of QFD
Hewlett-Packard identified the following problems during the implementation of QFD
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Project scheduling (time to market) ruling as the dominant consideration.
Inadequate management commitment
Looking for high return on investment with the first application of QFD.
Lack of adequate facilitation:
• not timely;
• not continued long enough;
• not skillful enough in facilitation
• not trained well enough in QFD.
 Taking on too large a product (especially if a first QFD project).
 Getting into too much detail (QFD tables become unmanageably large).
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
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QFD Resources - Organizations
Organizations
Applied Marketing Science
http://www.ams-inc.com
ASI Quality Systems Ltd.
http://www.asiqs.co.uk
Becker and Associates
http://www.becker-associates.com
C2C Solutions
http://www.c2c-solutions.com
CSP International
http://www.csp.fr
DRM Associates
http://www.npd-solutions.com
INFOnetics
http://www.infonetics.net
Innovation Process Management
http://www.ipm-marketing.co.uk
INSYTEC B.V.
http://www.insytec.com
J.H.Berk and Associates
http://www.jhberkandassociates.com
Learn Firm.com
http://www.learnfirm.com
PQM
http://www.pqm.cz
ProAction Development
http://www.proactdev.com
Quality Associates International
http://www.qualityone.com
Quality Improvement International
http://www.qualityi2.com
Vicente Luz Consultores Associados Ltda. http://www.vluz.com.br
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
Based on the study
of Chan and Wu
(2002)
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QFD Resources – Software/websites/discussion groups
QFD Software
QFD for Software Evaluation (by Fawsy Bendeck
of Universitat Kaiserslautern, Germany
QFD Designer (by Qualisoft/Fulfillment Services,
USA:
QFD Scope (by Integrated Quality Dynamics, US
QFD/CAPTURE (by International TechneGroup,
US:
QFD2000 (by Total Quality Software, UK
Qualica QFD (by QualicaSoftware, Germany:
VOCALYST (by Applied Marketing Science, US
http://www.agr.informatik.unikl.de/
bendeck/qfd/index.html),
http://www.qualisoft.com
http://www.iqd.com
Based on the study
of Chan and Wu
(2002)
http://qfdcapture.com)
http://www.qfd2000.co.uk
http://www.qualica.de
http://www.ams-inc.com
Websites /discussion groups
Quality Resources Online
Quality Resources Online
QFD discussion forum
University of Sheffield's QFD homepage
G.H.Mazur s QFD articles
DRM Associates
ProAction Development
(http://www.quality.org/lists/qfdl.info.txt
(http://quality.org/html/qfd.html
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/qfd.html
http://www.shef.ac.uk/ ibberson/qfd.html
http://mazur.net
http://www.npd-solutions.com
(http://www.proactdev.com
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
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Functional fields of QFD
FUNCTIONAL FIELDS
APPLICATIONS
1. Product Development
development of courses/curriculums, model-change products, new products, products and
processes, etc.
2. Quality Management
expert systems for quality management, process improvement, quality control, quality
information systems, etc.
3. Customer Needs Analysis
collecting/translating customer needs, satisfying customer needs, customer involvement,
customer preference, etc.
4. Product Design
3D geometry-based product design, robust design, design of information systems and services,
flight control design, housing design, etc.
5. Planning
product planning, strategic marketing planning, supply chain planning, business process planning,
etc.
6. Engineering
knowledge intensive engineering, value engineering, rehabilitation engineering, strategic reengineering, etc.
7. Decision-making
manufacturing strategies, measuring customer satisfaction, productivity of technology,
performance measurement, etc.
8. Management
management of advanced manufacturing enterprises, radar-based position reporting systems,
customer–supplier relationships, business processes, etc.
shorter design cycles, information sharing/internal communications, cross-functional cooperation,
9. Teamwork, timing,
etc.
