Quality Function Deployment Framework Research Articles

Social Economy Well-Being Improvement Based on Quality Function Deployment Framework

Social Economy Well-Being Improvement Based on Quality Function Deployment Framework

An improved interval‐grey‐probability QFD method for prioritizing engineering characteristics under vague environment

AbstractAt present, the interval‐grey quality function deployment (QFD) has been widely used to address a vague information at the early stage of product design. However, the existing interval‐grey QFD method suffers from a problem that it is incapable of comparing specific values from any two intervals within overlapping segments associated with the importance of engineering characteristics (ECs) during the process of prioritizing their importance. This problem consequently impedes the effective prioritization of their magnitudes, thus hindering the prioritization of the importance of ECs. Aiming at addressing the problem, an improved interval‐grey‐probability QFD method is proposed. The proposed method integrates interval grey numbers, grey relational analysis (GRA), and interval‐probability ranking method into the interval‐grey QFD framework to prioritize the importance of ECs under a vague environment. Specifically, the interval grey numbers are used to assess the importance of customer requirements (CRs) and the GRA method is adopted to construct the relationship matrix of CRs‐ECs, respectively. Based on the importance of CRs and the relationship matrix of CRs‐ECs, the interval‐probability ranking method is introduced to measure the prioritization of the importance of ECs. The proposed method is validated by a multi‐function flash drive. Results show that the proposed method is more accurate than existing methods in terms of the deviation degree.

Quality function deployment approach to urban ecological public art design centred on resident needs

To improve the quality management of urban ecological public art design and the service centered on residents’ needs. Our study introduces a new Quality Function Deployment (QFD)decision-making model called Kano-FAHP-QFD, which applies to urban ecological public art design. Specifically, a new QFD framework is proposed, combining the Kano model and Fuzzy AHP (FAHP). This paper well explains the importance of ranking urban residents’ needs and the impacts of the new framework in defining the quality management of urban ecological public art design and the satisfaction of urban residents, while using the framework as a set of prioritized strategies in urban renewal to guide the design and planning of urban ecological public art. The author combined these three approaches to more accurately capture and address their respective issues and thus better understand the residents’ needs for urban ecological public art design. In essence, this study investigates how urban ecological public art can be designed and planned in urban renewal through a novel QFD algorithm for urban ecological public art design, with application case validation. Thus, the method keeps the satisfaction of urban residents in line with the positioning and strategies of urban ecological public art design, which is dedicated to enhancing urban vitality, promoting urban renaissance, and sustainable development. It also provides new research ideas for the development of urban ecological public art design in the future.

Strategic enhancement of Zakat collection and distribution in philanthropic institutions: integration of SERVQUAL, Kano, and QFD

Zakat philanthropic institutions have a pivotal role in fund collection and distribution, yet they haven't realized their full potential primarily due to diminished public trust. Addressing this challenge requires strategies to elevate service quality. This study introduces an integrated method combining SERVQUAL, Kano, and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to optimize Zakat service quality. Out of twenty-one service attributes evaluated, fourteen were identified as pivotal for strategic enhancement, spanning areas like information management, human resources, and product diversification. Utilizing the QFD framework, these attributes were transformed into actionable quality improvement measures. The suggestions for quality improvement measures include refining website functionalities, ensuring consistent and engaging information dissemination, comprehensive employee training, introducing e-wallet options, and expanding student loan provisions. By integrating SERVQUAL, Kano, and QFD, this research offers a holistic assessment approach, emphasizing only those service aspects that truly resonate with donor satisfaction. The findings and recommendations present immediate actionable insights for institutions aiming to augment zakat collection and distribution efficacy.

An integrated QFD framework for smart city strategy development

PurposeIn this study, the deployment of an integrated Quality Function Deployment (QFD) decision framework is presented to help cities design targeted strategies to become “smart”. Arguably smart cities leverage advanced technologies to enhance their smartness to improve everyday urban life. To this end, a QFD – Analytic Hierarchy Process – Analytic Network Process (QFD-AHP-ANP) framework is proposed to deliver guidance for selecting the appropriate mix of smart technologies based on the specific smart needs of each city.Design/methodology/approachThe AHP and ANP methods are incorporated into QFD to enhance its methodological robustness in formulating the decision problem. AHP accurately captures and translates the “Voice of the Experts” into prioritized “Smart City” dimensions, while establishing inter-relationships between these dimensions and “Smart City Technologies”. Meanwhile, ANP explores tradeoffs among the technologies, enabling well-informed decisions. The framework’s effectiveness is evaluated through an illustrative application in the city of Thessaloniki.FindingsApplying the framework to this real-world context confirms its practicality and utility, demonstrating its ability to particularize local, social, political, environmental and economic trends through the resulting mix of technologies in smart urban development strategies.Originality/valueThe importance of this study lies in several aspects. Firstly, it introduces a novel QFD decision framework tailored for smart city strategic planning. Secondly, it contributes to the operationalization of the smart city concept by providing guidance for cities to effectively adopt smart technologies. Finally, this study represents a new field of application for QFD, expanding its scope beyond its traditional domains.

