Tutorial "QFD for Business Transformation"

click here for Autoline youtube

Back in 2016 we sensed General Motors was onto something when we saw one of their VPs on the Autoline THIS WEEK. In that TV interview, she emphasized "mobility" as the company's new business strategy into the future, responding to the shift in the customer needs from being a car owner to a mobility user.

In fact, GM had filed for the trademark "General Mobility" around the same time, we hear, suggesting that top management had been working out the strategic transformation for some time, in order to stay sustainable in the face of recent car-sharing and on-demand transportation business models as well as consumer preference for convenience and economic efficiency over the traditional ownership prestige, and anticipation of new technologies such as autonomous vehicles.

It was not until 2018 when their number one Japanese competitor caught the wind of this. At the 2018 CES trade show, the president of Toyota Motor Company announced that his company, too, aims to become a "mobility service company," in spite of their long standing position as a manufacturer of "cars that give you pleasure in owning" as emphasized by frequent commercial campaigns "Let's Go Places" by driving their cars.

While we root for both companies to succeed, one wonders,

• How do you go about making such business transformation?
  
• What actions are required of an organization to bring out fundamental changes in the way they conduct business?
  
• Are there ways to effect transformation systematically and effectively?

Are there tools that QFD can offer?

The September 2019 International Symposium on QFD (ISQFD) will include a tutorial precisely on this subject.

To remain sustainable in the long term, an organization needs to be able to systematically and rapidly adapt/transform its products, services, business models, resources and enterprise infrastructure in response to the changing business environment. To accomplish this in a coordinated manner, the business needs to be considered as a socio-technical system operating within a very complex and highly dynamic environment.

More often than not, the changes in market expectations and technological capabilities demand transformation across multiple organizations in integrated supply chains, where some businesses will be software intensive businesses, while others focus on physical offerings. These changes are being accelerated with the emergence of Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 developments and capabilities.

The tutorial "QFD for Business Transformation" will introduce the principles and relationships between Modern QFD and business transformation planning and development for businesses. The tutorial will reference relevant sections in the new ISO 16355 standard for QFD, and give attendees exercises to connect the principles and key methods, particularly Hoshin Kanri, the initial analytic stages of QFD, and prioritization and methods like analytic hierarchy process (AHP).

The tutorial will consist of approximately 1 hour of lecturing and 1 hour of exercises using a case study from 'Space logistics systems' scenario.

This tutorial was developed by three QFD Black Belts^®: Dr. Kim Stansfield, Steve Dimelow, and John Fraser and has been successfully taught in UK at INCOSE (systems engineering) conferences.

This September, please join us to gain new knowledge and skill-set on this important subject.

The 2-day ISQFD including this tutorial is complimentary to those who sign up for the QFD courses.

• Registration Details:
  http://www.qfdi.org/registration.html
• Event Dates:
  http://www.qfdi.org/symposium.html
• ISQFD Symposium Presentations:
  http://www.qfdi.org/symposium_presentations.html

About the Tutorial Instructors The ISQFD tutorial "QFD for Business Transformation" will be taught by Dr. Kim Stansfield and Mr. Steve Dimelow. Dr. Kim Stansfield is a QFD Black Belt® and 2016 Akao Prize recipient. He is currently Associate Professor of Transformational Systems Engineering WMG, at University of Warwick, UK. He has over 20 years of experience in automotive and aerospace control systems and also in applying QFD and DFSS to large Enterprise IT Systems development.  Dr. Stansfield started his career in the Composites Group of the UK's Royal Aerospace Establishment, and then moved to Lucas Engineering and Systems and Energy Technologies Institute. He has been the UK representative for the development of the ISO 16355 standard for QFD since 2010.   Mr. Steve Dimelow is a QFD Black Belt® and known in industry for his ability to solve complex engineering problems so that Projects can be brought in on time, cost and quality. His professional career includes British based Heavy Haulage company (ALE Ltd) in Abu-Dhabi, Hydratight Hevilifts in Walsall where he was involved in the design and commissioning of computer controlled Hydraulic Jacking Systems and Hydraulic Bolting Systems for the Civil, Powergen and Petro/Chem industries, followed by Smiths Aerospace in Wolverhampton where he was a Lead designer on Primary and Secondary Flight Controls for Civil and Military Aerospace, and Rolls-Royce in Derby where he has worked on Military and Civil engine programmes as well as new technology acquisition programmes. It was during his work in the Aerospace business where he developed interest in Systems Engineering and sought the influential Systems Engineering Specialist role. In 2016, Steve earned a QFD Blackbelt® after searching for a method to connect business to engineering. He has been successful in applying QFD / Systems Engineering principles and Systems Thinking techniques both in practice on engineering programmes and through ongoing corporate training/coaching campaigns. Steve is currently contracted to QuEST Global Engineering Services as a Consultant Systems Engineer.

