HoQ Mouse Trap

Voice of the Customer 1

Voice of the Customer - Part 1 1

Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

© 2009 ~ Mark Polczynski


Scenario

Planning

Intellectual

Property

Generation

Technology

Roadmapping

Voice

of the

Customer

New

Concept

Ideation

An Integrated Strategic Technology Planningand Development Environment


Voice of the Customer Input Process:

• Purpose

~ Reveal unrecognized customer needs - what we don’t know.

~ Validate our perceptions and plans - what we do know.

• Desired Strengths

~ Systematic vs. anecdotal – turns over most of the rocks.

~ Fact-based vs. opinion-based prioritization of needs.

• Potential Weaknesses

~ Can create inappropriate customer expectations.

~ Risks compromising intellectual property – tip our hand.

~ Can keep us from being more inventive than our customers.


QFD Resources

• We will be using a QFD format based on QFD Designer, available from

IDEACore (www.ideacore.com). You can download a free demo

version of their product from their web site. The download contains a

good users manual.

• Another good reference is: Quality Function Deployment,

by Lou Cohen.

• Also, here is a link to an on-line QWFD tutorial by Dr. Robert Hunt. This

includes some templates you might find useful.

http://www.gsm.mq.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/internet/Root/research/researchclusters/cmit/tutorials/

http://www.ideacore.com/




Quality Function Deployment

• Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a

common general method invented in Japan

in the late sixties initially to support the ship

building product design process.

• QFD has been adapted and expanded to apply to

any planning process that requires:

~ identification and prioritization (whys)

~ of possible responses (hows)

~ to a given set of objectives (whats).

• Other formal, systematic V-O-C processes exist. We use QFD to

demonstrate one way to obtain customer inputs.


HKT QFD

Origin of the term Quality Function Deployment:

• Hinshitsu quality; qualities; features; attributes

• Kino function; mechanization

• Tenkai deployment; diffusion; development; evolution

So, somehow, we ended up calling this “Quality Function Deployment”,

But it just as well could have been “Attributes Mechanization Evolution”.


What specific problems are solved by QFD?

• Poor understanding of customer needs -~ Solve the wrong problems, miss the big problems.

• Failure to strategically prioritize efforts -~ No time and money left to solve the most important problems.

• Willingness to take on unmanageable risks -~ Don’t know what we are committing to.

• Overreliance on formal specifications -~ Spec often misses “contextual cues”,

e.g., why are we building this in the first place?

• Fixing the wrong problems -~ Often times forced to ship product before all bugs are eliminated,

so did we fix enough of the most important bugs?


NOTE!

• QFD takes significant time and effort to do correctly.

• It is explicitly (visibly) time-consuming – meetings, reviews, delays.

BUT…

• Every issue resolved by QFD before-the-fact..

• Must be resolved after the fact anyway!

Pay me now, or pay me later - with interest.


Purpose of QFD

1. Find out what your customer’s specific needs are (WHATs),

2. Determine the things you need to work on(HOWs),

3. Determine priorities of what you should work on (WHYS).


• The following is an example of QFD applied to the“Perfect Mousetrap”, from QFD Designer.

Example QFD


: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.

The Whole

Nine Yards

Please remain calm,

it’s not that bad!

Whys


QFD Diagram is sometimes call the “House of Quality” because of the shape.

But people use the term “House of Quality” for other diagrams, too.


Building a QFD Matrix

It’s not as bad as it looks!

• You can build it one section at a time.

– Phase 1: Whats

– Phase 2: Hows

– Phase 3: Whys

Let’s look at the steps in building the matrix…


QFD Phase 1: Whats

Phase 1: Whats

Phase 2: Hows

Phase 3: Whys


1. Gather WHATs -

These are the desired

effects you are trying

to bring about.

Not problems or solutions!

Phase 1


Phase 1

2. Quantify Importances of WHATs

Rated by customer, not by you.


3. Identify WHAT-WHAT

Correlations -

How do the WHATs

affect each other?

Phase 1

: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.


Many negative correlations tells

customer that product will be

expensive and will take a

long time to develop.

Phase 1

: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.

A trap that kills quickly is

not easy to set, so this is a

strong negative correlation.


Phase 1

: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.

Controls customer

expectations!

