Uncovering differences and similarities among quality function deployment-based methods in Design for X: Benchmarking in different domains

ABSTRACT

The ability for a product or a service to meet customer needs and requirements efficiently before its market launch is a key-point in design and development activities. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) represents one of the most powerful design methods to achieve such a goal. This study investigates the QFD-based methods proposed in the last two decades, whose use in different ambits of Design for X (DfX) is reported to be effective. We selected most common QFD-based methods, analyzing how designers can implement and coordinate them in design activities effectively throughout their application to an identical case study.

KEYWORDS:

• Design for X (DfX)
• House of Quality (HoQ)
• integrated product service engineering
• quality function deployment (QFD)
• systematic design

Funding

The work described in this article was supported in part by the Mistra REES (Resource Efficient and Effective Solutions) program funded by Mistra (The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research).