Improving quality in the spanish electrical sector: A QFD application

The typical electrical company in Spain is at present surrounded by an environment of progressive liberalization in the sector, where quality has become a key factor in competitiveness. In order to improve its quality the company needs to be aware of the expectations of its customers and how to satisfy them. In this article, the key processes of the Distributing and Retailing companies of the Spanish electrical sector are defined, identifying internal quality indicators associated with the expectations of the final customer. The objective of this work is to provide the companies that distribute and commercialize electrical energy with a methodology that allows them to identify the focal point of their organization. This should also determine on which processes, customer service channels, or other services they should concentrate in order to satisfy their customers' expectations, while continuously improving quality. The QFD method (Quality Function Deployment) is applied in order to correlate the expectations of the customers and the internal indicators of these processes. We have taken as a starting point the results of a study on the expectations of customers of the company Endesa, which represents approximately 40% of the electrical market in Spain. The opinions of ten experts of the same company have supplied the basis for the correlation of the expectations with the indicators of the basic processes. The results lead to improvements in the basic processes.