Integrated design framework for smart agriculture: Bridging the gap between digitalization and sustainability

This study delves into the intricate interplay between digitalization and sustainability in agriculture, seeking to uncover how digital technologies can be harnessed to elevate and actualize smart agricultural (SA) practices. The research addresses three pivotal questions: (1) Does digitalization authentically ensure sustainability in agriculture? (2) What are the paramount sustainability requirements for digitalization in agriculture? (3) Can SA systems be viably designed to concurrently fulfill digital and sustainable requisites? Employing a two-stage Quality Function Deployment (QFD) framework with the interval-valued 2-Tuple linguistic (IV-2-TL) model, the methodology offers a nuanced analysis of relationships between sustainability-digitalization and SA. Validation through a Turkey-based case study demonstrates the methodology's effectiveness in identifying digital solutions for sustainability needs and prioritizing SA design requirements. This study contributes significantly in three key ways. Firstly, the IV-2-TL-QFD method provides a valuable decision-making framework to assess digitalization-sustainability-SA interconnections ensuring optimal SA design. Secondly, it identifies vital digitalization requirements for addressing sustainability challenges in the QFD framework. Third, a 10-step roadmap guides the transition to SA, portraying digitalization as instrumental in achieving broader sustainability. This study provides profound insights and tools, bridging the gap between digitalization and sustainable agriculture for a more resilient and environmentally responsible future in food production.

Enhancing Accessibility, Functionality and Meditation Design in a Suburban Activity Centre: A Case Study at Mawson Lakes Campus

Incorporating the user’s and the broader community’s values in the built environment design for placemaking is becoming essential. The proposed method applies a quality function deployment framework to assess campus accessibility and functionality to meet the users’ needs. The results showed the improvements required to the current campus design, including quiet places, more meditation places, improved public transport from home to and on campus and increased social activities and accessibility. We concluded that access to meditation places was essential for enhancing people’s well-being. The study results could be extended from suburban campuses to suburban town centres and prominent industrial places. There is a significant need to connect with the built environment by ensuring that people’s desires and needs are integrated into a place-making approach.

A quality function deployment framework for service strategy planning

This research introduces a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) decision framework for orchestrating and aligning quality management and services marketing efforts for effective service strategy planning. Specifically, a 3-phased QFD framework is presented, emphasizing the implications of the “Voice of the Customer” in defining service quality and delivering customer value, while interpreting it into a set of prioritized strategies to guide service design activities. Method wise, an extended methodological approach is employed, the QFD-LP-GW-Fuzzy AHP (Linear Programming method to Generate Weights in the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process), to capture and rank more accurately uncertain and subjective judgments. The application of the proposed framework is discussed within the financial sector. Essentially, this study contributes to the literature by streamlining and simplifying marketing strategy planning decisions with a novel QFD factual approach that aligns customer requirements with service organizations’ market positioning and tactics.

An Institutional System Proposal for Advanced Occupational Safety and Labor Standards in the Turkish Construction Industry.

The Turkish construction industry is problematic with its inferior occupational safety practices and labor standards. This paper explores the current institutional system's problems and designs a national institutional system to improve labor conditions in the Turkish construction industry. The study applies cause-and-effect analysis, stakeholder analysis, and information flow analysis based on the thematic literature and regulation reviews and the data collected from expert interviews. Findings revealed that the industry represents a drastically problematic context with high rates of occupational accidents, job insecurity, and excessive working time, and the inspection and enforcement system is still immature, calling for additional institutional arrangements to establish a collaborative and sustainable environment. There is a need for a holistic, multi-dimensional, and systematic perspective to develop coordination and inspection mechanisms in the sector. The paper proposes an institution and scorecard design by applying a quality function deployment framework matching needs and systemic functions that can overcome the existing deficiency in labor conditions. The paper contributes to filling the gap in the literature on the multi-dimensional, systematic institutional perspective to develop coordination and inspection mechanisms in the construction industry and proposes an institutional system example that could be adapted to other national contexts.