Customer may choose to

re-prioritize items

with strong negative

interactions.


Sneak

Preview

: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.

Negative correlations are

prime targets for

“ideation” processes.

“How can we make a

trap that kills quickly

and is easy to set?”


Logical grouping of WHATs…

Eliminates Mice Luring Effective LuringGood Camouflage

Effectiveness Reliable

Small

Kills Quicklyetc…

Easy to Use Easy to Bait

Easy to Set

Easy to Emptyetc…

Safety Safe to Set

Safe from Kidsetc…

Controls Government EPAetc…


Phase 14. Gather Competitor Ratings

Your customer’s assessment of

your offering vs. your competitors.

Customer NeedCustomer

Importance

Your

Offering

Competitor

Offering

Attracts mice 3 High High

Operates relaibly 5 Medium Low

Kills quickly 2 Low Medium

Easy to bait 3 Low Low

Easy to set 4 Medium High

Easy to dispose 5 High Medium


Phase 1

5. Determine Required

Improvement -

Which really needs

improvement?

.


Importance

Your

Offering

Competitor

Offering

RELATIVE

Customer

Importance

Attracts mice 3 High High ?

Operates relaibly 5 Medium Low ?

Kills quickly 2 Low Medium ?

Easy to bait 3 Low Low ?

Easy to set 4 Medium High ?

Easy to dispose 5 High Medium ?


What will yourstrategy be?

If customer importance = highAnd your product = high

And competitor product = highThen relative importance = ???

If customer importance = highAnd your product = high

And competitor product = lowThen relative importance = ???

If customer importance = high…etc…


Importance

Your

Offering

Competitor

Offering

RELATIVE

Customer

Importance

Attracts mice 3 High High ?

Operates relaibly 5 Medium Low ?

Kills quickly 2 Low Medium ?

Easy to bait 3 Low Low ?

Easy to set 4 Medium High ?

Easy to dispose 5 High Medium ?


However you do the comparison, the goal of customer assessment is:

Don’t waste resources improving things that the customer doesn’t valueand therefore won’t pay for!

You have existing productYou have no existing

product

Your competitor has

existing product

Your existing product vs.

their existing product

Their existing product vs.

ideal product

Your competitor has

no existing product


ideal productNA

Possible comparison strategies…


This approach can be applied for development of:

• New products,

• New services,

• New technologies Comparison with existing/competing technologies.


Thus Ends Phase 1 - Whats Phase 1


• WHATs tend to show up in similar forms for different

customers/applications/products,

• Thus, there will always be some basic commonality to the list of

WHATs.

• You probably don’t need to start from scratch every time once you’ve

done a few of these,

• You can probably build a common library of generic WHATs,

• Identifying WHATs in this structured environment gets much easier

with experience!

Hints on Identifying WHATs


• You still need to interview the customers to get WHATs,

• Just in case a new need is emerging.

• Further, this is a great way to build good customer relations,

• Even if you already know all the answers,

• Since “sympathetic listening” is a powerful tool.

Nevertheless!


Voice-Of-The-Customer – Part 2

How to Interview a Customer



The Customer Interview Process

The process of interviewing customers is the most important element of the overall Voice-of-the-Customer element of strategic technology planning.

A poor interview process:

• Generates bad input, making the rest of your efforts a waste of time,

• Can raise false expectations in your customer,

• Can drive customers away from you.

Conversely, a good interview process:

• Sets the correct direction for all other processes,

• Pro-actively clarifies expectations,

• Can bind you closely together with your customer (“partner”).

Psychological impact

Psychological impact


Why we need a process:

• It is especially important for technologists to develop strong customer interview skills:

• Technology is an important potential source of solutions,

• And since technologists will be the ones often solving the problems,it is best for them to learn the problems directly from customers,

• Plus they can discover new needs that others don’t see,

• But in general, technologists may lack the “people skills” needed to conduct good interviews.

• They can easily create false expectations for customers.

• Establishing a systematic process for interviewing customers can help!


Return to the “Perfect Mousetrap” example…

• You are a brand new engineer just hired by Acme Trap Company.

• Your company makes all kinds of animal traps.

• Your very first assignment is to design the next generation product line for your company.

• Your first task is to interview customers to determine WHAT features your new trap family will have.

• So, let’s get started!