costing, and others CE726- Strategic
Management in Construction Industry
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Applied industries of QFD
1.Transportation and
Communication
2.Electronics and Electrical Utilities
Shipbuilding
aircraft, airline
Hewlett-Packard
IBM
automotive parts, car audio
commercial vehicles
container port
Intel
Motorola
Philips
motors
railways
pedestrian crossings
satellite
communications
transportations
voice mail system
automated teller machines
blend door actuators
chip
climatic control systems
robotic
computers
hard disk drives
integrated
circuit
work cell
sensor
battery
gas burners
power systems
wind turbines
3.Software Systems
decision support systems
expert systems
human-machine interface
information systems
integrated systems
management information
systems
profiling systems
web pages
Based on the study of
Chan and Wu (2002)
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Applied industries of QFD
4. Manufacturing
assembly
lines/plants/stations
bearing
braking systems
capital goods
chocolate
composite material
computer-integrated
manufacturing
5. Services
6. Education and Research
meat
accounting
colleges/universities
medical devices
metals
metrology probes
pea
pencils
administration
banking
contracting process
engineering services
food distribution
distance education
educational institutes
kindergartens
public schools
training
plastic components
government services
vocational secondary schools
hotels
business schools
engine filters
equipment
food
power protection
equipment
printing
instrumentation
tea
on-line bookshops
mortgage
professional services
research program design
furniture
quick release top nozzles
public sectors
helmet-mounted
displays
safety shoes
real estate appraisal
cork removers
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
Based on the study
of Chan and Wu
(2002)
24
Methodological development of QFD
1. Quantitative methods for QFD
Management Science/Operational
Research
Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to prioritize
customer needs (whats)
Marketing Research
collecting customer needs by videotaping
AHP and benchmarking integrated to rate ‘‘whats’’ conjoint analysis
AHP and QFD for combining customers’
requirements and preferences
AHP and two multi-attribute decision-making
methods for rating ‘‘whats’’
non-linear mathematical program for determining
the optimal ‘‘hows’’ during new product
development
fuzzy logic-based extension to QFD
fuzzy logic based simplification of QFD
process in QFD
fuzzy method for prioritizing ‘‘hows’’ in
QFD
intensity-polarity voting model to generate
group positions
fuzzy multi criteria methods for QFD
marketing’s lead role in QFD
AHP to study the ranking sensitivity of ‘‘whats’’ in
QFD
optimization model to minimize the ranking
variability of ‘‘hows’’
combining aggregate complaint analysis
and QFD
marketing research methods for collecting
and analyzing ‘‘whats’’ in QFD
new technologies for listening to the voice
of the customer
nominal group technique sessions and
interviews to define ‘‘whats’’
comparative study of the prioritization matrix and
AHP methods in QFD
fuzzy inference-based QFD to
determine design targets
customer satisfaction benchmarking
Value functions to capture ‘‘whats’’
three MS/OR methods for prioritizing design rules
Fuzzy Logic
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
fuzzy ranking procedure for
implementing QFD
fuzzy outranking approach to prioritize
‘‘hows’’ in QFD
fuzzy QFD framework
fuzzy QFD mechanism for assessing
system reliability
fuzzy QFD model for deriving optimal
target values of ‘‘hows’
25
Methodological development of QFD
2. Extensions and implementation issues of QFD
Extensions and implementation issues of QFD
combining QFD and failure mode effects analysis
comprehensive QFD,
computational QFD
software QFD
statistically extended QFD
QFD’s practical issues have been well discussed to increase the
usability of QFD, such as conditions and prerequisites to effective
QFD
concurrent function deployment extending QFD’s ‘‘quality plans’’
to several lifecycle ‘‘value sets’’
difficulties and issues associated with QFD
cost, reliability, and technology incorporated into QFD
effects of different deployment teams of QFD on quality and cost
in product development
design costs integrated into QFD to optimize product
development resources
distributed QFD
dynamic QFD with feedback loops
Enhanced QFD
factors for successful implementation of QFD
how QFD can be used and some of its problems
how to capture true customer needs
how to analyze conflicting customer needs
how to use templates to eliminate repetitive project setup in
expert system-based extension to the fuzzy QFD methodology
QFD/Capture
extended QFD
implementation issues of QFD
extended QFD process for ecologically sustainable product design implications of research results for QFD
four-stage model for performing software-oriented QFD
key factors in the successful application of QFD
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Methodological development of QFD
3. Comparative studies, surveys, and reviews on QFD
Comparative studies, surveys and reviews on QFD
case-based comparison of two QFD models for product development
comparison of communication patterns of two new product
development teams with and without QFD
comparison of QFD and decision analysis for making multi-objective
product design decisions
comparison of QFD and other concurrent engineering tools used in UK
industry
comparison of QFD and other methods for generating valid customer
needs (
comparison of QFD and other new product development procedures
comparison of QFD and other software measurement methods
comparison of QFD uses and benefits in the US and Japan
comparison of traditional QFD and multi-criteria decision aid-based
QFD
differences between the Japanese and Western QFD practices
effects of incentive schemes and organizational structures on new
product development process of firms with and without QFD
QFD survey of 33 firms and results
recent aspects of QFD in Japanese software industry
review of QFD and its applications
review of QFD and its customary practice around the world
review of QFD and its practice in the Netherlands
review of QFD and other methods for customer involvement in
product development
review of QFD in the food industry
survey and analysis of 35 QFD projects at nine US firms
survey and analys is of QFD’s applications in US automotive
industry
survey and analysis of QFD’s uses, benefits, and
implementation problems in the UK
survey of 80 QFD projects and analysis of QFD’s benefits and
implementation issues
Based on the study of Chan and Wu (2002)
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
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Quality Function Deployment in Construction Industry
 QFD is widely used in manufacturing and developing new products with high customer
satisfaction.