To inquire about this tutorial, ISQFD, and QFD certificate courses, please contact the QFD Institute.

Omron hits a home run with a new mindset

Example of Omron products
(source: Omron youtube channel)

In a business magazine interview, the new Omron president, Mr. Ogino, described not only innovation in their new products displayed at the the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but also advances in the company's core beliefs about customers and product development.

Omron is an international medical device manufacturer that sells home healthcare devices such as blood pressure monitors, body weight and composition meters, and others.

Under Mr. Ogino's directives, Omron product developers now must investigate the validity of product concept from the customer's perspective and identify "true" customer needs. No longer are product features such as 'integrated,' 'compact,' 'easy to read,' and so forth sufficient.

"Tens of thousands people end up with amputations every year because of high blood sugar. We make blood glucose meters to make such incidents zero. We make nebulizers with a conviction to cure asthma during childhood. I make sure in our company that no product planning takes place without first making clear why we should make the product, what is the ultimate goal," says Mr. Ogino.

This new mindset, code-named "Project Zero" (meaning driving down users' adverse health events to zero), will not only help the company differentiate itself from other wearable technology manufacturers, but also it can bring them closer to becoming in compliance with the new ISO 16355 for QFD.  Here is how... Read the full article.

Learn the new tools...

Upcoming Public QFD Courses — Learn today's best methods and tools

All events listed here will be held at Charleston Marriott in Charleston, South Carolina USA. The 1-day Symposium on December 5, 2014 is complimentary to the course attendees.

Registration Page.
For questions, please contact the QFD Institute.
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QFD Green Belt^® Certificate Course
December 3–4,  2014  (Wed & Thurs)

• Your chance to learn Modern Blitz QFD^®.  
• Learn how to do QFD analysis without the outdated 4-house matrices, without the resource-consuming House of Quality matrix.
• Learn how to do a Gemba and VOC analysis, correctly identify and prioritize customer needs, transform them into design specifications of customer-value and innovative solutions, deploy them throughout your new product/service development process — with agility and efficiency essential to today's lean environment. 
• Templates included (modern QFD, AHP, modern House of Quality, Maximum Value Table, and more).
• No Prerequisites.

QFD Black Belt^® Certificate Course
December 8–12,  2014  (Monday - Friday)

• Advanced QFD training for DFLS/DFSS black belts and master black belts, trainers, facilitators, innovation leaders, corporate training scouts, and anyone who is inspired to be a project leader.  
• Learn the full depth and breadth of Modern Comprehensive QFD, including detailed instructions on how to correctly deploy a House of Quality matrix for its full power, with correct data input and prioritization.
• Learn how to expertly integrate your own process and other quality and design methods such as DFLS, Hoshin, Kansei Engineering, TRIZ, Critical Chain, six sigma DMAIC, StageGates, DFMEA and more. 
• Templates included (modern QFD, AHP, modern House of Quality, Maximum Value Table, and more), and over 1,000 pages of training manual.
• Prerequisites: Qualified graduates of the QFD Green Belt^® Courses.

If you have attended the above courses more than three years ago, now is the time to refresh your knowledge and skills in these semi-private coaching sessions:

• QFD Green Belt^® Update Course is the continuing education for QFD Green Belt^® graduates. This half-day course is conveniently scheduled on December 7, 2014, 4 PM - 7:30 PM.
• QFD Black Belt^® Update Course is the continuing education for QFD Black Belt^® graduates. Attendees of this full-day course on December 7, 2014 receive the latest copy of both QFD Green Belt^® and QFD Black Belt^® training manuals.

We look forward to meeting you in these Charleston QFD events.

QFD for high-speed rail, IT projects, smartphones, education, telecom industry, and political campaign

The previous post (Election-earing: how QFD helped a candidate truly hear the Voice of the Constituent) previewed the first-of-its-kind political campaign case study. In addition, these exciting presentations are planned for The 24th Symposium on QFD, November 2, 2012 in St. Augustine, Florida.

The transactions of this symposium will become available to public in May 2013, but the most privileged content is often shared with the symposium audience only. In addition, the 2012 symposium includes a mini tutorial on Hoshin Kanri (Policy Management).

Come join us to learn and network. This will be also a good chance to get your QFD questions answered and receive tips on how to apply these tools in your project.
Registration is still open.
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"Going to the Gemba: Number Two with a Bullet"

The first generation of Chinese bullet trains was marred with design flaws that manifested in the catastrophic July 2011 accident which killed at least 40 people and injured more than 200 (NYTimes.com, Dec. 28, 2011). For the second generation hi-speed trains, Tangshan Railway Vehicle Company decided to try QFD to address the previous deficiencies.