Quality Function Deployment Framework for Selecting Optimal Greenhouse Microclimate Control System

As greenhouse production is considered the most water-conservative solution in the agricultural sector, greenhouse technology has become an integral approach for modern crop production methods. Different types of greenhouse structures are used to produce crops, and each type has advantages for a particular application, having been designed to meet multiple and specific requirements. This paper introduces a quality function deployment (QFD) framework to select two optimal greenhouse types (single-span and multi-span). This study aims to demonstrate greenhouse management and practices and review the development efforts during the last two decades. A market survey, focus group discussion, and personal interviews revealed nine key performance indicators (KPIs) (cost, wind loads, crop loads, roof slope, light transmission, flexibility, maintainability, rapid spread/ease of control, and heating and ventilation). Then, the participating decision-makers identified nine functional requirements, which, if fulfilled, would boost client satisfaction. The framework designed in this paper was developed to select and analytically investigate the optimal system for greenhouse microclimate control based on the retrieved KPIs and functional requirements for client satisfaction. This QFD framework can assist decision-makers, in the preliminary phase, in selecting optimal systems for greenhouse microclimate control based on their individualized situations.

Applying Integrated QFD-MCDM Approach to Strengthen Supply Chain Agility for Mitigating Sustainable Risks

As the global economy develops and the complexity of supply chains increases, the effective mitigation of sustainable supply chain risks in electronics manufacturing has become important. While quality function deployment (QFD) has been successfully applied to many fields of multicriteria decision-making (MCDM), there is a lack of research on constructing a house-of-quality model that can be combined with MCDM for connecting supply chain agility with sustainable supply chain risks, especially in the field of electronics manufacturing. The objective of this study was to develop an integrated framework of QFD and MCDM and to devise an effective method to mitigate sustainable supply chain risks by improving supply chain agility. Such a method can help the multinational electronics manufacturing industry to develop stable and sustainable supply chains. In a multinational electronic manufacturing enterprise as an example, the results showed that the case enterprise work should focus on improving agility ‘production and sales capability’, ‘quick decision-making/strategic flexibility’, ‘electronic shiapment of finished products to control shipment operations’, ‘supplier on-time delivery rates’ and ‘cost minimization’. Improving agility would help enhance the ‘credibility and competence of operators and leaders’ and ‘product safety and quality’ and reduce ‘goods disruption or delay due to inadequate supply mobility and poor financial performance’, ‘information system instability’, the ‘long product lead time’ and other key sustainable supply chain risks. The proposed framework can not only be effectively used by other electronics manufacturers to develop agile strategies to mitigate sustainable supply chain risks, but also provides a reference for risk management for manufacturers in other fields.

Integrating a prospect theory-based consensus-reaching process into large-scale quality function deployment and its application in the evaluation of contingency plan

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a quality management tool that aims to improve customer satisfaction by transforming customer requirements into technical characteristics. It is a crucial procedure to obtain the prioritization of technical characteristics for the products or services in QFD. Traditional QFDs are often implemented by a small number of QFD members. However, with the increasing complexity of product and service design, QFD requires the participation of more QFD members from dispersed departments or institutions. Additionally, the evaluation information given by QFD members may widely differ due to their different knowledge and background. Furthermore, the psychological behaviours of QFD members also greatly influence the final prioritization of technical characteristics. Hence, this paper proposes a novel QFD framework to prioritize technical characteristics using a consensus-reaching process and prospect theory when large numbers of QFD members are involved. In the large-scale QFD framework, prospect theory is generally utilized to depict the psychological behaviours of QFD members. Then, QFD members are divided into several clusters. Eventually, a consensus-reaching process is established to assist QFD members in reaching a consensus. To verify the practicability of the presented framework, this paper applies it to the evaluation of contingency plan to determine the critical measures.

