Evaluating QFD's use in US firms as a process for developing products

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a process that originated in Japan for managing product development. In this article, Abbie Griffin presents results of a field-based, scientific study of US firms' efforts to implement QFD methods. Her research goals were to understand the QFD process as it is used and implemented, to begin to estimate US product development improvements attributable to QFD and to identify factors linked to QFD's successful use. Based on a study of 35 projects, she found that QFD demonstrated only relatively minor, short-term, measurable impacts on product development performance. Yet, the process may have the potential to improve the development climate in the long term, possibly leading to future, measurable improvements in development performance. Successful projects differed in several ways from those projects that failed in their implementation efforts. Finally, the results suggest several characteristics of product development processes that improve the way products are developed in US companies, including structuring the decision-making processes across functional groups, building a solidly organized, highly motivated team and moving information efficiently from its origin to the ultimate user.