The symposium presentation will share the traditional QFD approach and tools used in this project, as well as the unique gemba story in a country where the central government and Chinese Ministry of Railways believe that they speak for everyone and represent the voice of the customers.  
Speaker: Jack B. ReVelle, Ph.D., ReVelle Solutions, LLC (USA)

"Change Fix Model"

Some of the issues that add complication to IT projects include volatility of customer requirements and assessing risks involving changes. The Change Fix Model aims to improve agility of the estimation by using lean and QFD tools, enabling assessment of the impact of a change into the entire software lifecycle, starting with a regression model for establishing the relationship between impact of change and additional effort for implementing the change.

Using a CTQ drill down tree, which is one of the mechanisms to implement QFD, the paper is the first of its kind to measure the impact of a change by using a regression model. This will be presented by using a case of a major communications player.  
Speaker: Karthik Jegannathan, Cognizant Technologies Solutions (India/USA)

"Repertory Grid – Potential for Requirements Management in the Quality Function Deployment - An Example of the German Smartphone Market"

This research by German scholars proposes integration of cognitive psychology science, the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT), into QFD. In evaluating quality/performance of a product/service, customers follow unconscious personal perceptions, besides consideration of physical properties such as size, color, functions, etc. It is these unconsciously perceived characteristics that play an important role in the decision making process.

Repertory Grid Technique is based on the Personal Construct Theory, a constructivist theory that contends that people experience, organize, and describe their environment in terms of cognitive personal concepts that can be distilled into bipolar verbal labels. From its initial application in psychological diagnosis, the method has evolved to a set of general guidelines used in a wide variety of application domains, including environmental studies, education, healthcare, business, and it can be useful in identification of customer requirements in QFD analysis. The symposium presentation will use a case of German smartphone market to introduce RGT and show how it can be used in QFD analysis.
Speaker: Philipp Tursch, Chair Quality Management, Cottbus University of Technology (Germany)


"Elementary QFD: Using QFD to Assess and Evaluate the Learning Environment of a Private School Library and to Systematically Engage an ISACS Review"

A Modern Blitz QFD^® application in a non-traditional customer/product model – a school. Emerson School, a private school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is in the midst of undergoing a review by The Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS). The project goal was to identify key customers and translate their Voice of Customer as well as ISACS criteria into true customer needs.

Often organizations act on a situation without fully determining the true needs of stakeholders that would reveal the important context or unstated factor, leading to inadequate solutions or even exacerbated situations. This occurred several years ago. QFD gemba study revealed the largest and unexpected hindrances to the current learning environment in the library media center. These observations and customer verbatims were translated into true needs and fully ordered using paired comparisons in the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Finally, the highest ranking needs were evaluated on a systematic level, addressing potential causes for concern such as difficulties of implementation, perception of teachers and students, as well as resources like cost, time and effort.  
Speaker: Ken Mazur, QFD Black Belt^®, Japan Business Consultants, Ltd., USA

"Implementing Quality Function Deployment to Improve Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction: A Three Stages Empirical Approach in Jordanian Mobile Telecommunication"

The aim of this research is to develops a conceptual model that integrates the SERVQUAL Gap model and QFD to help telecom companies in Jordan explore service quality shortfalls and improve customer satisfaction. The first stage involved designing, administering and analyzing the SERVQUAL framework questionnaire.

The study population comprises all Jordanian mobile telecommunications companies (Zain, Orange, and Umniah) located in Amman, the capital of Jordan. There is a gap between expectations and experience in all service quality dimensions. QFD model will be used to close these gaps.  
Speaker: Tasneem Alfalah, Glasgow Caledonian University (UK)

"QFD and Politics (A Sure Way To Start An Argument)"

First of its kind, this paper reports the use of Modern Blitz QFD^® tools in an actual political campaign for a Florida county judgeship. The primary focus was to understand how to: 1) select target segments; 2) use the voice (top needs) of the target segment customers to develop the strategy; 3) create messaging; and 4) deploy the messaging to the targeted segment.

This application uniquely deploys downstream using the Voice of Constituents data to make strategic and operational decisions. For example, what sort of true “customer needs” can be identified from this verbatim voice of voters — “what do you think about the Chick-fil-A case?” Read more on this paper in the previous post...
Speaker: Carey Hepler, QFD Black Belt^®, Solantic Urgent Care (USA)

Skills Building Exercise: Hoshin Kanri mini tutorial

Hoshin Kanri is a systematic quality approach to planning, executing, auditing, and managing corporate vision and business strategy. It is a company-wide strategic management system that uses common QFD tools to visually indicate the relationships between executive-level targets and the means to achieve them, and those of direct reports. In this mini workshop, attendees will be introduced to the basic concept and application of how Hoshin Kanri works through an easy-to-follow example and hands-on exercise.
Instructor: Glenn Mazur, QFD Red Belt^®, QFD Institute


Events Schedule (PDF)

How to attend...