Construction projects delay mitigation using integrated balanced scorecard and quality function deployment

PurposeDelays occur mostly in the construction process of many projects, which can have a consequent effect on the overall performance of the project in areas such as profitability, efficiency and safety. This study aims to suggest a structure that can be applied to manage construction projects effectively and, thus, to reduce delays. The integrated balanced scorecard (BSC) and quality function deployment (QFD) framework proposed in the present study enabled the identification and ranking of the objectives of the financial perspective and the enablers of construction delay mitigation. This will help construction industry professionals prioritize the enabling factors that influence the financial perspective, thereby helping them focus on the achievement of the most important ones which subsequently results in efficiency. Consequently, more tasks are accomplished with the use of less time and resources as the actions tend to be more narrowly focused on the achievement of the most important factors such as client and contractor-related factors, as opposed to the low-value adding factors.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was conducted to determine the essential factors that would help resolve or reduce delays. A total of 41 mitigation factors (seven financial objectives and 36 enabler objectives) were identified and categorized into four BSC perspectives: financial, client, contractor and project management team, and innovation and learning. Two management tools, the BSC and QFD, were used to develop the system based on the mitigation factors defined.FindingsThe results of this study show that the most significant factors affecting the achievement of the financial objectives of the project are mainly customer-related factors, accompanied by factors related to contractors and project management teams. With the fishbone diagram and cause and effect analysis, the proposed BSC and QFD system provides a long-term approach for all stakeholders to help professionals in the construction industry prioritize and reduce delays more effectively. Moreover, the findings of the present study highlight the utility of the integrated BSC and QFD framework in quantifying the strengths of association of different objectives of the financial perspective and the enablers of construction delay mitigation.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper to the body of knowledge is the proposed integrated structure for BSC and QFD that can serve as a comprehensive and structural approach to rating the essential enabling delay mitigation factors based on the magnitude of their effects on the financial performance of the project. The proposed framework can be considered a novel tool since this is the first integrated BSC and QFD framework for construction delay mitigation. Finally, the proposed BSC and QFD framework, along with the fishbone diagram and cause and effect analysis, provides a long-term strategy for all stakeholders to mitigate delays. Thus, the proposed integrated BSC and QFD framework can serve as a systematic and structural approach for measuring the strength of influence of the enablers of delay mitigation against the financial perspective.

Customer-oriented product and service design by a novel quality function deployment framework with complex linguistic evaluations

Quality function deployment (QFD), as a widely-used quality management method, can effectively capture customers’ preferences of products and services by involving lots of evaluations including the weights of customer requirements, the performance of alternatives under different design requirements and the interactions of design requirements. However, there are challenges to use this tool to solve complex customer-oriented design problems because of the uncertain information regarding customer requirements, design requirements and alternatives’ performances. To address the inherent uncertainty of qualitative information in the framework of QFD, this paper incorporates the continuous interval-valued linguistic term set, a novel information representation model, to depict the complex linguistic evaluations of experts, and then introduces a novel QFD framework with complex linguistic evaluations. Such a QFD framework is constructed with three phases: the first step is to determine the importance degrees of customer requirements and additional requirements, which are important for product deployments, with the help of the best worst method; the second step is to determine the relative importance of design requirements; the third step is to calculate the interval weights of alternatives according to the uncertainty degrees of evaluations and the weights of design requirements. The inner-element correlations are considered in the whole procedure of the proposed QFD. The proposed method is applied to the aviation service development for Sichuan Airlines in China to illustrate its practicability. It is noted that this method can also be applied to various cases about product and service design.

Resilience Strategy Optimization for Large Aircraft Supply Chain Based on Probabilistic Language QFD

This paper proposes an optimization model of supply chain resilience strategy for large passenger aircraft. A quality function deployment (QFD) framework is conducted to analyze the resilience of the large passenger aircraft supply chain, and the key parameters are characterized based on the probabilistic linguistic term. Then based on the output of the QFD framework an optimization model of the resilience strategy considering the stochastic disturbance faced by the supply chain is constructed. Taking the supply chain for large aircraft cockpit control display module as an example to illustrate the application steps and feasibility of the model, the results demonstrate that change of supply chain management responsibilities, implementing hierarchical management of suppliers, seeking coordinated implementation of inventory management mode, and improving the pre-risk identification system, play prominent roles in enhancing supply chain resilience, and the combination of different strategies can indeed enhance the supply chain resilience under the budget constraint.