Based on the customer interviews, your job is to fill in these boxes:


Acme Market Segmentation

You will focus on small animal(rat and mouse) kill traps for use inwarehouses where grain is stored,like in the movie...

Acme Trap Co. Large Animal Small Animal

Kill Traps Fur hunters Households,

food industry

Live traps Zoos,

naturalistsGrain

warehouses


Our focus area:

Small animal kill traps for grain warehouses

So now we’re ready to do the customer interview…


Customer interviews can be done in four steps:

3 1 2 4


Customer Interview Process – Step 1.1

General Customer Needs -

For the field of use and application (market segment) being focused on, determine customer needs. Use the following guideline questions (add/change/delete as appropriate):

• Why? Why is this this product/service needed?

• What? What specifically will it be used for?

• Who? Who does/will/could use it?

• When? When does/will it be used?

• Where? Where will it be used?

• How? How will it be used? Make achecklist!


Customer Interview Process – Step 1.2

Specific Customer Needs -

Determine what specific attributes that the product must have.

Typical areas of needs are:

• Performance – What exactly does the customer need it do?

• Quality/Reliability – How well must it do it?

• “User Interface” – How will the user interact with it?

• Cost – How sensitive to cost is it?

• Regulation – Is its use or design regulated in any way?

As you obtain input, use the “5 Whys” approach to drill down into needs.

Make achecklist!


The 5 Whys Approach

• You ask a customer a question.

• They give you an answer.

• You ask: “Why do you need that?”


• You ask: “Why do you need that?”


• You ask “Why do you need that” five times.

• This gets you to the root cause.


5-Whys is a general root cause problem solving tool…


Like Pareto 80-20 rule, seems to describe how things work…


Interview with Grain Warehouse Owner:

• You: So, how important is the reliability of the mouse trap?

• Customer: It is very important!

• You: Why is it so important?

• Customer: Because I don’t have any way to repair them.

• You: But they are simple to repair, so why don’t you fix them?

• Customer: Because I have nobody to repair them.

• You: But any idiot can repair them! Why don’t you have anyone?

• Customer: My warehouse is a totally automated “lights-out” warehouse, there ARE no people in the warehouse!

• You: So, who is going to take the dead rats out of the trap?

• Customer: Good question!


Why the Five Whys Technique is Useful…

• For this example, by the fifth question we learned some important points:

• There’s no-one around to fix the traps, and

• There’s no-one around to remove the dead rats, and

• There’s no-one around to re-bait and re-set the traps!

• So, it looks like we need a trap:~ That doesn’t need to be manually re-baited and reset,~ That somehow gets rid of the dead rats.

• Sounds like a great topic for an ideation session?


You now have enough information to complete the Step 1 box:

1

Now we can change these to:• Self-baiting• Self-setting• Self-cleaning


What Next?

• When you complete this step, you may choose to continue with the following three steps.

• Continue the interview only if you can write short, clear customer need statements.

• Or, you may choose to conclude the interview to go home and document the results, and then return for a second interview.

• At the first interview, you may obtain very much information, or conflicting information, which makes it difficult to write the customer needs statements at the interview.


Step 2 is to determine customer importance of each of the needs…

2


Customer Interview Process – Step 2

Customer Need Importance -

• At this point, specific customer need statements have been prepared.

• Customer is asked to confirm need statements:

“Did I understand what you said?”

• Customer then ranks the needs in order from:

1 = most important, 2 = second most important, etc…


Customer Need Importance:

• Customers may find it difficult to rank the importance of needs as first,

second, third….

• They may want to rank everything #1.

• And they may disagree among themselves as to which is most important.

• This part of the interview may take a lot of time!

• The customer will learn more about their own needs by doing this.

• In the end, these interviews can be just as helpful to customers as they

are to you.

• So, you should always give the results to your customer.

• But if at all possible, get a 1, 2, 3… ranked priority for needs!


The Bubble Sort

Here’s a simple technique for forcing a 1, 2, 3… ranking on needs.

• For the first two needs on the list, ask the customer which is more important.

• If the second is more important, move it up one place,

• If not, leave both where they are.

• Repeat for the second and third needs, then the third and fourth, etc…

• After you get to the bottom, go through the list again.

• Repeat this until no need swap positions on the list.


