How has QFD advanced over the years?
Like any good system, QFD has evolved over the years. Modern QFD now incorporates many advancements that were not in traditional QFD. For example, traditional QFD, originating from the build-to-spec practice in the 1960s, centered around what is called ‘4-House’ approach. Companies that do their own design work have found this approach does not integrate well into their new product development process and is too time-consuming. Modern QFD is custom-tailored to identify the minimum QFD effort required with the optimum tools and sequence, making QFD more efficient and sustainable in todays lean business environment. Large, complex tools such as the House of Quality (HOQ) are now often replaced with smaller, faster ones that provide a level of analysis that is faster and easier. Modern QFD also upgraded math in the QFD matrices to meet the mathematical rigor demanded by Six Sigma precision. Traditional QFD often did not go deep enough into the Voice of the Customer to uncover unspoken nee