Combining Participative Action Research with an Adapted House of Quality Framework for the Stakeholder Development of Performance Indicators in Local Government

The purpose of this paper is to present and examine how a Participative Action Research (PAR) process and an adapted House of Quality framework were conjoined in the successful development of Performance Indicators for cultural precincts operated by two local government administrations. The use of such a combination has not previously been identified in literature or reported on in practice. The coalescing of PAR with a House of Quality (a quality function deployment framework) in these two empirical cases helps address a methodological gap in knowledge concerning how they may complement and enrich each other in order to generate participant learning, and generate practical outcomes that can underpin continuous and locally relevant service improvement. Through the use of this combination in these cases, public administrators appeared to demonstrate genuine community consultation and, with the community representatives involved, jointly identified, critically evaluated and prioritised a diverse set of community and agency expectations in determining Performance Indicators for their cultural precincts. PAR also underpinned stakeholders’ ownership of the outcomes and refinement of the House of Quality framework. Any difficulties in using this combination in this context are also discussed. Based on the outcomes of this study, we suggest that this combination may have conceptual and practical utility and generate similar benefits in multiple performance measurement development situations in other public organisations.

New Framework for Quality Function Deployment Using Linguistic Z-Numbers

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a useful design quality control tool in service enterprises and manufacturing enterprises. However, there are several issues in extant QFD frameworks, that is, in three aspects: description of evaluation information, weight determination of expert team members (TMs), and weight identification of customer requirements (CRs). In order to address these issues, a novel QFD framework is first proposed utilizing linguistic Z-numbers (LZNs) with integrated subjective and objective weights of TMs and CRs. The LZNs can represent uncertain information and the reliability of information in a specific way while the fuzzy numbers cannot. Moreover, the order relation analysis (G1) method and improved maximum consensus (MC) method are developed to get the subjective and objective weights of TMs, respectively. Further, the step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) method and statistical distance (SD) method are studied to acquire combined weights of CRs. Next, the proposed QFD framework is applied to a case of logistics service provider, which illustrates the availability and utility of the framework. Then, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to prove the reliability of the framework. Finally, two comparative analyses are performed to declare the advantages of the framework. Results indicate the proposed QFD framework is better than existing models.

Wearable technology: are product developers meeting consumer’s needs?

ABSTRACTThis mixed-methods study investigated both consumer and product developer’s expectations of the quality and technical features available in wearable technology products. The quality function deployment framework was used to uncover discrepancies between consumers and product developer’s expectations. Three hundred and seventy-eight men and women representing members of the general public, and industry professionals responsible for the design and manufacture of wearable technology participated. An online survey was used to gather both quantitative data and essay length written responses to open-ended questions. Data analysis included the use of SAS Enterprise 6.1 statistical software and content analysis of written responses. Results indicate that consumers and manufacturers of wearable technology differ in their opinion as to which features are more important and most desired. This study provides valuable information for both industry and academia and identifies areas that must be addressed by manufacturers to meet consumer’s demand for product features.

Design improvement of multifunctional seatbelt by using integrated kano model and quality function deployment

Increasingly developing technology makes human easier to carry out the life, and one of them is in the transportation sector. The high number of vehicle accidents causes losses to the passenger so that it requires safeguards to minimize these losses, one of the ways is by using a seat belt. This study aims to design a voice of customer-based seat belt using integrating Kano model and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) produced by an innovative product, namely “Multifunctional Seat Belt for Vehicle Safety”. Through the distribution of questionnaires, 8 attributes are needed in the design of the seat belt. The results of the Kano Model analysis show that 2 attributes fall into the indifferent category which is then eliminated because the presence or absence of these attributes does not affect customer satisfaction. The other 6 attributes are portable, can store items, can hold the body while sleeping, can warm the body, there are pads on the sides of the head, and adjustable strap. These attributes are entered into the QFD framework until phase 1 to obtain a priority sequence that is useful in the production process later. In addition, MUSESA is designed with anthropometric approach which is using 5 dimensions so that it is ergonomic for users.

Group multigranular linguistic QFD for prioritizing service designs with combined weighting method

AbstractQualification for the importance degree of service designs (SDs) is an essential stage in promoting accommodation performances to satisfy customers and gain market shares. Although various methods have been applied to derive the priorities of SDs, they do not effectively deal with the vagueness of information and the heterogeneity of decision makers (DMs). This study presents an improved quality function deployment (QFD) for prioritizing SDs. Multigranular unbalanced linguistic term sets are used to capture evaluators' ratings to cope with vague information. The multigranular linguistic information is unified by using a novel uniform method. This kind of information then is represented as linguistic distribution assessments using the concept of random preferences based on possibility interpretations of weight information. A consensus‐based mathematical programming model is established to determine the weights of DMs. Moreover, a combined structure that combines maximizing deviation and best worst methods is used to derive basic weights of SDs. Finally, an illustrative example of island accommodation management in Weizhou Island is provided to demonstrate the applicability and advantages of the proposed QFD framework.