Customer need A

Customer need B

Customer need C

Customer need D

…

Customer need Z

Bubble Sort:

Swap?

Swap?

Swap?Repeatuntilnothing changes


Now Step 3…

3


Step 3 – Interactions Between Customer Needs

• Here, you compare all the needs as pairs,

• e.g.: kills quickly vs. easy to set.

• The question is: If I design the product to do X well, does that make it

harder or easier to do Y?

• e.g.: If I design a mousetrap that kills quickly, will that make it

easy to set, or hard to set?

• It will probably make it hard to set.

• So this is a negative interaction.


It is important to do this step with the customer:

• When they see the interactions, they may choose to change the ranking of their needs (e.g., repeat the Bubble Sort).

• It helps to control expectations:

• If they see many negative correlations, they will know why the product will cost a lot and take a long time to design.


It is important to do this step with the customer:

It will clarify assumptions about the product:

• You assume the trap has a spring in it,

• The larger the spring, the greater the killing force (good),

• But the larger the spring, the greater the setting force (bad).

• So, how can we do this without a spring?

• Negative correlations and the associated assumptions are great topics

for ideation sessions!

• By the way, identification of contradictions is a fundamental aspect of

TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving).


Finally, Step 4:

4


Step 4 – Customer Assessment

• Here, the customer compares your products with your competitor’s

products.

• Comparison question to the customer can be quite simple:

Compared to my competitor’s product/service, my offering is:

5 = Much better

4 = Better

3 = Similar

2 = Worse

1 = Much Worse

• If you don’t have an offering at the time of the interview,

- or of the customer has never seen your product,

- or if you don’t have any competitors,

- then you can’t do a direct comparison,

- so the comparison is made with customer’s ideal performance.


You have existing productYou have no existing

product

Your competitor has

existing product


their existing product

Their existing product vs.

ideal product

Your competitor has

no existing product


ideal product

Relative need rank =

customer importance

However you do the comparison, the goal of customer assessment is:

Don’t waste resources improving things that the customer won’t pay for!


Step 4 – Customer Assessment

• This is the first time in the interview that you talk about products.

• Here, the customer compares your products with your competitor’s products.

• This is about perceptions, not about reality.

• Don’t argue with your customer, just record their assessment!

• Yu are not selling your products at this meeting!

• You are learning what your customer thinks.

• If you want to change what your customer thinks, that is a differentmeeting.

• You will not be invited back if your interview turns into a sales call.


Tip…

If your view of how your product measures up to customer expectations

differs from that of your customer, an appropriate response from you would

be:

“I have some test data that clearly shows that Acme mouse traps have a

setting force significantly lower that Ace traps. Can we set up a meeting

next week so that I can share that data with you?”

If you don’t have the data, you better get it.

If your trap is, in fact, inferior to your competitors, best to go on to the next

need ASAP!


You have completed the customer interview!

3 1 2 4


Voice of the Customer - Part 3

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Phase 2 & 3



QFD Phase 2 – HOWs

Phase 1: WhatsPhase 2: HowsPhase 3: Whys


6. Generate HOWs -

Measurable objectives

that cause the desired

effect (WHATs)

Not solutions!

Phase 2


Details on Product

Characteristics

HOWs can be characterized as:

- Performance measurements

- Product functions

- Process steps

Examine

examples

of each

Most

common

application


Using Performance Measurements to Identify “Hows”

For each customer need, define one or a few“technical performance measurements”, e.g.:

How would I actually measure the ability to meet this need?

Sett

ing

Forc

eEasy to Set

etc…et

c…

For each customer need

(WHAT)…

…identify the technical performance measure

(HOW).


Details on Product

Characteristics

Preview:You are filling up these cellsin the WHAT/HOW matrix.


Using Product/Process Functions to Identify “Hows”

You can use product/process functions instead of performance measurements, especially if the product/service concept already exists, e.g., upgrade to an existing product in the field.

Here’s an example…

Functional groups

QFD WHAT rowse.g. “File”

Functions

QFD HOW columns e.g. “New…”


The Process QFD:

You can use QDF to design a process (manufacturing, business, etc…)

For process QFDs, the WHATS rows are what the process has to do.

Then the HOW columns are simply the process steps.

