House of Quality (QFD) in a Minute (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The American Supplier Institute defines quality Function Deployment (QFD), 1989 as "a system for translating consumer requirements into appropriate company requirements at each stage from..." (more)
Key Phrases: customer requirement items, door seal resistance, customer requirement issues, American Supplier Institute, Handbook of Total Quality Management, Kluwer Academic Publishers (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The House of Quality (QFD) in a Minute is written with two major objectives. First, to introduce the reader to the basics of Quality Function Deployment (QFD)which is now widely used in major corporations and second, to get the practitioner ready to use QFD without extensive training and seminars that may end up being very costly. In this book, we have demonstrated in simple form how other techniques such as the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) can be used within the QFD chart. It is also important that the reader understands the role of QFD within the overall quality imperative of a firm. As a result, we have added chapters to demonstrate the link between QFD and other important quality programs such as quality control charts and concurrent engineering. QFD is also shown to be part of the organization's business strategy. The need to integrate QFD within the firm's strategic plan is also demonstrated. Evidently, the driving force behind the use of QFD is to help the firm design products and services that satisfy customer requirements by listening to the voice of the customer. We have also shown that through the application of QFD, a firm can improve its productivity, control costs, increase market share, remain in business and remain competitive.

Another major feature of this book can be seen from its title, House of Quality in a Minute. It is precise and direct. The reader with no knowledge of the topic can read this entire book quickly and begin to apply the concepts. The book covers topics such as the voice of the customer, designing house of quality, analytic hierarchy process, benchmarking, strategic planning, statistical quality control, product design, concurrent engineering, cost control and productivity improvement as they relate to quality function deployment and the overall quality imperative of a firm.

About the Author

Christian N Madu is Research Professor and chair of Management Science Program at the Lubin School of Business, Pace University, New York. He is actively involved in quality management research. He recently edited the Handbook of Total Quality Management and is co-Editor of the International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management.

Product Details

• Paperback: 102 pages
• Publisher: Chi Publishers; 2nd edition (November 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967602300
• ISBN-13: 978-0967602301
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,534,790 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to QFD, June 30, 2004

By	Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

I routinely use QFD and have always cited Cohen's "Quality Function Deployment" (ISBN 0201633302) as the best reference on this powerful technique. The problem with Cohen's book is that the pace, detail and depth quickly causes someone wanting to learn the basics to throw up their hands. This excellent guide, on the other hand, is one of the clearest, beginner-friendly introductions to QFD I've come across.

The main reasons I like this book include the fact that it does not skim over the hard stuff, such as analytical hierarchy process - an absolute necessity for effectively using QFD - and the way the author breaks down the key elements of QFD into manageable chunks that make learning it easy. I especially like the fact that this book does such a complete job of describing a complex subject in approximately 100 pages. That alone is no small feat.

All of the essentials are covered - capturing the voice of the customer, correlation, benchmarking, and how to use QFD in common scenarios, such as product development, strategic planning, and advanced uses such as concurrent engineering and in conjunction with SPC.

The best thing I can say about this book is, because it makes learning QFD easy, and does so the right way, it advances this technique and will make it more mainstream. For that I congratulate the author, and highly recommend this book as the starting point. As an aside, if you use Visio for business or technical diagrams that product ships with a QFD template that will make it not only easy to follow the examples in this book, but to jumpstart your use of QFD in realworld settings.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get a head start on QFD, November 9, 2001

By A Customer

Excellent. Has guided me to implement QFD at work. It is easy to read and understand. Material sometimes is condensed but worth reading. It is a good beginning for those interested in applying QFD.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars House of quality, October 29, 2001

By A Customer

Truly a "House of quality." As the author stated, it is a basic book to introduce the user on this important concept. It is easy to read and meets all my expectations. I especially enjoyed the links with other areas of quality management. The book could have been made bigger with more examples but it is very cohesive as it stands. It is a must read to all interested in quality function deployment especially starters like me.