Quality function deployment - The technique: State of the art and future directions

Quality Function Deployment (QFD), a technique which was developed in Japan, has often been claimed to be the fundamental tool which helped the Japanese industry to achieve supremacy over the industries in the West. QFD was introduced in the West in the mid 1980's and a decade has passed since its introduction. Since its inception, varying degrees of success have been reported on its use. This paper describes the technique, looks at the published material on the applications of QFD and analyses them. From the analysis, ensuing discussions focus on ways to enhance this already powerful tool in the future, in order to extend its capabilities.