Taxi of Tomorrow failing on today's needs?

Last year we discussed the "Taxi of Tomorrow," New York City's taxi design contest. We called attention to the peril of new product development without understanding stakeholders and offered some QFD perspectives.

Now that the winning model (Nissan) is being rolled out to replace the aging fleet of NYC cabs, are New Yorkers happy? Not so fast. The debate continues.

Taxi of Tomorrow
Nissan NV200
photo: mr.chopper / wikipedia

The Nissan model (photo right), based on a Japanese family van never tested in a commercial fleet until now, offers features such as a spacious interior, rear seat airbags, driver GPS, and charging ports for electronic devices.

The critics complained that the Nissan model is only a gasoline fueled vehicle (at least for now) and does not offer wheelchair accessibility.

Intriguingly, it caught our eyes that the contest decision makers (politicians, taxi and limousine commissioners, industry leaders) gravitated toward the established, practical product features for the final selection, such as Safety, Comfort, Passenger and Driver Amenities, and Economy.

In the pre-decision survey, the general public additionally voiced these important features: Environmental friendliness and forward-looking design fit for the international center of business, arts, and tourism.

What neither party articulated, during and after the contest, were the true needs of customers, especially the "latent" needs.

That may be why Uber, Lyft, and others are able to make a dent in the market share of traditional taxis. Note here, what types of vehicle it is or what amenities it is equipped with are no longer the differentiating points in this new competition.

This may come as shocking to those who worked hard to bring the winning design onto the streets of Manhattan. But with the entry of this new app-based, on-demand competition, the physical features that the Taxi of Tomorrow has focused have become irrelevant — as if the Taxi of Tomorrow addresses the needs of yesterday!

The city officials are hopeful the new taxi will bring back customers, but it seems they need more than an eye-catching new design to successfully compete in this new market.

How can they turn the Taxi of Tomorrow truly live up to its name?
Read more...

Speaking on Innovation, Quality and QFD tools and methods

Have you been wanting to learn more about Innovation, Quality, and Modern QFD?  The latest tools and methods?  The kind of information that you can use right away in your work?

Here are upcoming opportunities that are open to the public:

September 19, 2015 ASQ Innovation Conference 2015 Lecture "Quality Fitness-Focused Innovation" Charlottesville, Virginia USA
September 25–26, 2015 International Symposium on QFD Hangzhou, CHINA
October 26–27, 2015 World Quality Forum Budapest, HUNGARY
November 4–5, 2015 QFD Green Belt® Certificate Course Calgary, Alberta CANADA
November 6, 2015 ASQ Calgary Quality Conference Keynote "Mine Your Own Business: Reverse QFD Method" Calgary, Alberta CANADA
November 9–10, 2015 ASQ International Conference on Quality Standards Indianapolis, Indiana USA

We look forward to seeing you there!

How to become a great salesperson

photo of big city apartments
photo courtesy of Roy Googin / wikipedia

Last week while apartment hunting with our newly graduated son, I got to meet one of the best sales people I ever met. I'll call her Brittany.

The challenge was this ⸺ the apartments she had ready for instant move-in were the unites that had two bedrooms and cost about $100 a month more than the one bedroom our son had budgeted.

While he hesitated, Brittany chatted with us about the graduation, our son's new job, and how often we would visit him. Then she struck:

"If he had a two bedroom apartment, you could stay with him!"

Immediately, I did the mental math of our 5-day graduation visit: $150/night for a hotel, $100/day for three meals for two people, etc. If we visited twice per year for five days, our hotel and meal cost would be more than double the difference between a one- and two-bedroom apartment.

Why doesn't he get the two-bedroom and we pay the extra $100/month. A definite win-win!

This is what good sales people do, and why they are so valuable on a QFD team. Brittany was able to quickly translate the feature of "two-bedroom" into the customer need of "parents can visit cheaply."

Marriott Red Coat Direct

Let's welcome the New Year with some of the tremendous improvements made in the hotel industry in recent years.  We just completed our 26th annual symposium and training sessions at the Charleston SC Marriott. As you can guess, in 26 years we have learned a lot about how we want to run our events and what the hotel must do to make it run smoothly.

Since we are quality assurance professionals, the failure-complaint mode is not our style. We use FMEA thinking to anticipate and proactively assure what goes right and prevent what could go wrong. This includes providing the hotel with the event order spreadsheet that details each day's room set up, meals (including special diets), audio-visual equipment, costs, and so forth. Such information is always welcomed by the hotel’s banquet staff who take care of multiple groups simultaneously.

Despite this, there are always a few minor things each year that we did not anticipate. This year, the unseasonably warm sun poured into the meeting foyer and melted our ice cream snack. Instead of chasing down a hotel worker or relaying the problem through the front desk via a house phone as we usually have to do, we were able to get the melted ice cream replaced instantly with a couple of swipes and clicks!

The "Marriott Red Coat Direct” is a mobile device app that the chain has rolled out in recent years. It lets us meeting planners message anything needing immediate attention, from “adjust room temperature,”  “too much noise from kitchen,” “need more chairs,” to “a daily statement before the end of the day” and more — all without leaving the meeting room or even talking.