 Implementation of QFD in the construction industry is rather scarce. (Schriener et al.,
1995)
 Survey results showed that; (Delgado- Hernandez et al., 2007)
 Awareness of QFD was still little in the construction sector and only 18% respondents knew the
tool.
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Definition of Quality & Customer
Quality:
Quality in the construction industry: “meeting the requirements of the designer, constructor and
regulatory agencies as well as the owner.” (Arditi and Gunaydin,1997)
Customers:
"the first step in quality planning is to identify who are the customers". (Juran, 1988)
Therefore, understanding of the concept of customer is crucial to the application of QFD.
In construction industry, interchanging relations between designer, contractor, owner and buyers.
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Quality in Construction Industry
Differences in construction industry compared to manufacturing; (Rounds and Chi, 1985)
 Uniqueness of each construction project
 Different site conditions of each construction production
 The life-cycle of a construction project is much longer
 Construction projects usually are evaluated subjectively as there is no clear and uniform
standard in evaluating overall construction quality
 The owner usually directly influences the production
 The participants in the construction project differ for each project.
CE726- Strategic Management in Construction Industry
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Benefits of QFD in Construction
 Precise collection and identification of client needs/expectations (Oswald and Burati, 1992;
Tran and Sherif, 1995)
 Better planning
 Enhanced communication (Griffin and Hauser, 1992; Kamara et al., 2000)
 Reduced uncertainty (Kamara et al., 2000)
 Chan and Wu reported (Chan and Wu, 2002)
•
30–50% reduction in engineering changes
•
30–50% shorter design cycles
•
20–60% lower start-up costs
•
20–50% fewer warranty claims
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Limitations of QFD in Construction
 Limitations in construction projects; (Dikmen et al., 2005)
 Global limitations:
 lack of awareness about QFD
 it mainly quality based and lacks comprehensiveness in terms of
project constraints (Pheng and Yeap, 2001)
 it does not consider the strategic objectives
 HOQ matrix is mainly done by subjective judgments
 it is more useful for D/B project (a single party is responsible for every
phase)
 Application-specific limitations:
 team becomes important
 requires time, resource and effort
 for large construction projects Pheng and Yeap suggested use of four
HOQ matrices of subprojects (Pheng and Yeap, 2001)
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Limitations of QFD in Construction
(Pheng and Yeap, 2001)
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Application of QFD in Construction Industry
 Construction Industry has been slow in adopting the methodology, most of them in
design of flats. (Delgado-Hernandez et al. 2007)
 Surveys have been conducted to evaluate the awareness of QFD in construction
industry:
 Pheng saw that approximately 7% of the sample size has heard of QFD. (Pheng and
Yeap, 2001)
 Chia reported that the awareness of QFD among professionals, mainly architects
and engineers was approximately 10% of the sample size. (Chia, 1999)
 Delgado-Hernandez et al. showed that only 18% respondents knew the OFD tool.
(Delgado-Hernandez et al. 2007)
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Application of QFD in Construction Industry
 Applications in the literature are grouped under three categories; (Dikmen et al., 2005)
 QFD implementations before the design stage:
 Arditi and Lee used QFD tool for the selection of D/B firms (Arditi and Lee, 2003)
 QFD implementations during the design stage:
 Mallon and Mulligan introduced the construction literature with QFD and
demonstrated applicability of QFD in design of a hypothetical renovation project of
an existing computer workroom facility. (Mallon and Mulligan, 1993)
 Huovila et al. Used the method for structural design of an industrial building.
(Huovila et al., 1997)
 Serpell and Wagner applied the HOQ to determining design characteristics of flats
in Chile. (Serpell and Wagner, 1997)
 Abdul-Rahman et al. applied it to identify the most important consumer
requirements, evaluate current status of low-cost flats and improvements for future
projects. (Abdul-Rahman et al., 1999)
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Application of QFD in Construction Industry
 Gargione used HOQ in Brazilian construction industry to improve design of a
middle-class flat and changed the design of an apartment accordingly. (Gargione,
1999)
 Kamara et al. applied QFD for processing client requirements and determined the
actual requirements for a building refurbishment project. (Teesside Innovation
Centre at the University of Teesside) (Kamara et al., 1999)
 Eldin and Hikle applied QFD in development of the design for a modern university
classroom. (Eldin and Hikle, 2003)
 Benefits were reported: critical decisions made on time, the elimination of rework and
design flaws, and clear definition of customer needs.