Performance targets can be quantified by factors such as:

~ Average process step cycle time,

~ Average processing cost per cycle,

~ Average defect rate at each process step.


7. Determine CUSTOMER

performance targets -

How does your

customer want the

products to perform?

This is not what you think

is possible!

Phase 2


8. Determine HOW-HOW

Correlations -

How do the HOWs

affect each other?

: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.

Phase 2

Controls expectations!

- Cost

- Time

- Reliability


9. Determine relative

Technical Difficulty -

Where do we

anticipate major

hurdles?

: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.

Phase 2

Combinations of HOWS

Impact Technical DifficultyIf your customers specified

impossible Performance

Targets, note that now!


Here Ends Phase 2 – HOWs Phase 2


QFQ Phase 3 – WHYs

Phase 1: WhatsPhase 2: HowsPhase 3: Whys


: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.

Phase 3

Goal:Determine WHY we should choose to improve certain characteristics.

Goal:Determine WHY we should choose to improve certain characteristics.


10. Determine WHAT-HOW

Relationships -

Rate how strongly

each factor leads to

each goal.: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.

Phase 3


What-to-How Relationships - Detail

If we defined the columns of the QFD as Performance Measures,

and identify the performance measures based on each Customer Need,

then we automatically identify the primary What-to-How relationships…

Se

ttin

g F

orc

e

etc

…

Easy to Set

etc…

: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.


11. Calculate Relative

Importance -

Which HOWs should

we work on?

Phase 3

Qualisoft automatically

calculates based on

completed QFD matrix,

however…


: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.


Importance

Your

Offering

Competitor

Offering

RELATIVE

Customer

Importance

Attracts mice 3 High High 1

Operates relaibly 5 Medium Low 3

Kills quickly 2 Low Medium 2

Easy to bait 3 Low Low 4

Easy to set 4 Medium High 6

Easy to dispose 5 High Medium 5

Relative importance ofproduct characteristic

depends onrelative importance

of all associatedcustomer needsAND strength of

association

Calculating Relative

Importance


A major benefit of the QFD is the

ability to clearly identify

secondary interactions: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.

“Useable baits” heavily impacts “Easy to bait”,

but also impacts “Attracts mice”


Calculating Relative

Importance

High technical difficultydecreases

relative importance

Strong positive interactionincreases

relative importance

: str. pos.

: med. pos.

: wk. pos.

+ : med. neg.

# : str. neg.

Strong positive interactionincreases

relative importance


End of Phase 3 –Whys

Phase 3


Started by finding out

exactly what your

customer’s needs are...

…and ended up knowing

exactly what to work on

first, next, etc…


QFD Extensions:

Technical Benchmarking

You can add aTechnical Benchmarking

row here

Similar toCustomer Assessment


Luring Radius

Dead Mouse

Ratio MTBF

Customer Performance

Targets 20 feet 95% 50 actuations

Current Performance 15 feet 90% 40 actuations

Competitor

Performance 15 feet 95% 30 actuations

Technical Difficulty 3 3 2Relative Importance 2 1 3

We saw that relative customer importance depends on a comparativeanalysis of products…

Similarly, relative importance of product characteristics depends on a comparative analysis of performance…


Importance

Your

Offering

Competitor

Offering

RELATIVE

Customer

Importance

Attracts mice 3 High High 1

Operates relaibly 5 Medium Low 3

Kills quickly 2 Low Medium 2

Easy to bait 3 Low Low 4

Easy to set 4 Medium High 6

Easy to dispose 5 High Medium 5


Possible Application of QFD Nesting

We just did this QFD

So QFD approach can be used to documentthe end-to-end development process


QFD

Nesting

First

Level

QFD

Second

Level

QFD


What specific problems are solved by QFD?

• Poor understanding of customer needs -~ Solve the wrong problems, miss the big problems.

• Failure to strategically prioritize efforts -~ No time and money left to solve the most important problems.

• Willingness to take on unmanageable risks -~ Don’t know what we are committing to.

• Overreliance on formal specifications -~ Spec often misses “contextual cues”,

e.g., why are we building this in the first place?

• Fixing the wrong problems -~ Often times forced to ship product before all bugs are eliminated,

so did we fix enough of the most important bugs?

HoQ Mouse Trap

Documents