We can't tell you what a relief this was. The reassuring part of this system is that the message is viewed not only by the banquet staff who were assigned to our function but also by their peers and their bosses. This provides multiple eyes and ears to make sure the meeting planner’s Voice of the Customer is heard and taken care of —  in real time.

Most important, it allowed us to focus on what mattered most – our attendees – instead of running around looking for help.

We look forward to hearing more success stories by companies listening to their customers not only to handle complaints, but to build into their future offerings.

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.

New Kano Model for better design decisions and hidden market opportunities

Many people wrongly assume that so-called Kano model (diagram on the right) describes the relationship between customer needs, fulfillment of product features, and satisfaction.

The1984 research, "Attractive Quality and Must-Be Quality" by N. Seraku, F. Takahashi, and N. Kano, Ph.D.,  measured satisfaction merely against the existence or absence of a feature. It did not and does not address customer needs.

Additionally, the Kano categories came from customer survey responding to inverse-paired questions. They were not and are not assigned by product engineers or producers.

The most serious error that people often make is the misleading "curved-arrow" that is often cited as shown in the above diagram. The inverse-paired question yields only two data points:  the "if" and the "if not". You can only draw a line (= linear) with two data points. It takes three data points to inscribe a curve!  This is why Glenn Mazur (QFD Institute), who translated Kano's original Japanese paper into English over two decades ago, wonders how many people who cite the Kano model actually read their study.

This problems was addressed by Mr. Harold Ross, a now retired General Motors engineer and a director of the QFD Institute. He called this the New Kano Model, which adds the necessary questions to draw the "curve" and use it to reveal hidden market segments and extrapolate better design decisions.

Using the Modern QFD tools that are taught in the QFD Black Belt^® course, you can then identify the invisible, moving target of customer satisfaction that the original Kano model does not address.

This new methodology will be presented at the 26th Symposium on QFD, December 5, 2014 in Charleston, South Carolina USA. It will include implementation examples of automotive industry, development of marketing and advertising content, as well as identifying clearer performance targets for each customer segment.

Everyone is welcomed at this symposium, regardless of your QFD knowledge.
Here is how to attend.

New High in Customer Satisfaction

Forget everything you learned about customer satisfaction.

A Chinese noodle shop has found the secret to customer retention, that scores "higher" than any other approach we've seen.

Read here, Sept 24, 2014 CNN World reported by Katie Hunt

Thomson Reuters 2014 Journal Citation Reports® recognizes "Using QFD to Write an ISO Standard"

Writing and publishing implies a level of authority on a particular subject. We say "imply" because it may not always be the case. There are numerous books, papers, and articles that suggest a certain expertise but fall short of delivering it.

The recent advent of self-publishing technology, without peer review, makes it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.  Even the Quality community is not immune.

That is why it was a pleasant surprise to receive a notification from Francis and Taylor, publishers of the Quality Engineering Journal, saying that a recent article by Glenn Mazur, "Using Quality Function Deployment to Write an ISO Standard for QFD,"  has been recognized by Thomson Reuters 2014 Journal Citation Reports® for improving Quality Engineering Journal Impact Factors.

screen shot of Thomson Reuters JCR

Thomson Reuters is a major multinational media and information company based in New York City. Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports® measures how many times a particular article has been cited by peers, as an indicator of the article impact on the subject matter. This is what they say on their web page:

Hooray for Glenn Mazur, executive director of the QFD Institute and also one of the contributors of this QFD Blog. He also shares his expertise often in the QFD Institute Newsletter, which is free and you can subscribe from here. He will be speaking at the December 5, 2014 Symposium on QFD.

 Thomson Reuters® and Journal Citation Reports® are registered marks of Thomson Reuters.

Healthcare QFD examples - October 30, 2014 in Orlando, Florida

Modern QFD has been used successfully in the healthcare industry, from clinical gemba such as hospitals and medical labs, to health insurance industry and medical device development including Electronic Medical Records.

Healthcare QFD methods and tools will be presented on October 30, 2014 at ASQ Technical Communities Conference in Orlando, Florida USA.

The talk, "Delighting Customers in Health Care Using QFD" (1:45 pm - 2:45 pm), will share the case studies of a hospital, healthcare insurance company, and medical device development to show how you, too, can acquire, analyze, prioritize, and innovate solutions for the Voice of Customer.

We hope you will be able to join us!

Is it mean to mean different things with the same words?

One strength of Modern Blitz QFD^® and its powerful voice of customer analysis toolset is a way to more deeply understand the customer's words, since different cultures, regions, age groups, sexes, and so forth can use the same words to mean different things.

The other day, I was listening to the rock opera Tommy by the Who, and in the song Pinball Wizard is the line "…sure plays a mean pinball." Even though I have heard that song a hundred times or more, it suddenly occurred to me, does that mean he plays average pinball or above average pinball?

If you ask us quality specialists, "mean" means average. If you ask us hippies (the album was released in 1969), "mean" means wickedly good, and certainly better than average. Same word, different meaning depending on who says it and in what context.

In his hilarious book Dave Barry Does Japan, the author offers a translation table. My favorite is "We will study your proposal" translated into American English as "We will feed your proposal to a goat."

My point is this, QFD should start with the voice of the customer, but that voice must be translated in order to understand its true meaning.