 The process made it possible for a group of individuals with different interests to listen
clearly to the customers’ needs, communicate their needs, find and approve critical
decisions on time.
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Application of QFD in Construction Industry
 Delgado-Hernandez studied the method on determining important factors in
the design of a new children’s nursery in the UK.
 QFD was successful especially at the early stages of the construction in
identifying customer needs, determining technical characteristics and
enhancing communication with customers. (Delgado-Hernandez et al.,
2007)
 Pheng and Yeap studied a hypothetical personal computer workroom facility
upgrading project at a university to decide if improvements are desirable or
needed and elements for improvements. (Pheng and Yeap, 2001)
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QFD Application- Example
 QFD implementations after the design stage: Dikmen at al. studied use of
QFD after the construction stage.
 They applied QFD in Turkish construction industry using HOQ method to a
high-rise housing project for guiding their marketing plans. (Dikmen et al., 2005)
Hauser and Clausing, 1988
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QFD Application- Example
Step 1
 customer profile of the project was defined
(company professionals)
 middle&high income people
 looking for differentiation in housing
units
Step 2
 expectations of the target customer profile
was identified
 customer surveys, interviews
 feedbacks from previous projects
 interdisciplinary research team was
constructed for expert opinions
 important criteria for customer
satisfaction
 VOC section was constructed (section 1)
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QFD Application- Example
Step 3
 importance level of needs have been decided
 by considering previous customer priorities
 by considering compatible projects
 subjective customer evaluations for rivals were
included
 with 1-5 scale importance levels
 by considering rival companies’ evaluations
 planning matrix was formed (section 3)
Dikmen et al., 2005
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QFD Application- Example
Step 4
 technical measures were identified
(solutions to each customer need)
 by brainstorming sessions (section 2)
 relationships between customer needs and
technical measures were identified (section
4)
 subjectively by the research team
 scoring scale of 9, 3, 1 and 0 (from
strong to no relationship)
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QFD Application- Example
Step 5
 performance of company compared with rivals’
performance
 need of improvements& goals for meeting
 weights of each need were calculated and weight
of unsuccessful need is increased (attention)
‘‘availability
of sufficient green area for
recreational purposes’’
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QFD Application- Example
Step 6
 interactions between technical
measures are induced in the roof
of the matrix (section 5) -/+
correlation
 weights of technical measures
have been calculated (Σ customer
need weight x relationship score)
 measures that need improvement
identified
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QFD Application- Example
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QFD Application- Example
 Results of the case study were listed in terms of;
 five most important technical measures for project success
 location of the housing complex
 functional architectural layout of the apartment units
 total size of each apartment unit
 security system/Professional security team
 area reserved for recreational purposes/good sight
 three most important customer demands
 social differentiation
 large apartment units
 Security from external threats
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QFD Application- Example
 three most significant customer needs have been ranked as;
 security from external threats
 parking area/garage
 sufficient green area for recreational purposes
 highest contributors in the overall success of the project are;
 total size of each apartment unit
 location of the housing complex
 company assigned for the operation and maintenance of the complex
 Evaluation of the results
 the study satisfied the company professionals; see customer requirements &
rival performance structured way
 the company decided to use the QFD methodology in future projects
 later on an interview has been conducted after 1.5 years, according to this
 the company used the outputs in a new housing project
 marketing strategy reduced the selling period of the housing units
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Recommendations for Implementation of OFD in Construction
Industry
 reliability of the model would improve by;
 considering cost and schedule constraints
 subjective relationships and weights assignment should be imposed by
quantitative methods such fuzzy logic
 for successful application of the method;
 computer applications for timely concerns, trainings and seminars to increase
knowledge
 application at earlier stages to prevent late changes, missing important client
requirements
 careful definition of the QFD team for reliable outputs from the HOQ matrix
Dikmen et al., 2005
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Conclusion
 Customer's requirements and their relationships with design characteristics are the
driving forces of QFD methodology. (Govers, 2001)
 QFD enables an organization to build a quality into the product and to control the
development process from concept to the commencement of manufacturing
operations. (Govers, 2001)
 QFD has been successful in manufacturing and developing new products and a large
number of companies in many industries are using QFD.
 However, unlike these industries the number of companies that attempted the
implementation of QFD in the construction industry is rather scarce.
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Conclusion
In implementation, method has certain global and application-specific limitations; such
as ignoring project constraints, lack of awareness and formation of complex matrices.
Many researchers found that the methodology improved both the project definition
process and the identification of customer requirements while reducing time and
enhancing functional communication.
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